Timothy Fitzgerald
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195300093
- eISBN:
- 9780199868636
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300093.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
The changes in typical usage of the various key categories discussed in previous chapters become more pronounced in certain contexts after the late seventeenth century, and the connection with ...
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The changes in typical usage of the various key categories discussed in previous chapters become more pronounced in certain contexts after the late seventeenth century, and the connection with colonies, plantations, and the increasing need for new forms of classification tends to relativize Religion as Christian Truth. This should not be exaggerated. In England the dominance of the church state continues, and the social order is still characterized more in terms of a hierarchy of rank and degree than in terms of Dissenting Individuals motivated by the need for justification and economic salvation. Even Locke's contemporary John Bunyan, whose pilgrimage is an interior moral one, and whose use of the term religious does not refer at all to monastic orders but to a special kind of inner life, still has no concept of a world which is neutral to religion. However, by the early nineteenth century in England there is a clearly gathering momentum to the discourse on “politics” as essentially separate from “religion,” even though the boundaries are hotly disputed and thus by no means yet inscribed into the order of things.Less
The changes in typical usage of the various key categories discussed in previous chapters become more pronounced in certain contexts after the late seventeenth century, and the connection with colonies, plantations, and the increasing need for new forms of classification tends to relativize Religion as Christian Truth. This should not be exaggerated. In England the dominance of the church state continues, and the social order is still characterized more in terms of a hierarchy of rank and degree than in terms of Dissenting Individuals motivated by the need for justification and economic salvation. Even Locke's contemporary John Bunyan, whose pilgrimage is an interior moral one, and whose use of the term religious does not refer at all to monastic orders but to a special kind of inner life, still has no concept of a world which is neutral to religion. However, by the early nineteenth century in England there is a clearly gathering momentum to the discourse on “politics” as essentially separate from “religion,” even though the boundaries are hotly disputed and thus by no means yet inscribed into the order of things.
Alan Ware
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199564439
- eISBN:
- 9780191721526
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199564439.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Economy
This chapter continues the analysis of party collapse by focussing in detail on three cases of collapse at the national level in democracies. These involved the Whig party in the US (1850s), the ...
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This chapter continues the analysis of party collapse by focussing in detail on three cases of collapse at the national level in democracies. These involved the Whig party in the US (1850s), the British Liberal party (early 20th century), and the Canadian Progressive Conservatives (1990s). Popular academic arguments that the American and British cases can be explained by reference to electoral realignment are rejected. In all three cases it was having two fight different sources of opposition that were eroding their strength at the same time that caused collapse. Strategies normally available to party elites in combating collapse could not be applied successfully here because of the dual nature of the crises. Finally, it is questioned whether conditions now make party management of their environments, to ward off potential collapse, more difficult; while this argument is rejected it is argued that they favour the development of less ‘pure’ forms of two-partism.Less
This chapter continues the analysis of party collapse by focussing in detail on three cases of collapse at the national level in democracies. These involved the Whig party in the US (1850s), the British Liberal party (early 20th century), and the Canadian Progressive Conservatives (1990s). Popular academic arguments that the American and British cases can be explained by reference to electoral realignment are rejected. In all three cases it was having two fight different sources of opposition that were eroding their strength at the same time that caused collapse. Strategies normally available to party elites in combating collapse could not be applied successfully here because of the dual nature of the crises. Finally, it is questioned whether conditions now make party management of their environments, to ward off potential collapse, more difficult; while this argument is rejected it is argued that they favour the development of less ‘pure’ forms of two-partism.
Alan Ware
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199564439
- eISBN:
- 9780191721526
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199564439.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Economy
This chapter focuses primarily on what determines whether major parties that have collapsed cease to operate or, alternatively, continue as minor parties. Again, it focuses mainly on the American ...
