Who were the Whigs?

Answer 1

The Whigs were one of the two main political parties in Britain between the later 17th and mid-19th cents. The term, which derived from 'whiggamore', the name by which the Scots http://www.answers.com/topic/covenanters-1 had been derogatorily known, was first used by the Tories during the http://www.answers.com/topic/exclusion-crisis to brand the opponents of James, duke of York. Whiggery thus began as a distinctly oppositional and populist ideology, which saw political authority stemming from the people, a 'contract' existing between them and their king, whom they might resist if he overrode their interests. Early Whig principles played a key part in shaping the 1689 revolution settlement. As firm supporters of the Hanoverian succession the Whigs presided over George I's accession in 1714 and afterwards engineered the long-term proscription of their Tory rivals. The resulting 'Whig oligarchy' achieved a hitherto unseen stability in political life over the next few decades, with power concentrated in the hands of the great Whig families.