Tory

 

(tô'rē) , English political party. The term was originally applied to outlaws in Ireland and was adopted as a derogatory name for supporters of the duke of York (later James II) at the time (c.1679–1680) when the 1st earl of Shaftesbury was proposing the duke's exclusion from the succession because of his adherence to Roman Catholicism. (The Shaftesbury group came to be known as the Whig party.) Thus the term Tory came to designate the group of men sharing beliefs in ecclesiastical uniformity, strong use of the royal prerogative, and the doctrine of divine, hereditary right to the throne. The Glorious Revolution of 1688, which many Tory leaders supported, forced most Tories to accept some concept of limited royal power, but the party retained its close identification with the Church of England, favoring the restriction of the rights of non-Anglicans. The party at that time represented primarily the country gentry, who, in addition to their staunch Anglicanism, tended to oppose England's involvement in foreign wars. The Tories were favored by Queen Anne and reached the zenith of their early power (1710–14) under the leadership of Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, and Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke. Their hegemony was broken after the accession of George I, and the party was discredited for its connections with the Jacobites. Supremacy for the next 50 years passed to the Whig factions. After the accession of George III (1760) Tory sympathizers supported the power of the sovereign as the “king's friends.” William Pitt revitalized the faction after 1783, giving it a more solid parliamentary basis. The Tories again became reactionary under the impact of the French Revolution but entrenched themselves so firmly in control of the government that they were not dislodged until 1830. In the 1820s the Tories made some attempt to adopt a program of reform, but the Reform Bill of 1832 (see Reform Acts) demoralized the party and destroyed its strength in the House of Commons. The party that grew up thereafter from the remnants of the Tory group came to be known as the Conservative party. Conservatives to the present day are still referred to as Tories. In the American colonies during the American Revolution, the term Tory was used to signify those who adhered to the policies of the mother country, the Loyalists.

Bibliography

See K. Feiling, History of the Tory Party, 1640–1714 (1924, repr. 1959); The Second Tory Party, 1714–1832 (1938, repr. 1959); L. Colley, In Defense of Oligarchy: The Tory Oligarchy, 1714–1760 (1982).

In the political tradition of some English-speaking countries, the term Tory has referred to a variety of political parties and creeds since it was first coined in the late 18th century to describe opponents to the Whigs. English Tories from the time of the Glorious Revolution up until the Reform Bill of 1832 were characterized by strong monarchist tendencies, support of the Church of England, and hostility to reform, while the Tory Party was an actual organization which held power intermittently throughout the same period.

After 1832 and supersession of the Tory Party by the Conservative Party "Tory" has become shorthand for a member of the Conservative Party or for the party in general, sometimes but by no means always as a term of abuse. Many Conservatives still call themselves "Tory" to differentiate themselves from opponents.

The term has also been used in North America, where Tory can describe the Conservative Party of Canada. During the American Revolutionary War, it described colonists who sided with Great Britain against the revolutionaries, while another nickname for them at this time was lobsterbacks, referring to the red coats of British soldiers. The term was also used during the American Civil War, when supporters of the Confederacy extended the term to Southern Unionists.

United Kingdom

Main article: British Tory Party

Tory is the most common colloquial term for members and supporters of the Conservative Party. The party as a whole is thus referred to as 'the Tories'.

Historically, the term Tory has been applied in various ways to supporters of the British monarchy. The word comes from the Middle Irish word tóraidhe, modern Irish tóraí — outlaw, robber, from the Irish word tóir, meaning 'pursuit', since outlaws were "pursued men".^[1].^[2]

British cultural references

Although the term 'Tory' is widely used in England to refer to members of the Conservative Party, it can be considered abusive, especially when used by opponents of the party.

'Captain Tory' is a popular term used to refer to a staunch supporter of the Conservative Party in Newcastle Upon Tyne and the wider region of North East England. This term is generally used in a derisory manner, owing to popular hostility toward the Conservative Party within the region. ^{[citation needed]}

Canada

The term was used to designate the pre-Confederation British ruling classes of Upper Canada and Lower Canada, known as the Family Compact and the Château Clique, an elite within the governing classes, and often members within a section of society known as the United Empire Loyalists.

In post-Confederation Canada the terms "Red Tory" and "Blue Tory" have long been used to describe the two wings of the Conservative and previously the Progressive Conservative (PC) parties. The diadic tensions originally arose out of the 1854 political union of British-Canadian Tories, French-Canadian traditionalists, and the Monarchist and Loyalist leaning sections of the emerging commercial classes at the time - many of whom were uncomfortable with the pro-American and annexationist tendencies within the liberal Grits. Tory strength and prominence in the political culture was a feature of life in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, and Manitoba.

By the 1930s, the factions within Canadian Toryism were associated with either the urban business elites, or with rural traditionalists from the country's hinterland. Over time, however, the term Blue Tory has come to embody the more ideologically neo-liberal (in the manner of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan) elements in the party, while a Red Tory is a member of the more moderate wing of the party (in the manner of John Farthing and George Grant). They are generally unified by their adherence to the monarchy in Canada.

