End of the Corn Laws corn_laws.1
The import tax on grain known as the Corn Laws has been abolished, signifying a political shift away from mercantilism and landowner power.
"Some may say we have bent to the will of merchants, abandoning economic power held by the land of our country to the waters of international commerce. They forget too easily that nothing is a greater threat to their power than a mob of starving peasants."
The Anti-Corn Laws League corn_laws.2
A new figure has risen in the ranks of the …, organizing an innovative pressure campaign in support of abolishing the Corn Laws.
"I see in the Free-trade principle that which shall act on the moral world as the principle of gravitation in the universe,—drawing men together, thrusting aside the antagonism of race, and creed, and language, and uniting us in the bonds of eternal peace. I have looked even farther. I have speculated, and probably dreamt, in the dim future—ay, a thousand years hence—I have speculated on what the effect of the triumph of this principle may be. I believe that the effect will be to change the face of the world, so as to introduce a system of government entirely distinct from that which now prevails." — Richard Cobden
A Grain of Power corn_laws.3
The Corn Laws, our taxes on grain imports, have afforded the landowning classes a great deal of economic leverage which they use to maintain their influence on … policy.
"It all well and good to debate economic theory, but we must not turn our eyes away from the reality that theory produces. The promises of the Corn Laws, that they would protect the interests of …, ring increasingly hollow. Rather, they seem to protect the interests of a select few … citizens. One may wonder how many other laws are the same."
No Bread, No Freedom corn_laws.4
Our prohibitive import tax on cereal grains has made it difficult for the poor to afford bread, with people in … approaching the starvation line.
"They say that the tariffs are in place to protect every … farmer from falling wages and starvation. That without them, the markets would be flooded with bread we'd be too poor to buy. To that I say, to hell with the tariffs! I'm already starving. At least without them, there might be bread a starving man could steal!"
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