The Exclusion Crisis and the Birth of Whigs and Tories

Between 1679 and 1681 Parliament tried three times to pass a bill excluding James from the succession. Led by the Earl of Shaftesbury, supporters of exclusion argued that a Catholic king would threaten Protestantism and liberty, and some favoured Charles's illegitimate Protestant son, the Duke of Monmouth. Opponents insisted that hereditary succession was sacred and that excluding the rightful heir would lead back to civil war.

Each side gave the other an insulting nickname: 'Whigs' after Scottish Presbyterian rebels, and 'Tories' after Irish Catholic outlaws. The Whigs organized petitions, clubs and street processions, while Tories rallied around church and crown. In 1680 the House of Lords rejected the bill, and in March 1681 Charles dissolved a parliament summoned to Oxford after only a week. Backed by French subsidies, he never called another. The crisis left England with something new: organized rival parties competing for public opinion.