What divided Whigs and Tories in the reigns of William III and Queen Anne (1688-1714)?

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History Essay 2: Whigs & Tories Divided

2. What divided Whigs and Tories in the reigns of William III and Queen

Anne (1688-1714)?

The Glorious Revolution brought about numerous changes to Britain, and perhaps most significantly was the growth in power for parliament. This essay shall attempt to answer what divided the parliamentary parties, the Whigs and Tories, during the reign of William III and Queen Anne in the late 17th to early 18th century, whilst examining the history of the surrounding and subsequent future events of this divide.

The political background of Britain prior to 1689 was in turmoil as a result of the upheaval of James II. Due to his pro-Catholic agenda, and for having a son who could continue this policy, William of Orange (later to be William the III) was invited to Britain to defend Protestantism and depose of James. In late 1688, he landed with an army and ousted James, letting him escape to France – this would cause subsequent problems later on. After Parliament was called, it was decided that the throne was vacant and in Mary’s interests William became king (Trueman, 2000). After 1689 Parliament began to meet yearly, with a general election being every 2 years; the two parties, Whig and Tory, consistently contended with one another (it should be noted that these two parties existed prior to William and Anne’s reign).

The first of many issues which the Whigs and Tories were to disagree upon was of William as a successor to the throne, and the general Protestant succession which followed. The Whigs accepted William, despite being Dutch, as the rightful King entitled to all the powers of a monarch (Speck, 1970)1. The Tories, however, were adamantly against this – the Tory party had, and still has, a very English influenced jurisdiction aimed to uphold traditions and be conservative in ruling the country; hence the name ‘Tory’. A vast majority simply could not accept this new ruler purely for not being native to Britain. This xenophobic attitude, which is a recurring theme throughout Tory policy, created a dislike of William and his Hanoverian successor George I – although George was in line for the throne as a Protestant he was very distant in having a claim to it, yet under the Bill of Rights only he could receive the title of King. The Whigs supported the Hanoverian successor, not longing for a repeat of a Catholic monarch. As a result the Tories had to accept George; though they resented foreigners, they hated Catholics more (Trueman, 2001). Linking with this issue was the on the two different interpretations of the revolution: whilst the Whigs believed James had been resisted against and overthrown, the Tories disagreed and argued that he had simply abdicated the throne (Smith, 1998)¹ - the Tory party had a complicated loyalty to the monarch, ranging from the majority believing in complete obedience to the minority Jacobite supporters who desired James back. It is this complication which was a factor in leading to the distrust of the Tories later on during the Jacobite rising of 1715 out of the party’s division on different issues such as the idea of a foreign ruler, resulting in the Whigs becoming the supreme party (Hill, 1999).

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As mentioned before, the Tories were not an entirely accepting party when it came to matters of foreigners and foreign policy, to the extent that they may be called racist by contemporary standards. Again, the Tory party is a conflicted one with contradictory views – many Tories disliked the idea of the anti-French policy and wanted them as an ally, yet they distrusted the Dutch to great lengths. The Tories also had a more passive perspective on the outlook of Britain with many aiming to reduce the wars fought with France due to the cost, loss of life and the ...

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