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This chapter focuses primarily on what determines whether major parties that have collapsed cease to operate or, alternatively, continue as minor parties. Again, it focuses mainly on the American Whigs, who had dissolved by the later 1850s, and the British Liberals, who persisted after the 1920s. It examines four factors that prompted dissolution: (i) a presidential system using quasi plurality voting rules; (ii) frequent elections for many public offices; (iii) earlier party efforts to develop coattails effects, in fighting elections as a team; (iv) the linking by parties of political ambitions at different levels of office. The absence of these factors in the British case reduced the incentive for Liberals to abandon their party. However, contingency, especially the impact of the formation of the National government in 1931 and the Second World War also aided Liberal survival up to the 1950s.Less
This chapter focuses primarily on what determines whether major parties that have collapsed cease to operate or, alternatively, continue as minor parties. Again, it focuses mainly on the American Whigs, who had dissolved by the later 1850s, and the British Liberals, who persisted after the 1920s. It examines four factors that prompted dissolution: (i) a presidential system using quasi plurality voting rules; (ii) frequent elections for many public offices; (iii) earlier party efforts to develop coattails effects, in fighting elections as a team; (iv) the linking by parties of political ambitions at different levels of office. The absence of these factors in the British case reduced the incentive for Liberals to abandon their party. However, contingency, especially the impact of the formation of the National government in 1931 and the Second World War also aided Liberal survival up to the 1950s.
PETER MANDLER
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197264942
- eISBN:
- 9780191754111
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197264942.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter revisits, in light of subsequent scholarship, some arguments about popular Victorian appropriations of Tudor history that were made by the author about a decade ago. It investigates the ...
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This chapter revisits, in light of subsequent scholarship, some arguments about popular Victorian appropriations of Tudor history that were made by the author about a decade ago. It investigates the nineteenth-century cult of the ‘Olden Time’, which sought in English history a basis not only to sanction but to criticise the social and political arrangements of the present day, in order to provide a more genuinely national and socially inclusive basis for collective identity. To do this, it reached back in time to recapture and reintegrate stories about portions of the nation omitted or elided by the Whig interpretation, retaining Whiggism's progressive, forward motion but braiding in previously excluded strands.Less
This chapter revisits, in light of subsequent scholarship, some arguments about popular Victorian appropriations of Tudor history that were made by the author about a decade ago. It investigates the nineteenth-century cult of the ‘Olden Time’, which sought in English history a basis not only to sanction but to criticise the social and political arrangements of the present day, in order to provide a more genuinely national and socially inclusive basis for collective identity. To do this, it reached back in time to recapture and reintegrate stories about portions of the nation omitted or elided by the Whig interpretation, retaining Whiggism's progressive, forward motion but braiding in previously excluded strands.
Angelica Goodden
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199238095
- eISBN:
- 9780191716669
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199238095.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
From Sweden, Staël returns to London after an absence of twenty years, conferring with Whigs (for their liberalism rather than their pro-Napoleonism) and the ruling Tories, enjoying her celebrity, ...
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From Sweden, Staël returns to London after an absence of twenty years, conferring with Whigs (for their liberalism rather than their pro-Napoleonism) and the ruling Tories, enjoying her celebrity, and increasing it with the triumphant publication in French and English of De l'Allemagne. Fanny Burney, who greatly admires Staël's latest book, continues to regret the impossibility of meeting her, and Maria Edgeworth likewise; Byron, another enthusiast for the work, watches her ‘perform’ in society with both scorn and amusement, while statesmen are more or less shocked by her boldness in advising them how to handle war and peace. She enjoys her fame, but longs for Paris and French conversation; continuing to provoke both disapproval and interest, she finds that her foreignness excuses some of her social faux-pas but not others. The abolitionist Wilberforce becomes a friend, and she promises with Wellington to help propagate his writings in France.Less
From Sweden, Staël returns to London after an absence of twenty years, conferring with Whigs (for their liberalism rather than their pro-Napoleonism) and the ruling Tories, enjoying her celebrity, and increasing it with the triumphant publication in French and English of De l'Allemagne. Fanny Burney, who greatly admires Staël's latest book, continues to regret the impossibility of meeting her, and Maria Edgeworth likewise; Byron, another enthusiast for the work, watches her ‘perform’ in society with both scorn and amusement, while statesmen are more or less shocked by her boldness in advising them how to handle war and peace. She enjoys her fame, but longs for Paris and French conversation; continuing to provoke both disapproval and interest, she finds that her foreignness excuses some of her social faux-pas but not others. The abolitionist Wilberforce becomes a friend, and she promises with Wellington to help propagate his writings in France.
