Whig

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In politics, the term whig for political groupings has its origins in a term of abuse used by opponents for the Presbyterian Covenanters who marched from the south west of Scotland on Edinburgh in 1648 in what became known as the "Whiggamore Raid", with the terms Whiggamore and Whig subsequently being used as contemptuous nicknames for the radical Kirk Party faction which effectively took power.^[1]. The term whiggam was allegedly a west of Scotland term used by the Covenanters to urge on their horses during the march,^[2] and whiggamore or "wiggamor" depicted the faction as peasant carters, horse drovers or cattle drivers.^[3][4][5][6] Subsequently, during the Exclusion Bill crisis of 1678-1681, the nickname was given in England to the loose political grouping, which was attempting to exclude the Catholic Duke of York, and future James II, from the line of succession. Evolving from conservative opposition to what were regarded as the potential dangers of Catholic absolutism, this loose grouping or attitude became associated with support for the Glorious Revolution of 1688, laying the basis for what became the British Whig Party, a group of generally conservative supporters of parliamentary supremacy, constitutional monarchy, and tolerance of Protestant dissent. The term was then used for proponents of related ideas in the American Revolution and in United States politics^[1]

Contents 1 Disambiguation 1.1 Political parties and groups 1.2 Fictional organization 1.3 Newspapers 1.4 Music 2 See also 3 Notes

[edit] Disambiguation

Whig may refer to:

[edit] Political parties and groups

• Kirk Party, a radical faction of the Scottish Covenanters in the mid 17th century (the original whigs)
• British Whig Party, a loose political grouping in late 17th century Scotland and England to mid 19th century Great Britain. The term continued in use as a nickname for what became the Liberal Party, and is still used occasionally for their successors the Liberal Democrats^[7]
• Radical Whigs, a group of political commentators in Great Britain who played a significant role in the development of the American Revolution
• a Whig, a 'Patriot' who supported the American Revolution, (versus 'Loyalists' who opposed it.)
• Whig Party (United States) (1833 – 1856), major US party, led by Henry Clay, and originally united by its opposition to the allegedly monarchical style of the Democratic President Andrew Jackson.
• True Whig Party, also known as the "Liberian Whig Party", Liberia's only legal political party from 1878 to 1980
• American Whig-Cliosophic Society, also known as "Whig-Clio", a college political, literary, and debating society, especially at Princeton College
• WHIG, the White House Iraq Group
• Whig School of History, the approach used by those historians who interpret history as the story of inevitable improvement.

[edit] Fictional organization

• Confederate States Whig Party, a fictional political party in Harry Turtledove's alternate history book series

[edit] Newspapers

• Cecil Whig (Cecil County, Maryland, United States)
• Kingston Whig Standard, (Kingston, Ontario, Canada)
• Knoxville Whig, (Knoxville, Tennessee, United States)charleyń
• Quincy Herald-Whig, (Quincy, Illinois, United States)

[edit] Music

• The Afghan Whigs, a 1990s indie rock band
• The Whigs, a 2000s garage rock band

[edit] See also

• Wig (hair) for the article on toupees
• the various articles whose title begins with "Whig"
• Radicals (UK), who helped to transform the British Whig Party into the modern British Liberal Party
• Tory, as the historically opposing political movement

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Origin of the term Whig: 1913dictionary.com
2. ^ Prebble, John (1981), The Lion in the North, Penguin Books Ltd, ISBN 0140056459 refers to the advancing Covenanters urging their horses on with cries of "Whiggamore!", thus giving a name to themselves and the political party that inherited some of their radical zeal.
3. ^ The Historians' History of the World by Henry Smith Williams, published 1907: Google Book Search retrieved 27 Feb. 2007, refers to carters urging horses with "whig, whig" or "whiggam", and notes suggested alternative origins being "whiggamore" meaning a large whip, or "whig" meaning corrupt or sour whey.
4. ^ AskOxford: Whig retrieved 27 Feb. 2007 gives a probable derivation from whiggamore as the nickname of 17th-century Scottish rebels, from whig (to drive) and mare.
5. ^ History Bookshop.com retrieved 27 Feb. 2007 gives whiggamore as horse drover.
6. ^ "Whig." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press., 2003. Answers.com 27 Feb. 2007. [1]
7. ^ Examples of "Whig" used of LibDems: Fight the flour where a LibDem raffled VIP tickets, Guardian Unlimited Politics reminiscences by Laurence Howarth