Heritage of the english revolution in the ideology of early political parties

Abstract

This article analyzes the conceptual influence of the political parties of the English revolution of the middle of the 17th century that made up an arsenal of groups (independents, levellers, republicans) on the ideologists of political parties of the Tories and Whigs during the Stuart Restoration and early Enlightenment. The idea of the divine origin of Royal power became сentral in early Tory ideology. Many of them defended the absolute, unlimited form of the monarchy. More complex were the origins of the ideology of the opposition. Early Whigs borrowed the main ideas first and foremost in the arsenal of so-called “silk” independents. Opposed to absolute monarchy, Whigs denied the divine origin of Royal power. Their ideologues advocated a constitutional monarchy. Most Whigs saw the possibility of limiting Royal power through the law. They allotted to Parliament the crucial role in constitutional monarchy. Early parties were spokesmen for the ideology of the new bourgeois classes of society which had begun to take shape after the revolution of the mid 17th century. The Tories rejected any attempts to modify the existing form of government, because only monarchy was fully meet their requirements. Whigs, expressing the interests of the bourgeoisie and the new nobility, fought against absolutism, not intending, however, to abolish the Royal authority. The main ideas from the arsenal of the revolutionaries was later adopted by the ideologues of political parties in the age of Enlightenment, though enlightenment had condemned the revolution and has been at pains to deny any continuity or connection with the levellers, the independents and their followers from the Restoration period. Theories of social contract, constitutional monarchy, separations and balances branches of the power, resistance to tyranny, protection of private property, personal and civil liberties, were not only included in the arsenal of early political parties of the 17–18th centuries but also formed the basis for a model of liberal democracy which was to become widespread in the modern world. Thus the influence of the English revolution of the middle of the 17th century in the ideological plan was more significant and long-term, than the Glorious Revolution of 1688–1689. Refs 21.