View source for Whiggism

{{short description|Political philosophy}}
{{For|the Whig philosophy of history|Whig history}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
[[File:Whiggism, or Master Billy learning his task. (BM 1868,0808.5105).jpg|thumb|''Whiggism, or Master Billy learning his task'', cartoon of 1784. [[Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron Thurlow|Lord Thurlow]] acts as schoolmaster to [[William Pitt the Younger]]. The schoolroom contains images of [[King George III of England|King George III]], labelled a "Great Whig", and implied to be under the influence of [[John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute|Lord Bute]]; [[Charles James Fox]], labelled a "True  Whig"; and [[William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne|Lord Shelburne]], labelled a "False Whig."]]

'''Whiggism''' or '''Whiggery''' is a [[political philosophy]] that grew out of the [[Roundhead|Parliamentarian]] faction in the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]] (1639–1653) and was concretely formulated by [[Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury|Lord Shaftesbury]] during the [[Stuart Restoration]]. The Whigs advocated the [[Parliamentary sovereignty|supremacy of Parliament]] (as opposed to that of the king), [[Unitary State|government centralisation]], and [[Linguistic imperialism|coercive]] [[Anglicisation]] through the educational system. They also staunchly opposed granting [[freedom of religion]], [[civil rights]], or [[voting rights]] to anyone who worshipped outside of the [[Established Church]]es of the realm. Eventually, the Whigs grudgingly conceded strictly limited [[religious toleration]] for [[Protestant]] [[dissenter]]s, while continuing the [[religious persecution]] and [[disenfranchisement]] of [[Roman Catholic]]s and [[Scottish Episcopal Church|Scottish Episcopalians]]. They were particularly determined to prevent the ascension of a Catholic [[heir presumptive]] to the British throne, especially of [[James II of England|James II]] or his legitimate male descendants and instead granted the throne to the Protestant [[House of Hanover]] in 1714.<ref>[[Ronald Hamowy]], [https://books.google.com/books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC "Whiggism"] in ''The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism'' (Thousand Oaks, CA: [[SAGE Publishing|Sage]], [[Cato Institute]] 2008), {{ISBN|978-1412965804}}, {{OCLC|750831024}}, {{LCCN|2008009151}}, {{doi|10.4135/9781412965811.n328}} [http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/libertarianism/n328.xml pp. 542–543]</ref> Whig ideology is associated with early [[conservative liberalism]].<ref>{{cite book|editor=Efraim Podoksik |title=In Defence of Modernity: Vision and Philosophy in Michael Oakeshott |quote= ... For Whig liberalism is also known as 'conservative liberalism' ... |date=2013 |page=14 |publisher=Imprint Academic |isbn=9781845404680 }}</ref>

Beginning with the [[Popish Plot|Titus Oates plot]] and [[Exclusion Crisis]] of 1679–1681, and the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688–1689, Whiggism dominated [[Kingdom of England|English]] and [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] politics until about 1760, after which the Whigs splintered into different [[political faction]]s. In the same year, King [[George III]] was crowned and allowed the Tories back into the Government. Even so, some modern historians now call the period between 1714 and 1783 the, "age of the Whig [[oligarchy]]".<ref>Holmes, Geoffrey; and Szechi, D. (2014). ''The Age of Oligarchy: Pre-Industrial Britain 1722–1783''. Routledge. p. xi. {{ISBN|131789426X}}. {{ISBN|978-1317894261}}.</ref>

Even after 1760, the Whigs still included about half of the newest noble families in England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, as well as most merchants, dissenters, and the [[middle class]]es. The opposing [[Tory]] position was held by the other great families, the [[non-juring schism|non-juring]] and [[Anglo-Catholicism|high church]] factions within the [[Church of England]], many Catholics and Protestant Dissenters, most of the [[landed gentry]] and the traditional officer class of the [[British armed forces]]. Whigs especially opposed [[regime change]] efforts by adherents of [[Jacobitism]], a movement of [[legitimist]] [[monarchist]]s which promised [[freedom of religion]] and civil rights to all outside the [[Established Church]]es, [[devolution in the United Kingdom]], [[linguistic rights]] for [[minority language]]s, and many other political reforms, and which shared a substantial overlap with and heavily influenced both early Toryism and what is now termed [[traditionalist conservatism]]. While in power, Whig politicians frequently denounced all their political opponents and critics as "Jacobites" or "dupes of Jacobites".