Christine Gerrard
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198129820
- eISBN:
- 9780191671869
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198129820.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
Eighteenth-century patriotism once seemed a relatively straightforward phenomenon. Recent cultural and historical research has rendered it more interesting and (inevitably) infinitely more ...
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Eighteenth-century patriotism once seemed a relatively straightforward phenomenon. Recent cultural and historical research has rendered it more interesting and (inevitably) infinitely more complicated. The same may be said of the transformations which revisionist historians of the last two decades have made to the landscape of early Hanoverian party politics. In both Parliament and the press, Robert Walpole faced a heterogeneous body of political adversaries, a ‘hybrid’ opposition. The Tories, consigned to near-permanent opposition after the Hanoverian accession in 1714 and the onset of single-party Whig government, formed the largest and most consistent opposition element in the Commons. They were joined by a number of ‘independents’ (though their number is debatable) and by a series of dissident or Patriot Whigs who switched from supporting to opposing the Whig administration. The dissident Whig element became a consistent feature of opposition politics only after Walpole achieved a virtual monopoly on power in Britain in the early 1720s.Less
Eighteenth-century patriotism once seemed a relatively straightforward phenomenon. Recent cultural and historical research has rendered it more interesting and (inevitably) infinitely more complicated. The same may be said of the transformations which revisionist historians of the last two decades have made to the landscape of early Hanoverian party politics. In both Parliament and the press, Robert Walpole faced a heterogeneous body of political adversaries, a ‘hybrid’ opposition. The Tories, consigned to near-permanent opposition after the Hanoverian accession in 1714 and the onset of single-party Whig government, formed the largest and most consistent opposition element in the Commons. They were joined by a number of ‘independents’ (though their number is debatable) and by a series of dissident or Patriot Whigs who switched from supporting to opposing the Whig administration. The dissident Whig element became a consistent feature of opposition politics only after Walpole achieved a virtual monopoly on power in Britain in the early 1720s.
Christine Gerrard
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198129820
- eISBN:
- 9780191671869
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198129820.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
This chapter examines the Elizabethan revival of the Robert Walpole era. Surprisingly little scholarship exists on one of the most inescapable features of this period: the widespread cult of ...
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This chapter examines the Elizabethan revival of the Robert Walpole era. Surprisingly little scholarship exists on one of the most inescapable features of this period: the widespread cult of Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's reign supplies the focal point for Bolingbroke's major political writings of the 1730s and historians have duly examined its significance. But most readings are confined to equating Bolingbroke's Elizabethan ‘nostalgia’ with his reactionary conservatism. The Elizabethan cult of the 1730s found expression in a wide variety of media, from the plethora of pamphlets generated by popular pressure for war with Spain, through to drama, painting, poetry, and statuary. For the aggressive, expansionist Protestant mercantilism associated with the victories of Cadiz and the Armada, an Elizabethanism shaped above all by pressure for war with Spain. But war with Spain was only one source of the complex patriotic manipulations of Elizabeth's golden age. Both Patriot Whigs and Court Whigs, operating from within a shared Protestant Hanoverian idiom which stressed the continuity of Protestant freedoms, competed over rival claims to represent ‘Elizabethan’ values.Less
This chapter examines the Elizabethan revival of the Robert Walpole era. Surprisingly little scholarship exists on one of the most inescapable features of this period: the widespread cult of Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's reign supplies the focal point for Bolingbroke's major political writings of the 1730s and historians have duly examined its significance. But most readings are confined to equating Bolingbroke's Elizabethan ‘nostalgia’ with his reactionary conservatism. The Elizabethan cult of the 1730s found expression in a wide variety of media, from the plethora of pamphlets generated by popular pressure for war with Spain, through to drama, painting, poetry, and statuary. For the aggressive, expansionist Protestant mercantilism associated with the victories of Cadiz and the Armada, an Elizabethanism shaped above all by pressure for war with Spain. But war with Spain was only one source of the complex patriotic manipulations of Elizabeth's golden age. Both Patriot Whigs and Court Whigs, operating from within a shared Protestant Hanoverian idiom which stressed the continuity of Protestant freedoms, competed over rival claims to represent ‘Elizabethan’ values.
