Editing William Cobbett (section)

===Member of Parliament===
Cobbett still sought to be elected to the House of Commons. He was defeated in [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] in 1826 and in Manchester in 1832, but after the passage of the [[Reform Act 1832]], Cobbett won the seat of [[Oldham (UK Parliament constituency)|Oldham]].

In Parliament, Cobbett concentrated his energies on attacking corruption in government and the [[Poor Law Amendment Act 1834|1834 Poor Law]]. He believed that the poor had a right to a share in the community's wealth and that the [[Act for the Relief of the Poor 1601|Old Poor Law]] was the last remaining right that English workers possessed, and which set them apart from other countries which had no such provision.<ref>{{cite book |last=Green |first=Daniel |date=1983 |title=Great Cobbett: The Noblest Agitator |location=London |publisher=Hodder and Stoughton |pages=458–459 |isbn=9780340223789}}</ref><ref name=idyck>{{cite book |last=Dyck |first=Ian |author-link=Ian Dyck |date=1992 |title=William Cobbett and Rural Popular Culture |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=208–209 |isbn=9780521413947}}</ref> Because the New Poor Law deprived the people of this right to relief, Cobbett believed that the social contract was broken and that therefore the duty of allegiance was dissolved.{{r|idyck|p=208}} A week before his death, he wrote to a friend: "[B]efore the passing of the Poor-Law Bill, I wished to avoid [a] convulsive termination. I now do not wish it to be avoided."{{r|idyck|p=208}}

During later life, [[Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay|Thomas Macaulay]], a fellow [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]], remarked that Cobbett's faculties were impaired by age. From 1831 until his death, Cobbett managed a farm named Ash in the village of [[Normandy, Surrey]], a few miles from his birthplace at [[Farnham]]. Cobbett died there after a brief illness in June 1835 and was buried in the churchyard of [[St Andrew's Church, Farnham]].