Isaac Newton, A Radical Whig?

Abstract

Isaac Newton's credentials as a staunch Whig have been taken for granted at least since 1848 when Macaulay hailed him as 'the glory of the Whig party'.¹ Newton's defiant stance during the Alban Francis affair, when he defended liberty and Protestantism against the dispensing power of James II—a stand that earned him a place in the Cambridge delegation summoned to appear before Lord Chancellor George Jeffreys—purportedly showed him to be a resolute opponent of the monarch's policies long before the Revolution of 1688. Newton, in fact, is perceived not only as a veritable Whig delegate to the Convention Parliament, but one closely associated with the radical wing of that party.² Hitherto, however, the evidentiary basis for such seemingly sterling credentials have barely been scrutinized. And though such scrutiny is not possible in a brief note, it is possible to complicate the received view by suggesting that Newton's voting record during the 1689 parliament sits at odds with the image of a resolute Whig.

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