Whig

Whig, English political party. The name, originally a term of abuse first used for Scottish Presbyterians in the 17th cent., seems to have been a shortened form of whiggamor [cattle driver]. It was applied (c.1679) to the English opponents of the succession of the Roman Catholic duke of York (later James II), a group led by the 1st earl of Shaftesbury. The Glorious Revolution of 1688, in which the Whigs were joined by many Tories (see Tory), assured a Protestant succession and the constitutional supremacy of Parliament over the king. Political parties during the 18th cent. were essentially groups of factions allied on specific issues. After the accession of William III advocacy of a constitutional monarchy no longer distinguished the Whigs, and during the reign of Queen Anne they became identified increasingly with aristocratic large landholders and the wealthy merchant interests. Under George I and George II most governments were composed of those with aristocratic connections, loosely Whig. The disgrace of Anne's Tory ministers who negotiated for the return of James II on her death, and the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745 stigmatized the Tories as supporters of absolute monarchy, and the Whig ministries of Robert Walpole and Henry Pelham dominated the period. After the accession (1760) of George III there were at first no real issues around which parties could polarize, but a Whig party gradually emerged, united largely in opposition to William Pitt, under the leadership of Charles James Fox. This party became identified with dissent, industrial interests, and social and parliamentary reform, and also with the Prince Regent, later George IV. Whig ministries under the 2d Earl Grey and Lord Melbourne were in power from 1830 to 1841, passing the first parliamentary reform bill. After this the Whigs became a part of the rising Liberal party, in which they constituted the conservative element.

Bibliography

See B. Williams, The Whig Supremacy (2d ed. 1962).

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Whig

Member of a political faction in England, particularly in the 18th century. Originally a term for Scottish Presbyterians, the name came to imply nonconformity and rebellion and was applied in 1679 to those who wanted to exclude James, the Catholic duke of York (later James II), from succession to the throne of England. The Whigs were opposed by the Tory faction in that struggle but later represented the aristocratic, landowning families and financial interests of the wealthy middle classes. They maintained power through patronage and connections in Parliament, but there was no distinct party until 1784, when Charles James Fox represented the interests of religious dissenters, industrialists, and others who sought parliamentary reform. After 1815 and following various party realignments, the political group became the Liberal Party.

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Whig

1. a member of the English political party or grouping that in 1679--80 opposed the succession to the throne of James, Duke of York (1633--1701; king of England and Ireland as James II, and of Scotland as James VII, 1685--88), on the grounds that he was a Catholic. Standing for a limited monarchy, the Whigs represented the great aristocracy and the moneyed middle class for the next 80 years. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the Whigs represented the desires of industrialists and Dissenters for political and social reform. The Whigs provided the core of the Liberal Party

2. (in the US) a supporter of the War of American Independence

3. a member of the American political party that opposed the Democrats from about 1834 to 1855 and represented propertied and professional interests

4. a conservative member of the Liberal Party in Great Britain

5. a person who advocates and believes in an unrestricted laissez-faire economy

6. History a 17th-century Scottish Presbyterian, esp one in rebellion against the Crown