Whig Party

The Whig Party was a British political grouping that emerged in the late seventeenth century and later developed into a formal party. It supported parliamentary authority and opposed the expansion of royal power.

Exclusion Crisis: A political crisis from 1679 to 1681 over excluding James, Duke of York, from the English succession. The crisis gave the emerging Whig grouping its initial cause and name.
Parliament of England: The legislature of the Kingdom of England, composed of the Crown, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. Whigs pursued influence through Parliament and defended its authority against the Crown.
Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury: An English statesman who led opposition to James, Duke of York’s succession during the Exclusion Crisis. His political network helped organize the early Whig opposition.
Act of Settlement 1701: An English statute that secured a Protestant succession and set conditions for the Crown after Queen Anne. Whig support for the Hanoverian succession shaped the monarchy’s future.
James II of England: The Catholic king of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1685 until his deposition in 1688. Opposition to his succession and Catholicism helped unite early Whigs.
Cabinet government: A system in which senior ministers collectively direct government and are politically accountable to a legislature. Whig ministries helped establish patterns of collective ministerial government.
John Locke: An English philosopher whose political writings defended natural rights and government by consent. His arguments became associated with Whig defenses of resistance and constitutional government.
Act of Union 1707: The legislation that united the kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain. Whig governments helped bring about the political union of the two kingdoms.
Glorious Revolution: The 1688–1689 overthrow of James II and establishment of William III and Mary II as monarchs. It brought Whig constitutional aims into the settlement of the monarchy.
Robert Walpole: British statesman who led the government from 1721 to 1742 and is often called Britain’s first prime minister. His long ministry demonstrated Whig dominance through parliamentary management.

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