Justin Crowe
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691152936
- eISBN:
- 9781400842575
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691152936.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter examines the reorganization of the federal judiciary from the beginning of Thomas Jefferson's second term as president in 1805 until just prior to the Compromise of 1850. During the ...
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This chapter examines the reorganization of the federal judiciary from the beginning of Thomas Jefferson's second term as president in 1805 until just prior to the Compromise of 1850. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the government faced a new set of challenges, many of which were the result of the vast territorial expansion. Territorial expansion and the politics of statehood admission intertwined with judicial reform attempts focused primarily on arranging states in circuits and ensuring regional geographic representation on the Supreme Court. The chapter considers the four stages in which the history of judicial institution building unfolded in the eras of Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy: the Judiciary Act of 1807, the stalemate over the National Republicans' attempts to extend the circuit system to the West in the mid-1820s, the Whigs' failed consolidation plan of 1835, and the triumph of reform in the Judiciary Act of 1837.Less
This chapter examines the reorganization of the federal judiciary from the beginning of Thomas Jefferson's second term as president in 1805 until just prior to the Compromise of 1850. During the first half of the nineteenth century, the government faced a new set of challenges, many of which were the result of the vast territorial expansion. Territorial expansion and the politics of statehood admission intertwined with judicial reform attempts focused primarily on arranging states in circuits and ensuring regional geographic representation on the Supreme Court. The chapter considers the four stages in which the history of judicial institution building unfolded in the eras of Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy: the Judiciary Act of 1807, the stalemate over the National Republicans' attempts to extend the circuit system to the West in the mid-1820s, the Whigs' failed consolidation plan of 1835, and the triumph of reform in the Judiciary Act of 1837.
Bob Harris
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199246939
- eISBN:
- 9780191714566
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199246939.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter explores the nature and changing conditions of national politics in mid-18th-century England and Wales. Emphasis is placed on the main forces shaping political life, especially party ...
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This chapter explores the nature and changing conditions of national politics in mid-18th-century England and Wales. Emphasis is placed on the main forces shaping political life, especially party identities, and the degree of political stability which existed. The chapter examines political life from the point of view of the politicians who dominated ministerial office — the old corps Whigs, together with Whig politicians and factions who sought office, the ‘flying squadons’ as Lord Hardwicke was to call them on one occasion. The opposition to Whig oligarchical government, which included the Jacobites, Tories, who comprised a majority of opposition MPs throughout this period, opposition Whig and independent MPs, and the press, is also discussed. The press of the later 1740s to later 1750s has been little studied, yet it continued to be an important and episodically influential base for dissent from Whig rule.Less
This chapter explores the nature and changing conditions of national politics in mid-18th-century England and Wales. Emphasis is placed on the main forces shaping political life, especially party identities, and the degree of political stability which existed. The chapter examines political life from the point of view of the politicians who dominated ministerial office — the old corps Whigs, together with Whig politicians and factions who sought office, the ‘flying squadons’ as Lord Hardwicke was to call them on one occasion. The opposition to Whig oligarchical government, which included the Jacobites, Tories, who comprised a majority of opposition MPs throughout this period, opposition Whig and independent MPs, and the press, is also discussed. The press of the later 1740s to later 1750s has been little studied, yet it continued to be an important and episodically influential base for dissent from Whig rule.
