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Whig history is a pejorative name given to a view of history that is shared by a number of eighteenth and nineteenth century British writers on historical subjects. It takes its name from the British Whigs, advocates of the power of Parliament, who opposed the Tories, advocates of the power of the King and the aristocracy. Look up pejorative on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
(17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...
Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ...
HIStory: Past, Present And Future - Book 1 was a double-disc album by Michael Jackson released in 1995. ...
This article is about the British Whig party. ...
The British Houses of Parliament, London, UK A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system derived from that of the United Kingdom. ...
This article does not cite its references or sources. ...
This is a list of British monarchs, that is, the monarchs on the thrones of some of the various kingdoms that have existed on, or incorporated, the island of Great Britain, namely: England (united with Wales from 1536) up to 1707; Scotland up to 1707; The Kingdom of Great Britain...
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The phrase was coined by the British historian Herbert Butterfield in 1931, in his small but influential book The Whig Interpretation of History. The characteristics of Whig history as seen by Butterfield include: Herbert Butterfield (October 7, 1900-July 20, 1979) was a British historian and philosopher of history (see philosophy of history) who is remembered chiefly for a slim volume entitled The Whig Interpretation of History 1931. ...
1931 (MCMXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday. ...
- Interpreting the past in light of the present day British constitutional political settlement; and specifically
- Viewing the British parliamentary, semi-democratic constitutional monarchy as the acme of human political development;
- Assuming that the constitutional monarchy was in fact an ideal held throughout all ages of the past, despite the observed facts of British history and the several power struggles between monarchs and parliaments;
- Assuming that political figures in the past held current political beliefs;
- Assuming that British history was a march of progress whose inevitable outcome was the constitutional monarchy; and
- Presenting political figures of the past as heroes, who advanced the cause of this political progress, or villains, who sought to hinder its inevitable triumph.
A number of well known books exemplify these tendencies. Sir William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England contains many of the assumptions of Whig history in an earlier form. Henry Hallam's Constitutional History of England shows many of the traits of Whig history. But perhaps the pinnacle of Whig history is exemplified by Thomas Macaulay's multivolume History of England from the Accession of James II, whose first chapter proposes that: This article is part of the series Politics of the United Kingdom Parliament Crown House of Lords Lord Chancellor House of Commons Speaker Prime Minister Cabinet Government Departments Scottish Parliament Scottish Executive National Assembly for Wales Welsh Assembly Government Northern Ireland Assembly Northern Ireland Executive Local government Greater London Authority...
The British Houses of Parliament, London, UK A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system derived from that of the United Kingdom. ...
Democracy (from Greek δημοκÏατία (demokratia), δημος (demos) the common people + κÏατειν (kratein) to rule + the suffix ία (ia), literally the common people rule) is a system where the population of a society controls the government. ...
A constitutional monarchy is a form of monarchical government established under a constitutional system which acknowledges a hereditary or elected monarch as head of state. ...
Acme (Greek ακμή, the peak, zenith, prime) denotes the best of something. ...
Progress can refer to: The idea of a process in which societies or individuals become better or more modern (technologically and/or socially). ...
Sir Galahad, a hero of Arthurian legend From the Greek cognate ηÏως, in mythology and folklore, a hero (male) or heroine (female) is an eminent character archetype that quintessentially embodies key traits valued by its originating culture. ...
A typical cartoon villain. ...
Sir William Blackstone, (July 10, 1723 – February 14, 1780) was an English jurist and professor who produced the historical treatise on the common law called Commentaries on the Laws of England, first published in four volumes over 1765–1769. ...
The Commentaries on the Laws of England is an influential 18th century treatise on the common law of England by Sir William Blackstone, originally published by the Clarendon Press at Oxford, 1765-1769. ...
Henry Hallam (July 9, 1777 - January 21, 1859) was an English historian. ...
Quotes His imagination resembled the wings of an ostrich. ...
- I shall relate how the new settlement was, during many troubled years, successfully defended against foreign and domestic enemies; how, under that settlement, the authority of law and the security of property were found to be compatible with a liberty of discussion and of individual action never before known; how, from the auspicious union of order and freedom, sprang a prosperity of which the annals of human affairs had furnished no example; how our country, from a state of ignominious vassalage, rapidly rose to the place of umpire among European powers; how her opulence and her martial glory grew together; how, by wise and resolute good faith, was gradually established a public credit fruitful of marvels which to the statesmen of any former age would have seemed incredible; how a gigantic commerce gave birth to a maritime power, compared with which every other maritime power, ancient or modern, sinks into insignificance; how Scotland, after ages of enmity, was at length united to England, not merely by legal bonds, but by indissoluble ties of interest and affection; how, in America, the British colonies rapidly became far mightier and wealthier than the realms which Cortes and Pizarro had added to the dominions of Charles the Fifth; how in Asia, British adventurers founded an empire not less splendid and more durable than that of Alexander.
- . . . (T)he history of our country during the last hundred and sixty years is eminently the history of physical, of moral, and of intellectual improvement.
Whig history, despite its flaws as an interpretation of the past, remains valuable. Its interpretation of past events may be open to question, but even its flaws remain instructive; it reveals what respectably liberal Britons believed about politics. It turns history into an epic tale of dramatic struggles, told by good writers for whom historical writing was a form of literature. Though it may mislead about the motives and beliefs of its characters, it's still a good yarn.
The uses to which British history was put in Whig history reveal much about the beliefs that motivated political actions in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As such, Whig history -- not so much despite its flaws, but because of them -- offers a glimpse into the minds of both the British reformers and the American revolutionaries. Combatants American Revolutionaries, France, Netherlands, Spain, allies British Empire, German states, allies Commanders George Washington Comte de Rochambeau Nathanael Greene William Howe Henry Clinton Charles Cornwallis Strength {{{strength1}}} {{{strength2}}} Casualties {{{casualties1}}} {{{casualties2}}} {{{notes}}} The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War for Independence, was the military...
The term has received use in historical disciplines outside of British history as well, coming to symbolize any teleological, hero-based, and transhistorical narratives. Teleology is the philosophical study of purpose (from the Greek teleos, perfect, complete, which in turn comes from telos, end, result). ...
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