This sparkling account of the great age of Whiggery during the reigns of George I and II is distinguished by its attention to social history. The author deftly explains how the political transformation which brought an end to the rage of party under Queen Anne and ushered in the strife of faction under the Hanoverians was related to social and economic conditions. This major political change brought stability to England and by important, though incremental shifts in mobility, religion, agriculture, industry, and literacy slowly transformed English society.
W. A. Speck argues that in 1714 England was ruled by rival elites called Tory and Whig and that by 1760 they had fused to form a ruling class. This union became possible as divisive issues faded and economic and political interests were shared. Whiggery itself, however, split apart for lesser reasons. Country Whigs were restorationists on moral and religious grounds while Court Whigs neither Saints, nor Spartans, nor Reformers created the mechanisms to realize the promise of the Glorious Revolution of 1689: mixed monarchy, property and liberty, and Protestantism.
"Stability and Strife" is the most up-to-date book in English eighteenth-century history in its methods the use of social science data and literary sources and in its sophisticated topical and narrative approaches to this fascinating era."
- ISBN10 0674833503
- ISBN13 9780674833500
- Publish Date 15 November 1979
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 15 January 2011
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Harvard University Press
- Format Paperback
- Pages 224
- Language English