The terms "Old Whigs" and [[Patriot Whigs]] were also used in [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] for those Whigs who formed a de facto coalition with the Tories and jointly opposed [[Robert Walpole]] as part of the [[Country Party (Britain)|Country Party]].<ref>''[http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/228332?redirectedFrom=whiggism#eid Whiggism, n.]'' at oed.com. Retrieved 16 August 2011 (subscription required)</ref> Whiggism originally referred to the [[Whig (British political party)|Whigs]] of the [[British Isles]], but the name of "Old Whigs" was largely adopted by the American [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]]s in the [[Thirteen Colonies]] of [[British North America]]. Before and during the [[American Revolution]], American Whiggism, in a deeply ironic reversal, weaponised Whig political philosophy about the [[social contract]] enforced by the [[right of revolution]] against both the Whig-dominated government in Westminster and the Hanoverian monarchs. In the process, American Whiggism ultimately transitioned from monarchism into [[Republicanism in the United States|republicanism]] and [[Federalism]], while also co-opting many traditionally Jacobite, [[Counter-Enlightenment]], and early Tory positions. A similar but far more discreet co-opting was also taking place in the [[British Isles]] among many self-described Whigs, including [[Edmund Burke]], [[Henry Grattan]], [[William Wilberforce]], [[Daniel O'Connell]], and [[William Pitt the Younger]]. Even though they were often influenced in this regard by the writings of early Tories and other intellectual critics of the Whig party like [[Jonathan Swift]], [[Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke|Lord Bolingbroke]], and [[David Hume]], these reformist Whigs, similarly to American Patriots, refused to use the word "Tory" as anything other than a term of abuse against those with more traditionalist Whig ideology, which ultimately changed the word's meaning completely. [[Whig history]], which was largely developed by [[Thomas Babington Macaulay]] to justify the party's political ideology and past practices, remained the [[official history]] of the [[British Empire]] until serious challenges were raised to its claims by [[John Lingard]], [[William Cobbett]], [[Hilaire Belloc]], [[G. K. Chesterton]], [[Roger Scruton]], [[Saunders Lewis]], and [[John Lorne Campbell]].

==Origins of the term==
Quickly following the adoption of "Whig" as the name of a political faction, the word "Whiggism" arose from the appendage of the suffix "{{wikt-lang|en|-ism}}", creating a term for the Whigs' political ideology. It was already in use by the 1680s. In 1682, [[Edmund Hickeringill]] published his ''History of Whiggism''.<ref name=hickeringill>[[Edmund Hickeringill]], ''The history of Whiggism: or, The Whiggish-plots, principles, and practices, (mining and countermining the Tory-plots and principles) in the reign of King Charles the first, during the conduct of affaires, under the influence of the three great minions and favourites, Buckingham, Laud, and Strafford; and the sad forre-runners and prologues to that fatal-year (to England and Ireland) 41: Where in (as in a mirrour) is shown the face of the late (we do not say the present) times'' [In two parts] (London: Printed for E. Smith, at the Elephant and Castle in Cornhill, 1682)</ref> In 1702, writing satirically in the guise of a [[Tory]], [[Daniel Defoe]] asserted: "We can never enjoy a settled uninterrupted Union and Tranquility in this Nation, till the Spirit of Whiggisme, Faction, and Schism is melted down like the Old-Money".<ref>Daniel Defoe, ''The shortest way with the Dissenters: or Proposals for the establishment of the Church'' (1702), p. 15</ref> The name probably originates from a shortening of Whiggamore referring to the [[Whiggamore Raid]].<ref>{{cite web|title=whig {{!}} Origin and meaning of the name whig by Online Etymology Dictionary|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/whig|website=www.etymonline.com|access-date=13 February 2018|language=en}}</ref>

The word "Whiggery", deriving from "Whig" and the suffix "{{wikt-lang|en|-ery}}", has a similar meaning and has been used since the late 17th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/whiggery_n |author=Oxford English Dictionary |title=Whiggery, n. |website=Oxford English Dictionary |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=July 2023 }}</ref>

==Origins==
The true origins of what became known as Whiggism lie in the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]] and the power struggle between the [[Parliament of England]] and [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]], which eventually turned into the [[English Civil War]]s, but only after the example of the successful use of violent opposition to the king set by the [[Bishops' Wars]], which were fought between the same king in his capacity as king of [[Scotland]] on the one side and the [[Parliament of Scotland]] and the [[Church of Scotland]] on the other. However, the immediate origins of the Whigs and Whiggism were in the [[Exclusion Bill]] crisis of 1678 to 1681, in which a country party battled a court party in an unsuccessful attempt to exclude [[James II of England|James, Duke of York]], from succeeding his brother [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] as king of [[Kingdom of England|England]], [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]] and [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]]. This crisis was prompted by Charles's lack of a legitimate heir, by the discovery in 1673 that James was a [[Roman Catholic]], and by the so-called [[Popish Plot]] of 1678.<ref>Odai Johnson, ''Rehearsing the revolution'' (2000), p. 14</ref>