Matthew Cragoe
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198207542
- eISBN:
- 9780191716737
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207542.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter begins with a discussion of the electoral system, which changed dramatically as the century progressed, transforming Britain from an oligarchy into something like a democracy in little ...
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This chapter begins with a discussion of the electoral system, which changed dramatically as the century progressed, transforming Britain from an oligarchy into something like a democracy in little over fifty years. It then describes the core ideals of the three political groupings: the Conservatives, the Whigs, and the ‘nationalist’ Radicals.Less
This chapter begins with a discussion of the electoral system, which changed dramatically as the century progressed, transforming Britain from an oligarchy into something like a democracy in little over fifty years. It then describes the core ideals of the three political groupings: the Conservatives, the Whigs, and the ‘nationalist’ Radicals.
Stephen Small
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199257799
- eISBN:
- 9780191717833
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199257799.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter charts developments in patriotism and radical reform between 1787 and 1791. It argues that the emergence of Protestant Ascendancy as a conceptual reaction to the Tithe Dispute, the ...
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This chapter charts developments in patriotism and radical reform between 1787 and 1791. It argues that the emergence of Protestant Ascendancy as a conceptual reaction to the Tithe Dispute, the assertion of Irish rights in the Regency Crisis, and the renewal of reform activity by the Irish Whigs in 1780 all had important consequences for the emergence of 1790s radicalism. Protestant Ascendancy, by creating a pre-Burkean reactionary stereotype of radical reformers and their allies, was especially important in shaping the environment within which radicals would operate. The Tithe Dispute arose from long-standing Catholic and Dissenter grievances about paying tithes to the Church of Ireland.Less
This chapter charts developments in patriotism and radical reform between 1787 and 1791. It argues that the emergence of Protestant Ascendancy as a conceptual reaction to the Tithe Dispute, the assertion of Irish rights in the Regency Crisis, and the renewal of reform activity by the Irish Whigs in 1780 all had important consequences for the emergence of 1790s radicalism. Protestant Ascendancy, by creating a pre-Burkean reactionary stereotype of radical reformers and their allies, was especially important in shaping the environment within which radicals would operate. The Tithe Dispute arose from long-standing Catholic and Dissenter grievances about paying tithes to the Church of Ireland.
John Miller
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199288397
- eISBN:
- 9780191710902
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288397.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
Bristol had a reputation for factional division. Its aldermen included some pugnacious individuals — three of them called John (or Sir John) Knight, who hated each other. The city also had a large ...
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Bristol had a reputation for factional division. Its aldermen included some pugnacious individuals — three of them called John (or Sir John) Knight, who hated each other. The city also had a large Dissenting population and the magistrates were divided about enforcing the laws against them. To make matters worse, in 1672 the king appointed Guy Carleton — the most aggressive and tactless prelate of his time — as bishop. Carleton promoted a vigorous persecution of Dissenters and united the corporation (including Sir John and John Knight) against him: no mean feat. Carleton was moved on in 1678 but in the last years of the reign the corporation was bitterly divided between Whigs and Tories.Less
Bristol had a reputation for factional division. Its aldermen included some pugnacious individuals — three of them called John (or Sir John) Knight, who hated each other. The city also had a large Dissenting population and the magistrates were divided about enforcing the laws against them. To make matters worse, in 1672 the king appointed Guy Carleton — the most aggressive and tactless prelate of his time — as bishop. Carleton promoted a vigorous persecution of Dissenters and united the corporation (including Sir John and John Knight) against him: no mean feat. Carleton was moved on in 1678 but in the last years of the reign the corporation was bitterly divided between Whigs and Tories.
John Miller
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199288397
- eISBN:
- 9780191710902
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288397.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
In the Convention of 1689-90 the Whigs condemned the new charters of the 1680s and sought to debar those who had actively procured them (mostly Tories, in 1682-5) from municipal office. They failed ...
