Glorious Revolution: Birth of Whigs and Tories

Hello! Welcome to your second lesson.

In our first session, we sketched the life of Jonathan Swift, noting his complex identity and his pivotal shift from the Whig to the Tory party. We touched on his self-description as "a Whig in politics and Tory in religion," a statement that hints at the deep ideological currents of his time. This lesson dives into the historical event that created those currents.

Our learning outcome is to explain the significance of the Glorious Revolution (1688) as the backdrop for the Whig-Tory split. This event isn't just a historical curiosity; it's the constitutional earthquake that defined the political world Swift inhabited. It established the battle lines between the two parties and created the principles and prejudices that Swift would both champion and satirize. For someone with your background in political philosophy, this is a masterclass in how abstract ideas about power, succession, and liberty play out in the real world.

This lesson should take you approximately 50 minutes to complete.

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1. The Stage for Conflict: Crown, Parliament, and Religion

The Glorious Revolution did not happen in a vacuum. It was the climax of a long-running power struggle in England, stretching back through the Civil War of the 1640s. The central tension was between two questions:

1. Power: Does the monarch rule by divine right, or by consent of the governed as expressed through Parliament?
2. Religion: What is the status of the Church of England, and how should the state treat Catholics and "Dissenters" (non-Anglican Protestants)?

Under King Charles II (reigned 1660-1685), this tension reached a breaking point. Charles, a savvy political operator, was personally inclined toward religious toleration and sympathetic to Catholicism. Parliament, dominated by Anglican country gentry, was fiercely anti-Catholic and protective of its own authority, especially over law and finance.

To understand this prelude to the revolution, please read the first two sections of the following article.

Reading (8-10 minutes):

BRIA 25 3 England Glorious Revolution - Online Lessons

• Focus on: The sections "England’s Glorious Revolution: Context" and "Charles II."
• What to look for: Pay attention to the legacy of religious turmoil from Henry VIII to the Puritans. Note the specific clash between Charles II's Declaration of Indulgence (an assertion of royal prerogative) and Parliament's response with the Test Acts (an assertion of parliamentary power). This is a perfect example of the constitutional tug-of-war.

This conflict set the stage for the next, more acute crisis: the question of who would succeed Charles.

2. The Birth of Parties: The Exclusion Crisis (1679-1681)

The terms "Whig" and "Tory" were born from a specific political battle. King Charles II had no legitimate children. His legal heir was his younger brother, James, Duke of York—an open and devout Catholic. The prospect of a Catholic king terrified much of the Protestant political establishment, who feared it would mean a return to absolute monarchy and subjugation to the Pope.

A movement arose in Parliament to pass an "Exclusion Bill" to block James from the throne. This debate cleaved the political nation in two, and the derisive nicknames they hurled at each other stuck.

• "Whigs": Supporters of Exclusion. The name derived from "Whiggamor," a term for Scottish Presbyterian rebels.
• "Tories": Opponents of Exclusion, who supported the traditional, hereditary line of succession. The name was a term for Irish Catholic outlaws.

To grasp the core principles that defined these new factions, please read the following sections from our two resources.

Reading 1 (5 minutes):

BRIA 25 3 England Glorious Revolution - Online Lessons

• Focus on: The section "Emergence of Whigs and Tories."
• What to look for: This article provides a clear, concise table of the basic principles of each party. Notice how the Tories emphasize hereditary succession and religious uniformity, while the Whigs argue that the "common good" can override succession and support toleration for Protestant Dissenters.

Reading 2 (5 minutes):

Whig and Tory--Historical Outline

• Focus on: The section "Application of These Political Labels in the Exclusion Crisis" (paragraphs [¶10] and [¶11]).
• What to look for: This text adds philosophical depth. It connects the Tory position to the doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance—the belief that the king is God's regent and must be obeyed. Conversely, it links the Whig position to a right of resistance when fundamental rights are threatened.