While a major principle of Whiggism was opposition to [[popery]], that was always much more than a mere religious preference in favour of [[Protestantism]], although most Whigs did have such a preference. [[Henry Capel|Sir Henry Capel]] outlined the principal motivation of the cry of "no popery" when he said in the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] on 27 April 1679:

{{blockquote|From Popery came the notion of a [[standing army]] and arbitrary Power... Formerly the Crown of Spain, and now France, supports this root of Popery amongst us; but lay Popery flat, and there's an end of arbitrary Government and power. It is a mere chimera, or notion, without Popery.<ref>John Kenyon, ''The Popish Plot'' (Phoenix Press, 2000), pp. 2–3</ref>}}

Although they were unsuccessful in preventing the accession of the Duke of York to the throne, the Whigs in alliance with [[William III of England|William of Orange]] brought him down in the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688. By that event, a new supremacy of parliament was established, which itself was one of the principles of Whiggism, much as it had been the chief principle of the [[Roundheads]] in an earlier generation.<ref>Melinda S. Zook, ''Radical Whigs and conspiratorial politics in late Stuart England'' (1999), p. xiv</ref>

The great Whiggish achievement was the [[Bill of Rights 1689|Bill of Rights of 1689]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Maurice Adams|author2=Anne Meuwese|author3=Ernst Hirsch Ballin|title=Constitutionalism and the Rule of Law: Bridging Idealism and Realism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-oY7DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA97|year=2017|publisher=Cambridge UP|page=97|isbn=978-1316883259}}</ref> It made Parliament, not the Crown, supreme. It established free elections to the Commons (although they were mostly controlled by the local landlord), free speech in parliamentary debates, and asserted the prohibition of "cruel or unusual punishment".<ref>
{{Cite web |last=Blackburn |first=Robert |title=Britain's unwritten constitution |url=http://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/britains-unwritten-constitution |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702182252/http://www.bl.uk/magna-carta/articles/britains-unwritten-constitution |archive-date=2 July 2015 |website=British Library}}</ref>

==Variations==
[[File:Algernon Sidney 1622-1683 Discourses 1698.jpg|thumb|Title page of Sidney's ''Discourses Concerning Government'' (1698)]]
Lee Ward (2008) argues that the philosophical origins of Whiggism came in [[James Tyrrell (writer)|James Tyrrell]]'s ''Patriarcha Non Monarcha'' (1681), [[John Locke]]'s ''[[Two Treatises of Government]]'' (1689) and [[Algernon Sidney]]'s ''[[Discourses Concerning Government]]'' (1698).<ref>Lee Ward, ''The Politics of Liberty in England and Revolutionary America'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004)</ref> All three were united in opposing [[Robert Filmer|Sir Robert Filmer]]'s defence of [[Divine right of kings|divine right]] and [[absolute monarchy]]. Tyrrell propounded a moderate Whiggism which interpreted England's balanced and mixed constitution "as the product of a contextualised social compact blending elements of custom, history, and prescription with inherent natural law obligations".<ref>Ward, p. 14</ref> Sidney, on the other hand, emphasised the main themes of [[republicanism]] and based Whig ideology in the sovereignty of the people by proposing a constitutional reordering that would both elevate the authority of Parliament and democratise its forms. Sidney also emphasised classical republican notions of virtue.<ref>Ward, ch. 6</ref> Ward says that Locke's liberal Whiggism rested on a radically individualist theory of natural rights and limited government.<ref>Ward, ch. 8–9</ref> Tyrrell's moderate position came to dominate Whiggism and British constitutionalism as a whole from 1688 to the 1770s.<ref>Ward, ch. 11</ref> The more radical ideas of Sidney and Locke, argues Ward, became marginalised in Britain, but emerged as a dominant strand in American republicanism. The issues raised by the Americans, starting with the [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act]] crisis of 1765, ripped Whiggism apart in a battle of parliamentary sovereignty (Tyrrell) versus popular sovereignty (Sidney and Locke).<ref>Ward, pp. 327–350</ref>

==Across the British Empire==
Whiggism took different forms in England and Scotland, even though from 1707 the two nations shared a [[Parliament of Great Britain|single parliament]].<ref name=hearn>Jonathan Hearn, ''Claiming Scotland: national identity and liberal culture'' (2000), p. 138</ref> While English Whiggism had at its heart the power of parliament, creating for that purpose a [[constitutional monarchy]] and a permanently [[Succession to the British throne|Protestant succession to the throne]], Scottish Whigs gave a higher priority to using power for religious purposes, including maintaining the authority of the [[Church of Scotland]], justifying the [[Protestant Reformation]] and emulating the [[Covenanters]].<ref name=hearn/>

