ABSTRACT
Traditional media such as sermons, oral communication, rumours and visual displays have always influenced political views (see Tim Harris, 135), but during the later part of the seventeenth century printed media came to play a vital role in shaping political consciousness. This article investigates processes of identity constructions at the interface between politics, law and journalism, focusing on the period between 1678 (Exclusion Crisis) and 1714/1715 (accession of the Hanoverians). In the first section, the concept of the public sphere will be related to the role of print in shaping politics. Subsequently, the emergence of the Whigs and Tories will be addressed in order to contextualize constructive modes of collective identity formation in both the legal and the journalistic public spheres. It will be argued that these processes were characterized by conflicting negotiations that involved the need to invalidate negative ideological ascriptions. In contrast to continental conditions, however, negotiations of identity in England were not restricted to those in the seats of power. In other words, they were not conducted exclusively in Parliament, but also outside Parliament, in public. A representative sample of publications written in the wake of three impeachments will be included, and my arguments will be based on the cases against Danby, beginning in 1678, against Somers in 1701 and finally against Harley (Earl of Oxford) in 1715.