As you can see, these are not just political positions; they are competing political philosophies. The Whig argument, with its emphasis on parliamentary rights and resistance to a monarch who breaks the trust of the people, is a real-world application of the ideas your previous studies have covered in John Locke's Second Treatise of Government. The Tory position reflects an older, more traditionalist view of hierarchy and obligation, which you might connect to the ideas of thinkers like Robert Filmer or even a particular interpretation of Hobbesian sovereignty.

Ultimately, the Tories and King Charles II defeated the Exclusion Bill, and James was set to inherit the throne.

3. The Revolution: 1688 and the Great Reversal

In 1685, James II became king. Despite initial promises to protect the Anglican Church, his actions quickly alienated nearly everyone, including many of his Tory supporters. He used his royal prerogative to suspend the Test Acts, appointed Catholics to high office, built a large standing army, and prosecuted Anglican bishops who opposed him. The birth of his son in June 1688 created the prospect of a permanent Catholic dynasty.

This was the final straw. In an extraordinary move, a group of seven leading Whigs and Tories jointly sent a secret invitation to William of Orange, the Protestant ruler of Holland who was married to James's Protestant daughter, Mary. They asked him to invade England to secure their religion and liberties.

Please read the conclusion to this story in our main resource.

Reading (8-10 minutes):

BRIA 25 3 England Glorious Revolution - Online Lessons

• Focus on: The sections "James II and Toleration" and "William of Orange and the Settlement."
• What to look for: Note how James II's actions confirmed the Whigs' worst fears. Observe the compromise in the final "Settlement": William and Mary are made joint monarchs, but only after accepting a Declaration of Rights (later the Bill of Rights) that formally limited royal power and affirmed Parliament's authority.

The Glorious Revolution was, in essence, the victory of the Whig principles first articulated during the Exclusion Crisis. It established a constitutional monarchy where the monarch ruled by leave of Parliament, not by divine right alone.

This leads us to a crucial inversion in political identity, as explained in our second resource.

Reading (3-4 minutes):

Whig and Tory--Historical Outline

• Focus on: Paragraphs [¶3] and [¶25].
• What to look for: The key insight here is the role reversal. Before 1688, Whigs were the "revisionists" and Tories the "loyalists." After 1688, the Whigs became the staunchest defenders of the new status quo (the revolutionary settlement). The Tories, who had prized loyalty to the legitimate monarch, were now in the awkward position of being the opposition party, often suspected of disloyalty to the new regime and secretly wishing for a return of the exiled Stuart dynasty (a sentiment known as Jacobitism).

This is the political landscape that Swift inherited. When he entered politics, the Whigs were the party of the new establishment—of the moneyed interests, of war against France, and of the Hanoverian succession. The Tories were the party of the landed gentry, the Anglican Church, and a deep suspicion of the new political and financial order that the Revolution had created.

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Conclusion

Today, we've dissected the event that forged the political world of Jonathan Swift.

Key Takeaways:

• Origins in Crisis: The Whig and Tory parties emerged from the Exclusion Crisis (1679-81), a parliamentary battle over whether to exclude the Catholic James from the throne.
• Competing Philosophies: The Tories championed hereditary succession and non-resistance, while the Whigs argued for parliamentary supremacy and a right of resistance, channeling the ideas of John Locke.
• A Whig Revolution: The Glorious Revolution (1688) was a practical victory for Whig principles. It saw James II deposed and replaced by William and Mary, who accepted the Bill of Rights, creating a constitutional monarchy.
• The Great Reversal: Post-1688, the Whigs became the defenders of the new establishment, while the Tories became the party of opposition, their loyalty to the new dynasty perpetually in question.

Understanding this backdrop is indispensable. When Swift attacks the Whigs, he is not attacking rebels; he is attacking the powerful, entrenched establishment of his day. When he defends Tory principles, he is aligning himself with a party that sees itself as the guardian of England's traditional institutions—the Church and the landed aristocracy—against a tide of "modern" finance and political corruption.

Up Next:

Now that we have established the origin story of the Whig-Tory divide, our next lesson will drill down into their specific conflicts and core tenets during Queen Anne's reign (1702-1714), the period of Swift's greatest political influence. This will equip us to understand the precise arguments and allegiances at play in his first major political and religious satires.