Throughout the course of Canadian history, the Conservative Party was generally controlled by MacDonaldian Tory elements, which in Canada meant an adherence to the English-Canadian traditions of Monarchy, Empire-Commonwealth, parliamentary government, nationalism, protectionism, social reform, and eventually, acceptance of the necessity of the welfare state. By the 1970s the Progressive Conservative Party was a Keynesian-consensus party.

With the onset of stagflation in the 1970s, some Canadian Tories came under the influence of neo-liberal developments in Great Britain and the United States, which highlighted the need for privatization and supply-side interventions. In Canada, these tories have been labeled neoconservatives - which has a somewhat different connotation in the US. By the early 1980s there was no clear neoconservative in the Tory leadership cadre, but Brian Mulroney, who became leader in 1983, eventually came to adopt many policies from the Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan governments.

As Mulroney took the Progressive Conservative Party further in this direction, with policy innovations in the areas of deregulation, privatization, free-trade, and a consumption tax called the Goods and Services Tax (GST), many traditionally-minded Tories became concerned that a political and cultural schism was occurring within the party.

The 1986 creation of the Reform Party of Canada attracted some of the neo-liberals and social conservatives away from the Tory party, and as some of the neoconservative policies of the Mulroney government proved unpopular, some of the provincial-rights elements moved towards Reform as well. In 1993, Mulroney resigned, rather than fight an election based on his record after almost nine years in power. This left the PCs in disarray and scrambling to understand how to make toryism relevant in provinces such as Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia that had never had a strong tory tradition and political culture.

Thereafter in the 1990s, the PCs were a small party in the Canadian House of Commons, and could only exert legislative pressure on the government through their power in the Senate of Canada. Eventually, through death and retirements, this power waned. Joe Clark returned as leader, but the schism with the Reformers effectively watered down the combined Blue and Red Tory vote in Canada.

By the late 1990s, there was some talk of the necessity of uniting the right in Canada, if there was any hope of deterring further Liberal majorities. Many tories - both red and blue - were opposed to any such notion, while others took the view that all would have to be pragmatic if there was any hope of reviving a strong party system. The Canadian Alliance party (as the Reform Party had become), and some leading tories came together on an informal basis to see if they could find common ground. While the Tory Leader Joe Clark rebuffed the notion, the talks moved ahead and eventually in December 2003, the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative parties voted to disband and integrate into a new party called the Conservative Party of Canada.

After the merger of the PCs with the Canadian Alliance in 2003, there was some debate as to whether the "Tory" appellation should survive at the federal level. Although it was widely believed that some Alliance members would take offence to the term, it was officially accepted by the newly-merged party during the 2004 leadership convention. Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and the Prime Minister as a result of the January 23, 2006 election, regularly refers to himself as a Tory and has suggested that the new party is a natural evolution of the conservative political movement in Canada. However, many former Progressive Conservatives who opposed the merger take offence to the new party using the term, as do some members of the former Reform/Alliance wing who do not wish to be associated with the "Tory" governments of Canada's past, or the values of traditional Tory thought.

American Revolution

Before the War of Independence, the founders of Anglican and Catholic colonies were generally well disposed towards the Stuart dynasty. Their affections were alienated by a new, foreign dynasty which seemed to little know or care for the Tudor-Stuart legacy in the New World. Those who founded the Puritan colonies of New England were Cromwellians and Orangists.

It is interesting to note the chief allies of the American Patriots were Whigs such as Charles James Fox and Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, each with direct ties to the House of Stuart and probably resentful of the Hanoverian succession--with its dire consequences in the old colonial empire in North America.

The term Tory or Loyalists was used in the American Revolution to describe those who remained loyal to the British Crown. Since early in the eighteenth century, Tory had described those upholding the right of the Kings over parliament. During the revolution, particularly after the Declaration of Independence in 1776 this use was extended to cover anyone who remained loyal to the British Crown. Those Loyalists who settled in Canada, Nova Scotia, or the Bahamas after the American Revolution are known as United Empire Loyalists.

Tory was frequently used as a revolutionary's pejorative, e.g., a "Tory militia" was a militia unit which took the British side during the War.

The British term Whig, referring to the anti-Tory political movement in England, had a much longer life in the American political discourse, especially through the United States Whig Party.

See also

• Ultra-Tories

External links

• Tory Act

References

1. ^ Entry for "Tory" from Websters New World Dictionary & Thesaurus, version 2.0 for PC, 1998
2. ^ Entry for "Tory" from Answers.com online dictionary http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?s=Tory&gwp=16

General references

Canada section:

• W. Christian and C. Campbell (eds), Parties, Leaders and Ideologies in Canada
• J. Farthing, Freedom Wears a Crown
• G. Grant, Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism
• G. Horowitz, "Conservatism, Liberalism and Socialism in Canada: An Interpretation", CJEPS (1966).

The references in this article would be clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking.

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