Description: In this accessible and original study, Dr Brian Hill describes the lengthy survival of an older political system alongside the rise of the early Tory and Whig parties. This twofold approach brings out those features which undoubtedly gave rise to the present-day party system as well as the differences between the early political scene and that of today. An introductory survey describes the nature of Parliament, its constituencies, the electoral system, the voters, the press, and the citizens without a vote who were nevertheless deeply interested in politics. Five further chapters, each with its own shorter introduction, describe successive periods, pre-1715, 1715-45, 1745-70, 1770-1801 and 1801-32. Three substantial appendices give supplementary information on many of the leading political figures, their offices and achievements, on foreign affairs, and on leading governmental developments. This wide-ranging survey of the birth of Britain's parliamentary system and parties - which was to influence greatly the later development of parliamentary democracies in America and many other modern states - is based on Brian Hill's research in two fuller studies (covering 1689-1742 and 1742-1832) and on his political biographies of Robert Harley and Sir Robert Walpole, as well as on numerous shorter studies including accounts of Edmund Burke and Lord Grey, the architect of the First Reform Act.

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