History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer
Critically examine: “The arguments of the free traders were a curious mixture of economic hard-headedness, social benevolence, cosmopolitan idealism and class prejudice”
- UPSC 2019
- Origins of Modern Politics
The British free trade movement of the 1820s–40s, culminating in the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846, drew its persuasive power precisely from its ability to appeal simultaneously to self-interest, conscience, universal principle, and class resentment — a genuinely "curious mixture" rather than a single coherent doctrine.
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What the full answer covers
- Economic Hard-Headedness
- Social Benevolence
- Cosmopolitan Idealism
- Class Prejudice
- The Movement's Actual Success
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