Willem Anthony Ockerse Quotes
Should the old system remain, then I swear before God to you that within a few years we shall see a Stadholder back again for I know of no other counter-weight to the formidable spirit of Aristocracy …
Willem Anthony Ockerse, 1760–1826, Dutch Reformed Pastor, Stock Broker, Author, Politician and Patriot Revolutionist, Speech, 1795
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Cromwell was not opposed to monarchy per se as long as it was reasonably checked. He saw Charles II as a terrible monarch. After deposing Charles, he and his associates had to come up with some form of government. As “Lord Protector” he was a de facto monarch without the trappings.
England had, under Henry VIII, left the Roman Catholic Church where the King replaced the Pope as head of the English Church. Henry’s successors then had to organize and manage the national Christian church. James was discussing the hierarchy of the Church of England and there was a suggestion that Bishops be eliminated and have every priest directly responsible to the crown. Bishops would be powerful figures who might form a power center. (They did later). However, King James I observed that the King is God’s choice and rules by divine right. So there had to be bishops to crown kings. The bishoprics were retained.
Salisbury was a brilliant, effective prime minister, but he was a snob and not a democrat. See {639131}.
Although Rand is one of the Conservatives' favorite writers and philosophers, only a minority would agree with her unfeeling and extreme form of a capitalistic society.
Paine was totally wrong on this count. It is true that monarchy and aristocracy were never the same as they had been, but the American and French Revolutions were catalysts for the monarchs and aristocrats to reform. In a Darwinian sense, monarchy and aristocracy evolved, and the early members would hardly recognize the modern aristocracy of Britain and other European countries that still have them and the Constitutional monarchs of today have almost evolved into a new specie.
This letter was written shortly after the Constitution had been signed by the convention delegates. This difference between Adams and Jefferson would be at the heart of the first great partisan struggle in American history. Adams, as the second President, tried to increase and use the power of the Presidency. Jefferson opposed him, especially when Adams tried to run for a second term. The Adams-led Federalists were pitted against Jefferson’s Democratic Republicans in the first, and perhaps still the most bitter partisan struggle in American political history. The Jeffersonians accused Adams and the Federalists of trying to unravel the American Revolution and revert to a monarchy. The people not only sided with the Democratic Republicans, ousting Adams, but also turned out most of the Federalists. It was the end of the Federalist Party, and a new conservative party—without monarchial tendencies—the Whigs became the new opposition party.