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In the Convention of 1689-90 the Whigs condemned the new charters of the 1680s and sought to debar those who had actively procured them (mostly Tories, in 1682-5) from municipal office. They failed and William III resolved disputes about charters on their merits, without seeking to interfere systematically in the towns' affairs. In the 1690s party divisions were fierce at times, especially in Bristol, but not all-pervasive: in many towns Whigs and Tories worked together to restore ordered government after the disruption of James II's reign. Meanwhile, religious persecution (of Protestants) more or less ceased, after the Toleration Act.Less
In the Convention of 1689-90 the Whigs condemned the new charters of the 1680s and sought to debar those who had actively procured them (mostly Tories, in 1682-5) from municipal office. They failed and William III resolved disputes about charters on their merits, without seeking to interfere systematically in the towns' affairs. In the 1690s party divisions were fierce at times, especially in Bristol, but not all-pervasive: in many towns Whigs and Tories worked together to restore ordered government after the disruption of James II's reign. Meanwhile, religious persecution (of Protestants) more or less ceased, after the Toleration Act.
John Miller
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199288397
- eISBN:
- 9780191710902
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288397.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
Following their victory in the general election of 1715, the Whigs consolidated their hold on power. Tories were excluded from office and Whig politicians used government patronage to establish a ...
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Following their victory in the general election of 1715, the Whigs consolidated their hold on power. Tories were excluded from office and Whig politicians used government patronage to establish a firm grip on many small parliamentary boroughs. A wave of riots against Dissenting meeting houses in 1715, followed by the Jacobite rising, led to the passing of the Riot Act and a much increased peacetime military presence. The army, indeed, took it upon itself to punish ‘disaffection’ (much of it symbolic), and to this end it increasingly controlled civic celebration. After winning the general election of 1722, the Whig hold on power seemed impregnable. This chapter suggests that Tory resistance remained remarkably resilient and in some ways effective, especially as George I did not attempt to manipulate borough charters in the way that Charles II and James II had done.Less
Following their victory in the general election of 1715, the Whigs consolidated their hold on power. Tories were excluded from office and Whig politicians used government patronage to establish a firm grip on many small parliamentary boroughs. A wave of riots against Dissenting meeting houses in 1715, followed by the Jacobite rising, led to the passing of the Riot Act and a much increased peacetime military presence. The army, indeed, took it upon itself to punish ‘disaffection’ (much of it symbolic), and to this end it increasingly controlled civic celebration. After winning the general election of 1722, the Whig hold on power seemed impregnable. This chapter suggests that Tory resistance remained remarkably resilient and in some ways effective, especially as George I did not attempt to manipulate borough charters in the way that Charles II and James II had done.
John Miller
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199288397
- eISBN:
- 9780191710902
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288397.003.0015
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. The period 1660-1722 saw political debate and discord become a normal part of English urban life. National politics impinged far more ...
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This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. The period 1660-1722 saw political debate and discord become a normal part of English urban life. National politics impinged far more on townspeople's lives than in the 16th century, when few parliamentary elections were contested, so there was no need to place issues before the electors. The clear-cut division between Tories and Whigs was thrown into turmoil by James II, but it reappeared in late 1688 as Whigs and Tories jostled for power under the new king. During the 18th century, some corporations became notorious for self-seeking oligarchy and corruption but such vices were less apparent in the early part of the century.Less
This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. The period 1660-1722 saw political debate and discord become a normal part of English urban life. National politics impinged far more on townspeople's lives than in the 16th century, when few parliamentary elections were contested, so there was no need to place issues before the electors. The clear-cut division between Tories and Whigs was thrown into turmoil by James II, but it reappeared in late 1688 as Whigs and Tories jostled for power under the new king. During the 18th century, some corporations became notorious for self-seeking oligarchy and corruption but such vices were less apparent in the early part of the century.
Peter D. G. Thomas
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719064289
- eISBN:
- 9781781700310
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719064289.003.0011
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the first decade of George III's reign as King of Great Britain. The ministry at George III's ascension was a coalition of all the Whig groups, ...
