Anna Barbauld, Address to the Opposers of the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts

Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Anna Barbauld’s

An Address to the Opposers of the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts

(1790) is one of the most noteworthy political pamphlets to have been written amidst political debate over the civil rights of Dissenters (both Protestants not affiliated with the Church of England as well as Catholics). Dissenters’ rights had been limited for nearly a century by the Corporation and Test Acts, laws established in the late seventeenth century to constrain or preclude Dissenters from worshiping, preaching, holding public office, and attending the universities at Cambridge and Oxford. The two laws reflected longstanding prejudice against Catholics on the one hand and, on the other, the Anglican Church’s increasing anxiety about divergent sects of Protestantism. Anglicans viewed…

4500 words

Citation: Krawczyk, Scott. "Address to the Opposers of the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 22 October 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6849, accessed 19 March 2024.]

6849 Address to the Opposers of the Repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.