Online Encyclopedia

RADICAL (Lat. radix, a root)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 793 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RADICAL (
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Lat. radix, a root)
  , in
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English politics, a
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term applied to politicians who
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desire to make thorough, or radical, changes in the constitution and in the social order generally . Although it had been used in a somewhat similar way during the reign of Charles II., the term Radical, in its
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political sense, originated about the end of the 18th century, probably owing its existence to Charles James Fox, who, in ,1797, declared that " radical reform " was necessary . The ideas of the first Radicals were borrowed largely from the authors of the French Revolution . The word was more generally employed during the disturbed period between the close of the
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Napoleonic
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wars and the passing of the
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great Reform
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Bill of 1832, and was applied to agitators like Henry Hunt and William Cobbett . After the Reform Bill had become law, the advocates of violent change were
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drawn into the Chartist
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movement, and the Radicals became less revolutionary both in speech and
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object . Thus in 1842 an observer writes:—" The term Radical, once employed as a name of low reproach, has found its way into high places, and is gone forth as the title of a class who glory in their designation." About this time many members of Parliament were known as Radicals, among these men being George Grote and Joseph Hume . The Radicals never formed ' a distinct party in the House of
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Commons, and subsequently they formed simply the advanced section of the Liberal party . For a few years in the 19th century the wearing of a white
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hat was looked upon as the distinguishing mark of a Radical, a hat of this colour having been worn by Hunt when addressing meetings . See W . Harris,
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History of the Radical Party in Parliament (1885); S . Bamford, Passages in the
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Life of a Radical (new ed., 1893) ; C . B .

Roylance

Kent, The English Radicals:_ an
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Historical Sketch (1899) .

End of Article: RADICAL (Lat. radix, a root)
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