The Levellers and the Franchise

Abstract

A discussion of the Levellers which concentrates solely on their proposals for a new parliamentary franchise calls for some justification. These proposals formed only one part of the Leveller programme, and not necessarily the most important part at that. In the history of political theory the Levellers are important for many other reasons. They proclaimed that men were born equal and that government could be founded only on consent. They stood for religious toleration and equality before the law. Their concern for civil liberties led them into making the first-known attempt at writing down a law paramount which not even the legislature could alter. Their successive manifestoes, the ‘Agreements of the People’, were the earliest English approximations to a written constitution. They also gave early expression to the doctrine of the separation of powers. If to these achievements we add their advocacy of numerous specific reforms, from the abolition of tithes to the reform of the law, we can recognise that the Levellers have an importance in the history of social and political thought which far transcends any plans they had for remodelling the franchise.