Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Whigs (British political party)
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
== Name == The word ''Whig'' originated as a shortening of ''Whiggamore'', a nickname for a [[Scottish Presbyterian]], particularly a [[Covenanter]]. This word first appeared in the context of the [[Whiggamore Raid]] of 1648, in which thousands of Covenanters marched on Edinburgh in order to overthrow the [[Engagers]], who sought to reinstate [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]. Its further history is unclear. The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' regards it as a compound of ''whig'', meaning "to drive briskly", and ''[[mare]]'' (which would make it an example of a [[wikt:cutthroat compound|cutthroat compound]]).<ref>{{cite OED|whiggamore|3913431577}}</ref> [[Bishop Burnet]] offers a different etymology, tracing the word to ''whiggam'', a call supposedly used to urge on horses: {{quote|The south-west counties of Scotland have seldom corn enough to serve them round the year: and the northern parts producing more than they need, those in the west come in the summer to buy at [[Leith]] the stores that come from the north: and from a word Whiggam, used in driving their horses, all that drove were called the Whiggamors, and shorter the Whiggs. Now in that year [1648], after the news came down of [[James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton|Duke Hamilton]]'s [[Battle of Preston (1648)|defeat]], the Ministers animated their people to rise, and march to Edinburgh: and they came up marching on the head of their parishes, with an unheard-of fury, praying and preaching all the way as they came. The [[Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll|Marquis of Argile]] and his party came and headed them, they being about 6000. This was called the Whiggamor's inroad: and ever after that all that opposed the Court came in contempt to be called Whiggs: and from Scotland the word was brought into England, where it is now one of our unhappy terms of distinction.<ref>{{cite book|last=Burnet|first=Gilbert|title=Bishop Burnet's History of His Own Time|date=1753|orig-date=1724|location=London|publisher=A. Millar|volume=1|pages=58 f.|url=https://archive.org/details/bishopburnetshis01burn/page/58}}</ref>}} The word entered English political discourse during the [[Exclusion Crisis]] of 1679β1681, which hinged on whether [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]'s brother, the [[James II of England|Duke of York]] (a Roman Catholic), should be allowed to succeed him as king. York's supporters were nicknamed ''Tories'' because of their supposed resemblance to Irish bandits and rebels, while his opponents were nicknamed ''Whigs'' because of their supposed resemblance to Scottish religious fanatics. In spite of their derogatory origins, the two words eventually became neutral designations for the two major factions in British politics.<ref>{{cite book |last=Newbould |first=Ian |year=1990 |title=Whiggery and Reform, 1830β41 |page=41 |isbn=0-333-53124-8 }}</ref><ref>Hume, David (1797). "LXVIII". ''The History of England''. '''VIII'''. London. p. 126.</ref>
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Whigs (British political party)
(section)
Add topic