The first two organized factions in Parliament were the Tories and Whigs. Originally, the Tories were the faction that supported Royal Power and the Established Church. The Whigs were the faction expressing opposition to them, and the furtherance of Parliament.
In 1688, when the Catholic Duke of York ascended to the throne as James II, he had Catholic sympathies that were seen as dangerous to the mostly Protestant people of England, Wales, and Scotland, and the powerful in Ireland. Thus, many Tories ended up supporting the succession of his sister, who became Mary II, and her husband, William III of Orange, who ascended to the throne in the Glorious Revolution.
I'm going to be going with the pre-1688 terms, if only to make it more interesting.
And for all of those who wonder, I am NOT a professional historian, merely an amature, so accept all half truths, disortions, and slight mistakes in facts.
-MTT, 4 September 2006
Bangor, WA
