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from Part IV - The Monarchy and Parliament
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 April 2023
Defoe came to professional writing amidst the first ’Age of Party’, when Tories and Whigs debated fundamental questions about the nature of government, the religious settlement, and international relations. Poets, pamphleteers, and periodical journalists scrutinized and speculated upon affairs of state in an expanding print culture, seeking to shape public debate, often on behalf of politicians. Defoe was among the most prolific and percipient commentators of his day but also one of the most vilified, being employed alternately by Whig and Tory ministries and hence denounced as a hack and a hireling. This chapter attests to Defoe’s underlying political principles: the 1688 Revolution’s establishment of contractarian government, the Protestant succession and toleration of Nonconformity, and a balance of power in Europe. But it also shows his varying degrees of success in remaining consistent at a time when circumstances forced him to expediencies and compromises which have shaped his legacy.
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