Industry, Reform and Empire traces the evolution of politics from a repressive, reactionary and electorally restricted regime before 1832 to an era of wider franchise and sweeping institutional reform. Focusing on the impact of rapid industrialisation, the author shows how it transformed the economic and social identity of urban and rural Scotland. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources, the book reveals the effects of these economic and political changes on the fabric of Scottish society, including the convulsions they caused in Presbyterianism that culminated in the Disruption of 1843.