Elofson reveals that the Rockinghams, far more than previously recognized, were governed by a coherent set of constitutional ideals and argues that they saw "party" not primarily as a means to office but as a vehicle for public-spirited men to "secure the predominance of right and uniform principles" in the operation of the state. He examines the ideological writings of Edmund Burke, the Party's noted and prolific publicist, placing them in their political context and providing a new analysis of Burke's renowned pamphlet Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770). Throughout, Elofson illustrates the ways in which the Rockinghams altered and redefined the Whig Party and its principles as they took the first halting steps toward a program of constitutional amendment, establishing their place not only in Whig but in British constitutional development.

Warren M. Elofson is professor of history, University of Calgary. He has farmed and ranched in Alberta all his life and is the author of The Rockingham Connection and the Second Founding of the Whig Party.

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"The book makes a very valuable contribution to its specific field, showing in greater detail than previous accounts how personalities, issues, and the pressure of opinion at large interacted to shape the evolution of Whig politics within the constraints of parliamentary process and constitutional convention. It is a tight piece of political history well set in its immediate social context." John Money, Department of History, University of Victoria.