The Rockingham connection and the second founding of the Whig party, 1768-1773

The Rockingham Connection and the Second Founding of the Whig Party is a study of the ideological development of the Rockingham Whigs in Britain between 1768 and 1773 and a re-examination of the party system in the later part of the eighteenth century. W. M. Elofson traces the transition of the Rockingham Whigs from court-centred supporters of the status quo to proponents of parliamentary reform, illustrating the central role the party played in the evolution of "liberal" philosophy that preceded the massive reform movement in the next century. Elofson reveals that the Rockinghams, far more than previously recognized, were governed by a coherent set of constitutional ideals and argues that they saw "party" not primarily as a means to office but as a vehicle for public-spirited men to "secure the predominance of right and uniform principles" in the operation of the state. He examines the ideological writings of Edmund Burke, the party's noted and prolific publicist, placing them in their political context and providing a new analysis of Burke's renowned pamphlet Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770).