The Commonwealth men, Commonwealth's men, or Commonwealth Party were highly outspoken British

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

religious, political, and economic reformers during the early 18th century. They were active in the movement called the Country Party. They promoted

republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. It ...

and had a great influence on

Republicanism in the United States The values, ideals and concept of republicanism have been discussed and celebrated throughout the history of the United States. As the United States has no formal hereditary ruling class, ''republicanism'' in this context does not refer to a ...

, but little impact in Britain. The most noted commonwealthmen were John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, who wrote the seminal work

Cato's Letters ''Cato's Letters'' were essays by British writers John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, first published from 1720 to 1723 under the pseudonym of Cato (95–46 BC), the implacable foe of Julius Caesar and a famously stalwart champion of Roman trad ...

between 1720 and 1723. Other members include Robert Crowley, Henry Brinkelow, Thomas Beccon,

Thomas Lever Thomas Lever (Leaver, Leiver) (1521–1577) was an English Protestant reformer and Marian exile, one of the founders of the Puritan tendency in the Church of England. Life He was from Little Lever, Lancashire. He graduated B.A. at St. John's Col ...

, and John Hales. They condemned corruption and lack of morality in British political life, theorizing that only civic virtue could protect a country from despotism and ruin. Their criticism about

enclosure Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

and the general material plight of the poor were particularly notable to early twentieth-century scholars like

Richard Tawney Richard Henry Tawney (30 November 1880 – 16 January 1962) was an English economic historian, social critic, ethical socialist,Noel W. Thompson. ''Political economy and the Labour Party: the economics of democratic socialism, 1884-2005''. 2nd ...

who saw in them a valuable though regrettably abortive form of Christian socialism that represented a preferable alternative to the view of Max Weber that

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

enabled and sustained the rise of capitalism. On the other hand, it has been argued that the Commonwealth Men "by no means stand against an individualistic or capitalistic spirit, and--despite what [for example, historians JGA Pocock and Gordon Wood] have claimed--are far from espousing classical virtue or the Aristotelian conception of man as ''zoon politikon'' [a political animal]." Although nearly all British politicians and thinkers rejected the ideas of the commonwealth men in the eighteenth century, these writers had a powerful effect on British colonial America. It is estimated that half the private libraries in the Thirteen Colonies, American Colonies held bound volumes of ''Cato's Letters'' on their shelves.Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, (Cambridge MA, 1967). Not to be confused with the Commonwealth Men of the middle of the 16th century.

References

Sources

* Trevor Colbourn, ''The Lamp of Experience: Whig History and the Intellectual Origins of the American Revolution'' (1965) * Robbins, Caroline. ''The Eighteenth-Century Commonwealthman: Studies in the Transmission, Development, and Circumstance of English Liberal Thought from the Restoration of Charles II until the War with the Thirteen Colonies'' (1959, 2004). * Bailyn, Bernard. ''The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution'', (Cambridge MA, 1967). * Middlekauff, Robert. ''The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789'', Revised and Expanded Edition (2005), Oxford University Press, {{DEFAULTSORT:Commonwealth Men Republicanism in the United Kingdom 1720s in Great Britain 1730s in Great Britain 1740s in Great Britain 1750s in Great Britain Politics of the Kingdom of Great Britain