214 Allen Hall
Department of History, Mississippi State University
Mississippi State, MS 39762
Telephone: (662) 325-3604


William Anthony Hay
The Whig Revival, 1808-1830


"Scholarly, lucid and insightful, The Whig Revival offers an important reappraisal of the Whig Party's wilderness years. This is political history of the highest level."-Dr. Amanda Foreman, Queen Mary College, London University
  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005
  • ISBN: 140391771X
  • Contents
      Acknowledgements
      Abbreviations
      Introduction
      Party Structure and the Whigs in British Politics
      Elections, the Press, and Whig Tactics in Opposition: 1812-17
      1818 and the Westmorland Election
      Social Tension and Party Politics in 1819
      Public Opinion and the Limits of Opposition: 1820-26
      A Revolution in Parties: 1827-30
      Conclusion
      Notes
      Bibliography

More Words on Whig Revival

Between 1808 and 1830, the Whigs made a remarkable transition from opposition to office that highlights important trends in early 19th century Britain. The Whig Revival examines how a coalition between provincial interest groups and the parliamentary party established them as a viable governing party by 1830. Where earlier studies have focused on the Whigs experience in government or liberal reform movements, this work examines their years in opposition and how the struggle for power broadened the political nation beyond metropolitan elites.
The Whig Party in the first three decades of the Nineteenth Century is a topic that has long cried out for a serious reappraisal... Now at last Hay has come to their rescue in a fine new history that fully appreciate their importance." -Richard W. Davis, Emiritus Professor of History, Washington University in St. Louis


"An incisive analysis of British political culture in the early nineteenth century that throws much light on the transformation from ancient regime to liberal Britain. Skillfully linking political ideas and practices, Hay's work is of major importance for our understanding of the nineteenth century political world in Britain," -Professor Jeremy Black, University of Exeter