Exclusion crisis

Exclusion crisis. A period of intense political strife during 1679–81 generated by the attempt to bar Charles II's catholic brother James, duke of York, from succession to the throne. Widespread apprehension that James would inaugurate a catholic ‘absolutist’ monarchy was aroused in 1678 by Titus Oates's revelations of a Popish plot against king and government. In the three parliaments called between 1679 and 1681 discontented ‘Whig’ groups exploited their majority in the Commons to promote ‘exclusion’ measures, but were each time defeated when the king used his prerogative to close proceedings. The exclusionists' campaign against James represented a radical move by Parliament to dictate the succession in the face of conventional assumptions about the divine nature of monarchical authority, and highlighted the conflict between crown and Parliament which had germinated since the 1660s. Though initially the movement made much impact in the constituencies, it lost momentum as fears of renewed civil war increased, while the king's refusal to summon Parliament again after 1681 took away its main platform.

Andrew Hanham