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William Cuffay and the London Chartists, 1842
The 1832 Reform Act had extended the vote to more men with property but the working class still did not have a vote. A nationwide campaign involving men and women called for change and they became known as The Chartists, the first mass working class movement in Britain. The People’s Charter of 1838 demanded votes for all men, constituencies of equal size, the abolition of the property qualification, annual parliaments and salaries for members of Parliament. Portrayed is a meeting of the London Chartists in Whitechapel, in 1842, with William Cuffay, the son of a slave and the elected President of the London Chartists. He was transported to Tasmania for his endeavours, later pardoned, and continued to be politically active there.