The creation of the Liberal party
The creation of the Liberal party stemmed from the Great Reform Act 1832 The Whigs came from a powerful aristocratic landowning families. They were in favour of the Great Reform Act but they wanted controlled reform. Some Junior Whigs wanted to split themselves from these extremly rich Whigs and started to call themselves Liberals. Most of these new liberals were middle class from business and commerical backgrounds. They were lawyers and professional men that had come into Parliament after 1832. These middle class people believed in individual liberty, Free Trade, freedom of the press and religious freedom. Many of them were Dissenters or Nonconformists who thought that Church should be separate and free from state patronage and control. When the Conservative party split over the repeal of the Corn Laws into the Peelites and the Protectionists the Peelites increasing voted with the Whigs. This lead to the Conservative party being out of power up until 1868. Over the years the