The Dynamics of Change: The Crisis of the 1750s and English Party Systems / Edition 1

by J. C. D. Clark

Overview

It is often assumed that Sir Lewis Namier and Sir Herbert Butterfield demolished the 'Whig interpretation of history'. In fact, much was allowed to remain standing by their failure to offer a new synthesis of English party politics. In this book Dr Clark provides the key component for such a new synthesis by a detailed exposition of the crisis of the 1750s, which was instrumental in the destruction of the party system and the emergence of new practices in the multi-factional world. The Court v. Country analysis of the politics of c. 1714–1760, still widely current, is refuted by a demonstration of the survival of the Whig and Tory parties of Queen Anne's reign until the 1750s; the long debate about George III and the constitution is set in a new perspective; and major new insights are offered into the nature of party and party politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521525961
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/18/2002
Series:	Cambridge Studies in the History and Theory of Politics
Edition description:	First Paperback Edition
Pages:	636
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.06(h) x 1.50(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; Notes on references; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The accession of Newcastle, March–September 1754; 2. The defeat of the Pitt-Fox Alliance, October 1754–March 1755; 3. The reconstruction of the ministry, April–September 1755: Leicester House and the recruitment of Fox; 4. 'That exploded trick': Newcastle, Fox and the defeat of Leicester House patriotism, October 1755–March 1756; 5. The resignation of Newcastle, April–October 1756; 6. The Pitt-Devonshire ministry, October 1756–March 1757; 7. 'The arbiter of England': the formation of the Newcastle-Pitt coalition, April–June 1757; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.