Court and Country Emergence

• Why are the terms "court" and "Country" parties placed in quotation marks?

  They are not formal political parties
• What did the court and Country parties represent?

  Competing political philosophies and identities
• What was one main consequence of the emergence of these parties?

  The exclusion crisis
• Who was the monarch during the emergence of the court and Country parties?

  Charles II
• What was a significant concern regarding Charles II's religious sympathies?

  His sympathy towards Catholicism alarmed Protestants
• What legislation attempted to suspend laws against Catholics in 1672?

  The Declaration of Indulgence
• How did the court party view the royal prerogative?

  They supported leaving it to the monarch
• What was the stance of the Country party regarding the royal prerogative?

  They opposed giving it to the monarch
• What foreign alliance did Charles II have that caused division?

  Alliance with Catholic King Louis XIV
• What was the Treaty of Dover?

  A secret treaty pledging support against the Dutch
• How did the Country party view the Treaty of Dover?

  As a threat to English Protestantism
• What was the popish plot of 1678?

  A fabricated conspiracy against Charles II
• What was the aim of the exclusion crisis?

  To exclude James from the line of succession
• What did the court party defend during the exclusion crisis?

  The principle of hereditary succession
• How did the exclusion crisis affect political loyalties?

  It polarized the political nation
• What did Charles II do in response to the exclusion crisis?

  Dissolved Parliament multiple times
• What was the outcome of the exclusion crisis?

  James became king after Charles II
• What legacy did the court and Country parties leave behind?

  Foundation for the Whig and Tory parties
• How did the ideological divisions crystallize between the court and Country parties?

  Through support for royal prerogative vs. parliamentary sovereignty
• What did the Country party promote regarding power?

  Parliamentary sovereignty and limits on royal power
• What did the Tories defend that derived from the court party?

  The royal prerogative and hereditary monarchy
• What was the significance of the Glorious Revolution in relation to these parties?

  It solidified limitations on monarchal power
• What was the political situation after the exclusion crisis?

  James II's short reign followed
• How did the exclusion crisis influence future political systems?

  It established ideological conflict patterns
• why did Charles agree to the treaty of dover 1670

  • would get a £400000 pension from Louis xiv
  • Charles was to convert to catholicism and help fight the dutch
• why was the treaty of dover 1670 problematic

  • Charles was getting money from parliament to fight for the dutch whilst getting money from Louis by fighting against them
  • was secret and showed Charles lack of regard for parliamentary authority
• how did Charles present to be more catholic 1660s

  • declaration of indulgence 1662
  • would suspend laws against catholics
• test act 1673 


  • forced to sign it due to opposition from parliament
  • required all to take an oath to the king and protestantism and deny the catholic doctrine
• what did country think of court

  Country men believed the Court Party was corrupting Britain by using patronage to buy support and was threatening English and Scottish liberties and the proper balance of authority by shifting power from Parliament to the prime minister.