Dissenter agitation for repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts
- When
- 1787–1790
- Where
- Birmingham
Birmingham Dissenters' campaigns to repeal the Test and Corporation Acts, failing in 1787, 1789, and 1790, fractured the town elite before the riots.
The Test and Corporation Acts restricted Dissenters' civil rights, preventing them from attending the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge or holding public office. Once Birmingham Dissenters began agitating for repeal, the semblance of unity among the town's elite disappeared. After 1787, Dissenting groups formed solely to overturn these laws began dividing the community, though repeal efforts failed in 1787, 1789, and 1790. In February 1790, activists assembled to oppose Dissenters' interests and counteract the importation of French Revolutionary ideals.
Sources
- Priestley Riots Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-14
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.