whig (2), whigg

& a. [For etym. see extract.] A. As substantive: Eng . Hist .: A term applied to the members of one of the great political parties in Great Britain. Originally it was a Scottish term, and appears to have been first used in Scotland in the reign of Charles I., and in England in that of Charles II. According to Bishop Burnet's account ( Own Times , bk. i.) of the origin of the word: "The south-west counties of Scotland have seldom corn enough to serve them all the year round, and the northern parts producing more than they used, those in the west went in summer to buy at Leith the stores that came from the north. From the word whiggam , used in driving their horses, all that drove were called the whiggamors , contracted into whigs . Now in the year before the news came down of duke Hamilton's defeat, the ministers animated their people to rise and march to Edinburgh; and they came up, marching on the head of their parishes, with an unheard-of fury, praying and preaching all the way as they came. The marquis of Argyle and his party came and headed them, they being about 6,000. This was called the 'Whiggamors' Inroad'; and ever after that all who opposed the court came in contempt to be called whigs . From Scotland the term was transferred to England, and was applied to the political party opposed to the Tories. It was first a umed as a party name by those who were chiefly instrumental in placing William III. on the throne. As a political term it has now almost fallen out of use, being superseded by the term Liberal, the more extreme members of which party have a umed the name of Radicals. [LIBERAL, RADICAL, TORY, WHIG A MORE.] Another explanation is generally given as, for instance, by Macaulay-that Whig was derived from wheg= whey [WHIG (1), 2.], and was intended to stigmatize the temper of the Covenanters soured by oppre ion. Skeat considers this incorrect, and accepts Burnet's Etymology, as given in the extract above. U. S. History: The name Whig was first applied in this country to the supporters of the cause of the colonies against the English King in the war for independence. The name was doubtle applied to the opponents of the king, from the fact that in England the same name was applied to the opposers of the royal prerogative in the time of James II., who were ultimately succe ful in unseating that monarch. After the revolution had been succe fully accomplished the name Whig disappeared from politics, and the people of the country divided into Federalists and Democrats. The party platform of both parties, being gradually altered to meet existing exigencies, the name Federalist was dropped and the term Whig again resuscitated and applied to the opponents of the Democratic party. This name was retained until the agitation of the slavery question induced the formation of a new party, advocating the abolition of slavery and composed IMG:content-0825.png:[blocks in formation]