There were also Whigs in the North American colonies and while Whiggism there had much in common with that in [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]], it too had its own priorities. In the unfolding of the [[American Revolution]] such Whiggism became known as [[Republicanism in the United States|republicanism]].<ref>George Herbert Guttridge, ''English whiggism and the American revolution'' (1974), pp. 10, 68</ref>

In India, Prashad (1966) argues that the profound influence of the ideas of [[Edmund Burke]] introduced Whiggism into the mainstream of Indian political thought. The Indians adopted the basic assumptions of Whiggism, especially the natural leadership of an elite, the political incapacity of the masses, the great partnership of the civil society and the best methods of achieving social progress, analysing the nature of society and the nation and depicting the character of the ideal state.<ref>Ganesh Prashad, "Whiggism in India," ''Political Science Quarterly'' Vol. 81, No. 3 (Sep. 1966), pp. 412–431 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2147642 in JSTOR]</ref>

==Further reading==
* Carswell, John, ''The Old Cause: Three Biographical Studies in Whiggism'' (London: The Cresset Press, 1954) <!-- [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=24628959 online text] QUESTIA is dead --> deals with Thomas Wharton, George Dodington, and Charles James Fox {{ISBN?}}
* [[H. T. Dickinson]], ''Walpole and the Whig Supremacy'' (University of London Press, 1973) {{ISBN?}}
* Dickinson, H. T. "Whiggism in the eighteenth century", in John Cannon, ed., ''The Whig Ascendancy: Colloquies on Hanoverian Britain'' (1981), pp.&nbsp;28–44 {{ISBN?}}
* [[William Herbert Dray]], "[[J. H. Hexter]], Neo-Whiggism and Early Stuart Historiography" in ''History and Theory'', vol. 26 (1987), pp.&nbsp;133–149
* Goldie, Mark, "The Roots of True Whiggism, 1688–94", in ''History of Political Thought'' 1 (1980), pp.&nbsp;195–236
* Guttridge, George Herbert, ''English Whiggism and the American Revolution'' (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1942) {{ISBN?}}
* Mitchell, Leslie, ''Whig World: 1760–1837'' (2006) {{ISBN?}}
* O'Gorman, Frank, ''The Rise of Party in England: The Rockingham Whigs 1760–1782'' (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1975) {{ISBN?}}
* Robbins, Caroline. ''[[The Eighteenth-Century Commonwealthman: Studies in the Transmission, Development, and Circumstance of English Liberal Thought from the Restoration of Charles II until the War with the Thirteen Colonies]]'' (1959, 2004). {{ISBN?}}
* Smith, Ernest Anthony, ''Whig principles and party politics: Earl Fitzwilliam and the Whig party, 1748–1833'' (Manchester University Press, 1975) {{ISBN?}}
* Ward, Lee, ''The Politics of Liberty in England and Revolutionary America'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004) {{ISBN?}}
* [[Basil Williams (historian)|Williams, Basil]], and C. H. Stuart, ''The Whig Supremacy, 1714–1760'' (Oxford History of England) (2nd ed. 1962) {{ISBN?}}
* Womersley, David, Paddy Bullard, Abigail Williams, ''Cultures of Whiggism: New Essays on English Literature and Culture in the Long Eighteenth Century'' (University of Delaware Press, 2005) {{ISBN?}}

===Primary sources===
* [[Edmund Burke|Burke, Edmund]], ''An Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs'' (1791)
* [[Thomas De Quincey|De Quincey, Thomas]]. "Dr. [[Samuel Parr]]: or, Whiggism in its relations to literature" in ''Works of Thomas de Quincey'', vol. v, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NqYHAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA30 from p. 30]
* [[Benjamin Disraeli|Disraeli, Benjamin]], ed. William Hutcheon, ''Whigs and Whiggism: political writings'' (new edition, 1971) {{ISBN?}}
* [[Edmund Hickeringill|Hickeringill, Edmund]], ''The history of Whiggism: or, The Whiggish-plots, principles, and practices'' (London: Printed for E. Smith, at the Elephant and Castle in Cornhill, 1682)

==See also==
* [[Whig history]]
* [[Patriot Whigs]]
* [[Radical Whigs]]
* [[Rockingham Whigs]]
* [[True Whig Party]]
* [[Whig Party (United States)]]
* [[Patriot (American Revolution)]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

{{Sister project links}}
{{Liberalism}}
{{Political ideologies}}
{{Kingdom of England}}
{{Kingdom of Great Britain}}

[[Category:Whiggism| ]]
[[Category:Conservative liberalism]]
[[Category:Classical liberalism]]
[[Category:Liberalism in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Political ideologies]]
[[Category:Political philosophy]]
[[Category:Political culture]]
[[Category:Political history of England]]
[[Category:Politics of the Kingdom of Great Britain]]