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This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the first decade of George III's reign as King of Great Britain. The ministry at George III's ascension was a coalition of all the Whig groups, and the next five ministries were all reshuffles of the Whig pack, none entailing a complete change of cabinet membership. This political situation allowed George III to exercise the significant power that lay with the Crown and act in accord with much contemporary opinion. The chapter argues that the British political scene between the accession of George III and the outbreak of the American War was a time when the two sides in Parliament were administration and opposition, and not Tories and Whigs.Less
This chapter sums up the key findings of this study on the first decade of George III's reign as King of Great Britain. The ministry at George III's ascension was a coalition of all the Whig groups, and the next five ministries were all reshuffles of the Whig pack, none entailing a complete change of cabinet membership. This political situation allowed George III to exercise the significant power that lay with the Crown and act in accord with much contemporary opinion. The chapter argues that the British political scene between the accession of George III and the outbreak of the American War was a time when the two sides in Parliament were administration and opposition, and not Tories and Whigs.
Abigail Williams
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199255207
- eISBN:
- 9780191719837
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199255207.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
This chapter examines the verse produced by the ‘First Whigs’ during and after the Exclusion Crisis, and investigates the ways in which the diverse and disparate emergent Whig party attempted to ...
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This chapter examines the verse produced by the ‘First Whigs’ during and after the Exclusion Crisis, and investigates the ways in which the diverse and disparate emergent Whig party attempted to define itself in opposition. As writers from both sides offered their respective representations of the political will of ‘the people’, they drew on competing discourses of radicalism and rationality in an attempt to secure the authority of their description of recent history. The chapter illustrates the ways in which early Whig public poetry participated in this debate about the nature of popular politics, and of political rhetoric in the period.Less
This chapter examines the verse produced by the ‘First Whigs’ during and after the Exclusion Crisis, and investigates the ways in which the diverse and disparate emergent Whig party attempted to define itself in opposition. As writers from both sides offered their respective representations of the political will of ‘the people’, they drew on competing discourses of radicalism and rationality in an attempt to secure the authority of their description of recent history. The chapter illustrates the ways in which early Whig public poetry participated in this debate about the nature of popular politics, and of political rhetoric in the period.
Roger B. Manning
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199261499
- eISBN:
- 9780191718625
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199261499.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
A profound alteration of England’s foreign and military policies in 1689 led to a century and more of global warfare with France which ended only in 1815. This reorientation of British priorities was ...
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A profound alteration of England’s foreign and military policies in 1689 led to a century and more of global warfare with France which ended only in 1815. This reorientation of British priorities was accomplished not by the Glorious or bloodless Revolution of Whig mythology, but by a Dutch invasion of England resulting from the largest joint military and naval amphibious operation ever launched in early modern Europe. The decision to declare the throne of England vacant and to offer the crown to William III, prince of Orange, and thus commit England to a mainland war, was taken by the Convention Parliament while London was under Dutch military occupation. James II, whose courage had been so resolute in earlier military and naval battles, lost heart as his senior officers deserted, and he and his army never offered resistance.Less
A profound alteration of England’s foreign and military policies in 1689 led to a century and more of global warfare with France which ended only in 1815. This reorientation of British priorities was accomplished not by the Glorious or bloodless Revolution of Whig mythology, but by a Dutch invasion of England resulting from the largest joint military and naval amphibious operation ever launched in early modern Europe. The decision to declare the throne of England vacant and to offer the crown to William III, prince of Orange, and thus commit England to a mainland war, was taken by the Convention Parliament while London was under Dutch military occupation. James II, whose courage had been so resolute in earlier military and naval battles, lost heart as his senior officers deserted, and he and his army never offered resistance.
Christine Gerrard
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198129820
- eISBN:
- 9780191671869
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198129820.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
This book deals with patriotism, politics, and poetry in the age of Robert Walpole. It is especially concerned with the activities and writings of the dissident, or ‘Patriot’ Whigs, Walpole's most ...
