The Whig Case for Toryism

“Tory” is among the worst insults of the American political tradition. Thomas Jefferson used the term, for example, to denigrate his conservative opponents among the Federalists. Later, critics of Andrew Jackson’s unilateral application of executive power would often accuse his populist movement of “Toryism.” In both historical cases, and many others since, the charge was meant to convey an un-American devotion to monarchy, and perhaps even give a whiff of disloyalty – or, worse still, Catholicism.