EXCLUSION CRISIS

Charles himslef was attracted to the Catholic Church. Parliament was aware of
this and there was a constant fear that Charles would become a Catholic and
the monarchy becoming too powerful. This resulted in the creation of the first
political parties in Britain. One of these parties was a group of MP´s who
became known as “whigs”, a rude name for cattle drivers. The Whigs were
against an absolute monarchy, and of the Catholic faith with which they related
it. The Whigs believed in allowing religious freedom. Because Charles and his
wife had no children, the Whigs feared that the Crown would go to Charles´s
Catholic brother, James. The Whigs were opposed by another group nicknamed
“Tories”, an Irish name for thieves. In general the Tories supported the authority
of the Crown and the Church, but they believed that the King´s authority
depended upon the consent of the Parliament. These two parties, the Whigs
and the Tories became the basis of Britain´s two-party parliamentary system of
government. The struggle over Catholicism and the Crown became a crisis
when the news was heard about a Catholic plot to murder Charles and put his
brother James on the throne (Popish plot). Parliament passed an Act banning
any Catholic to be a member of either the Commons or the Lords. It was not
successful, however in preventing James from inheriting the crown. James II
became king after his brother´s death in 1685.
James then tried to remove the laws banning Catholics from government and
bringing back the Catholic Church and the Tories opposed.
Despite their anger, Tories and Whigs did not do much because they had the
hope that James´s daughter, Mary was going to be his successor. She was
protestant and his husband was the Protestant ruler of Holland, William of
Orange. This hope vanished when James´s son was born.
Tories and Anglicans joined the Whigs in the search for a Protestant option.
Many of these men used the work of John Locke to justify their decision,
arguing that James had failed to fulfil his obligations as ruler and had forced
them, the sovereign people, to form a new government