ABSTRACT

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book argues the appropriateness of seeing either 1660 or 1688 as significant watersheds in English history. In several respects 1660-1715 period witnessed a working out of the legacy of the Civil War, and many of the issues which were to cause political division in English society under the later Stuarts stemmed from problems which had been left unresolved by the Restoration of 1660. Political supremacy and the absence of a strong Tory challenge led to a breakdown in Whig unity; as a result, many of the Parliamentary struggles under the first two Georges saw Court Whigs being opposed by a combination of out-of-office Whigs, Country Whigs, and Tories, to an extent that had never been the norm during the rage of party under the later Stuarts.