Research Of Political Ideology Of Early Stage Of English Whig (1679-1714)

English Whig, born in the Exclusion Bill Crisis period during the second half of the17th century, is the predecessor of Liberal Party, British bourgeois political party in the modern sense. English Whig played significant roles in British modern history; therefore, it is great of necessity to conduct thorough research into English Whig.1679-1714is Whig’s early stage, its political ideology not only reflected the changes and development in the political condition at that time, freedom and democracy factors contained also provided rich nutrients for the birth of Liberalism. A profound understanding of the political ideology of its early stage is conducive to proper comprehend British history as well as contributive to an accurate grasp of the law of development of parties politics. Therefore, it is significant to research the political ideology of Whig’s early stage. In view of what have said above, this thesis is intended to start from the changes of English political situation, research the contents, changes and features of political ideology of early stage of Whig in the context of the formation and development of the party.This article is divided into four chapters. The reasons of choosing this topic, description of the time boundaries of Whig’s early stage and the research situation of the domestic and foreign scholars are included in the Introduction. Chapter One describes the political ideology of Whig in the "Exclusion Bill Crisis" period (1679-1681). The first section of this chapter describes the political situation of the Exclusion Bill Crisis and the formation of Whig. The Country Opposition criticized the internal and external policies of Charles II inside and outside parliament; they strove the sanction of Exclusion Bill aiming at the abolition of the right of the Duke of York, James to succession to the throne in three Exclusion Parliaments. The Whig was gradually formed in this process. Section two discusses the attitude of Whig to the political issues during this period. Opposition to the succession of James, criticism of the King’s government and the sympathy for the Protestant Dissent marked Whig’s political standpoint. Based on two elementary paths of statement of political ideology, constitutional theory and historicism, the third section explores the political thought of Whig for defending the exclusion of the Catholic inheritor, a limited monarchy and the right of resistance.The second chapter studies the political ideology of Whig during Glorious Revolution (1688-1689). The first section of this chapter introduces the context, process and settlement of Glorious Revolution. Tyranny and misgovernment of James II resulted in the outbreak of Glorious Revolution; the English ruling class finalized the Revolution Settlement in Convention Parliament:declared the throne vacant, William and Mary succeeded to the throne. The second section studies the justification of Whigs for Glorious Revolution in Convention Parliament by the record of the Whigs’debates and speeches in Convention Parliament. The resistance to James II was vindicated by Whigs from theoretical and historical perspectives. Based on the pamphlets published during Glorious Revolution, the third section investigates the ideas of the Whigs in vindication of Glorious Revolution.The third chapter works over the political ideology of Whig in William-Mary and Queen Anne period (1690-1714). The first section of this chapter describes British overall political situation. With the adoption of a number of bills after the revolution, Constitutional Monarchy was gradually established in Britain. Political structure after the revolution presented a binary frame:on the one hand, the Two-Party politics continued to play a dominate role; on the other hand, it’s obvious to detect the separation of Court-Country gradually. The second section analyzes the Whigs’pamphlets defending Glorious Revolution published during the year of1690-1714. The tracts showed changes of Whig’s thought with regard to the defending the theory of resistance right. The third section turned to political reality, and discussed the concept of parliamentary sovereignty, the religious policies and ideas, as well as Whig’s attitude of commercial and financial interest. By analyzing defense of the revolution and the attitude to realities, the thought of Whig revealed a conservative trend after Glorious Revolution.On the basis of exploring political ideas and concepts of Whig in different stages, the fourth Chapter summarizes the characteristics of political ideology of the early stage of Whig:Immaturity(The English man of assets in the late17th century and early18th century was far from mature bourgeois, the diversity of Whig’s political thought and ideas embodies the late-maturing characteristic of British bourgeoisie); Variability(In different period Whig occupied different status, consequently its ideology changed with the transformation of reality); Liberalism color(The liberalism factor including the political thought and ideas of the Whigs was not only the main symbol of Whig at that times, but also contributed to the birth of the liberalism. Nevertheless we should not exaggerate the liberalism tendency in Whig’s political ideology); Historicism (The Whigs always used history as the method of expound of their ideas and concepts; Pragmatism tendency. Whig was one part of English ruling class, its political thought reflected the pragmatic attitude of the political reality); Dim cover of religion(Religious factors still took up a small space in the political ideology of Whig, but it had been a supplementary part for the Whig’s political ideology in this period).After researching contents and features of Whig’s political ideology during the year of1679-1714, this thesis argues that political ideology of Whig’s early stage changed with the alteration of political situation, which showed an attitude of advance with the times; depending on the immature political ideology, British nonage bourgeois not only articulated their own interests, but also laid the foundation for the modern bourgeois liberal and democracy concept.