The 1867 Second Reform Act was an extremely intelligent piece of politics and demonstrated how clever Disraeli was as a politician; the act would enable Disraeli to gain power among the Commons. The 1867 Reform Act that Disraeli passed, which gave the vote to about 1,500,000, certainly aided him in becoming the Conservative party leader in the near future. There is no doubt that the Second Reform Act was an impressive piece of legislature but what factors drove Disraeli's determination to pass this Act? More specifically, what was the most significant motive? Many historians claim Disraeli was purely motivated by personal ambition, to effectively consolidate his long-term stamp on 19th Century British politics. On the other hand, it can also be argued that his persistence to see the Act passed was essentially motivated by pragmatism, his Conservative party needed to once again become a major player on the political scene and be recognized as a "party of reform." It can also be argued that Disraeli desired this reform out of pure democratic principle, however some still hold the belief that Disraeli's proposition of the Act was simply a coordinated attempt to undermine the Liberal party and diminish the authority of his political rival Gladstone. Taken at face value, the sources indicate conflicting arguments to the opinion that Disraeli was motivated mainly by personal ambition. Source 7 effectively explains of how Disraeli's willingness to pass the Reform Act was based on a good understanding of the issues and attitudes related to the extension of franchise, Source 9 ultimately believes a mixture of personal ambition and political pragmatism drove Disraeli. Source 8 is fairly balanced in regards to the statement, the source stresses that Disraeli intended to build a relationship between the middle and working class out of principle, but whilst also undermining Whig support through the new-found strength of the Conservatives. I will come to an overall judgement on the question by resolving the apparent conflicts between the sources; I will do this by considering the provenance of the sources and through the utilization of contextual understanding. Source 8 claims "Disraeli foresaw household suffrage enfranchise a conservative class  and set out to "educate  his Conservative party in the reform process. This effectively suggests that Disraeli understood the nature of the new electorate and had a clear strategy to uniting the middle and working class voters of the Conservative party. Source 7, written by Disraeli, can also support Source 8's view, in which he recognises the ongoing dependence of the working class on the "patronage  of the aristocracy and re utters the hopes of an alliance between the supporters of the Conservatives. During the course of the parliamentary debates on the Bill, Disraeli accepted a number of amendments, which resulted in the extension of the franchise being much greater than originally intended. The two-year residence qualification was reduced to one year and "compounders  were allowed to vote. Compounders were tenants who paid their rates (local government taxes) with the rent they paid to their landlord, rather than directly to local councils as house owners did. Clearly, the conceding of votes to some workingmen could not be accomplished without some repercussions for the political system, but the seemingly radical gesture made in the Second Reform Act was hedged around with so many restrictions and safeguards for the property-owning classes. The system was not year fair with some boroughs still over represented and others under represented. The limited redistribution of seats in the 1867 Act still left London, the Midlands and the north underrepresented in Parliament, while there was still an imbalance in the system which allowed the rural south and west of England to be overrepresented in terms of size of population