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This book deals with patriotism, politics, and poetry in the age of Robert Walpole. It is especially concerned with the activities and writings of the dissident, or ‘Patriot’ Whigs, Walpole's most vigorous critics in parliament and the press in the years after 1725. It explores the broader currents of national feeling enshrined in the Patriots' distinct brand of oppositional poetry and drama: a body of literature which played a vital role in shaping the way in which poets (and, indeed, less elevated mortals) from the 1740s onwards conceived of themselves as uniquely British. It was James Thomson, one such poet, who produced ‘Rule, Britannia’ for his royal masque, Alfred, written for Frederick, Prince of Wales, the Patriots' political figurehead. When Alfred's venerable British Bard, ancient and blind, first stepped across an open-air stage to Arne's swelling tune and spoke those memorable lines one warm night in August 1740, Britain was basking in Admiral Vernon's recent victory at Porto Bello. National pride was at its height, and ‘Rule, Britannia’, which began life as a potent piece of opposition propaganda, soon became the unofficial national anthem.Less
This book deals with patriotism, politics, and poetry in the age of Robert Walpole. It is especially concerned with the activities and writings of the dissident, or ‘Patriot’ Whigs, Walpole's most vigorous critics in parliament and the press in the years after 1725. It explores the broader currents of national feeling enshrined in the Patriots' distinct brand of oppositional poetry and drama: a body of literature which played a vital role in shaping the way in which poets (and, indeed, less elevated mortals) from the 1740s onwards conceived of themselves as uniquely British. It was James Thomson, one such poet, who produced ‘Rule, Britannia’ for his royal masque, Alfred, written for Frederick, Prince of Wales, the Patriots' political figurehead. When Alfred's venerable British Bard, ancient and blind, first stepped across an open-air stage to Arne's swelling tune and spoke those memorable lines one warm night in August 1740, Britain was basking in Admiral Vernon's recent victory at Porto Bello. National pride was at its height, and ‘Rule, Britannia’, which began life as a potent piece of opposition propaganda, soon became the unofficial national anthem.
Christine Gerrard
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198129820
- eISBN:
- 9780191671869
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198129820.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 18th-century Literature
In the Epilogue to the Satires, Dialogue II, Alexander Pope pronounced himself proud to count George Lyttelton, Lord Cobham, and other Patriots his friends. The extent of Pope's involvement with ...
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In the Epilogue to the Satires, Dialogue II, Alexander Pope pronounced himself proud to count George Lyttelton, Lord Cobham, and other Patriots his friends. The extent of Pope's involvement with Patriot Whig politics and Prince Frederick raises questions about the traditional equation of Pope with Toryism, and more recently Toryism of a discernibly Jacobite flavour. Pope's close friendships with Patriot Whigs cannot be attributed merely to the political influence of his mentor Bolingbroke. Yet the fluctuating pattern of his commitment to their campaign, alternating between idealism and mistrust, tells us much about broader Tory attitudes towards Patriot Whiggery in this period as well as hinting at more complex and deep-seated sources of ambivalence in the poet himself. Did the deepening pessimism so many critics have discerned in his later years make any form of optimistic patriotism impossible? This chapter looks at the politics of Pope's poetry and the connection between politics and genre, focusing on satire, epic, and tragedy.Less
In the Epilogue to the Satires, Dialogue II, Alexander Pope pronounced himself proud to count George Lyttelton, Lord Cobham, and other Patriots his friends. The extent of Pope's involvement with Patriot Whig politics and Prince Frederick raises questions about the traditional equation of Pope with Toryism, and more recently Toryism of a discernibly Jacobite flavour. Pope's close friendships with Patriot Whigs cannot be attributed merely to the political influence of his mentor Bolingbroke. Yet the fluctuating pattern of his commitment to their campaign, alternating between idealism and mistrust, tells us much about broader Tory attitudes towards Patriot Whiggery in this period as well as hinting at more complex and deep-seated sources of ambivalence in the poet himself. Did the deepening pessimism so many critics have discerned in his later years make any form of optimistic patriotism impossible? This chapter looks at the politics of Pope's poetry and the connection between politics and genre, focusing on satire, epic, and tragedy.
