Patricians and the Rule of Law, c. 1670–1740

Abstract

The Glorious Revolution of 1688 produced a direct challenge to patriarchalism, and to the security of the state, which was threatened by a rival monarch supported by French military power and by internal discord and riot. Opponents of the Revolution appealed explicitly to the patriarchal principle to denounce the new regime; its Whig defenders responded by challenging patriarchalism while nevertheless trying to maintain their governing authority through the idea of the rule of law. They sought to assure the officers of local government of the legitimacy of their authority and encouraged them to see themselves as protecting the nation from monarchical tyranny and popular licentiousness. They configured liberty as a restrained condition between anarchy and tyranny and promoted a programme of moral reform as a way for supporters of the idea of a reformed Protestant kingdom to perform their commitment to the principles of reformation and revolution.