a political aim on Gladstone's part, to destroy the raison d'être of the Land League (following the recent Land War). Although the second Land Act ushered in a period of tentative calm, it became clear further reforms were necessary. The Act undermined the Land League by granting fair-rent control, fixity of tenure on leases, and freedom of sale: all to be overseen by the new government-sponsored Irish Land Commission. The 1881 Act involved state participation in the redistribution of land-ownership. Because of attacks on landlords, the police and witnesses a new and controversial Coercion Act was passed in 1881, which added to the atmosphere of distrust of the authorities. An overview of the land war, the reforms and the effect of the Coercion Act was published in 1888 by the journalist WH Hurlbert, an Irish-American Catholic. A symbolic significance of these land acts are how far Gladstone had come from his starting point. Judicial control of rent levels and the establishment of many land courts was a change from Gladstone's policy of 'retrenchment' and his commitment to free markets. An added consequence of the land acts was the gradual displacement of the Protestant Ascendancy during the latter 19th and early 20th centuries accompanied by the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland by the Irish Church Act 1869. Some "Ascendancy" land-owning families like the Marquess of Headfort and the Earl of Granard had by then converted to Catholicism, and a considerable number of Protestant Nationalists had already taken their part in Irish history. A survey of the 4,000 largest landlords in 1872 revealed that already 43% were Roman Catholics, 48% were Church of Ireland, 7% were Presbyterians, and 2% unknown. The term "Protestant Ascendancy" was used from 1879–90 in the Land War and the Plan of Campaign as an emotional term in what was an economic dispute. Religious affiliation was used as a factor as 55% of the largest estates were held by Protestants or Presbyterians in a country overwhelmingly Catholic. However, the "war" applied to landlords of all religions and none. The pace for land law reforms quickened after the Representation of the People Act 1884, which gave a much greater number of votes to the Irish rural electorate. Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885 (Ashbourne Land Act) Continued land agitations throughout the 1880s and 1890s culminated firstly with the passing of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885, also