The whig tradition in English historical thought, 1600-1860

This paper is an analytical survey of the English whig historiographical tradition and of the historical viewpoint which it produced. Emphasis is given to the interaction between the developing whig viewpoint and that of the rival tory historiography. Special attention is paid to the part played by politics in the historical debate, especially the tension created between an emerging historical scholarship and partisan propaganda.;The major whig and tory historians and their works were studied, along with a broad representation of contemporary scholarship on the subject. An attempt was made to synthesize the opinions of many contemporary historians and to use the results in an analysis of the original writers.