whigs and tories

[xlabhaoisexx]

I don't get why the whigs and the tories didn't like each other cause i've looked them up and they were both for the anglican church or whatever but whigs are left wing and tories are right wing....?

[fairkatrina]

Views differ widely within single religions, some people take scripture very seriously, whereas others see it as more of a starting point for discussion. Left wingers are politically liberal, whereas right wingers aren't. Where politics and religion clashed the two sides were formed.

[xlabhaoisexx]

thanx!!! er...what does liberal actually mean? lol sorri for bein so dumb lol

[jno]

in the 18th century the Tories tended to be the party backing the king, and the Whigs not. It helped that Hanoverian kings always fell out with their sons, so there was a rival centre of power to aim at. I'm not sure that left and right in the 21st-century sense apply very closely.

[Peter Pedant]

why didnt they like each other ?

They both had a lust for power,

They both had to be for the Church as that was reqd by law - no place for political activity if you werent Anglican.

The parties were much loser then and tended to change.

[jake-the-peg]

It sarted over the sucession of James II.

After Cromwells death and the restoration it became apparent that Charles II would die without an heir and his brother James would suceed. But James was a Catholic which held the prospect of religious conflict starting all over again.

Between 1678 and 1681.There was an attempt to exclude James from the throne by an act called the Exclusion bill. Those trying to bring this about were given the nickname "Whigs" those trying to oppose it "Tories".

Both were terms of abuse, "whig" was originally a slang scottish term for a presbyterian - not a very nice one either. Tory was an Irish term for rebel, Tory Island off of Northern Ireland being a reputed stronghold of rebels.

In the end the Tories won out and James became King but was then kicked out in the "glorious revolution" of 1685 and a law was passed which still stands making it illegal for a monarch to be a Catholic.

The Whigs eventually became the Liberal party

[tiny e.a]

I'm sorry to hijack a question, it is whig related though. What eventually split up the liberal party into whigs and librals? Was it Gladstone and Ireland?

[jno]

a bit about that near the bottom of this page, tiny

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Whig_Part y

[tiny e.a]

Cheers jno