{{short description|18th century British Protestant religious, political and economic reformers}}
'''The Commonwealth men''', '''Commonwealth's men''', or '''Commonwealth Party''' were highly outspoken British Protestant religious, political, and economic reformers during the early 18th century. They were active in the movement called the [[Country Party (Britain)|Country Party]]. They promoted [[republicanism]] and had a great influence on [[Republicanism in the United States]], but little impact in Britain.<ref> Caroline Robbins, ''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)</ref> ▼
{{Infobox political party
| name = Commonwealth Party
| logo =
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| colorcode = red
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| leader = [[John Trenchard (writer)|John Trenchard]]<br>[[Thomas Gordon (writer)|Thomas Gordon]]
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| founded = {{start date|1720||}}
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| dissolved = {{end date|1750||}}
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| split = [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]]
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| successor = [[Radicals (UK)|Radicals]]
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| newspaper = ''The Independent Whig''
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| ideology = [[Radical Whigs|Radical Whiggism]]<br>[[Republicanism]]<br>[[Christian socialism]]<br>[[Anti-corruption]]
| position = [[Left-wing politics|Left-wing]]
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| national = [[Country Party (Britain)|Country Party]]
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| country = the United Kingdom
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}}
▲The ''' The Commonwealth men ''', '''Commonwealthmen''', '''Commonwealth's men''', or '''Commonwealth Party''' were highly outspoken British [[Protestantism|Protestant ]] religious, political, and economic reformers during the early 18th century. They were active in the movement called the [[Country Party (Britain)|Country Party]]. They promoted [[republicanism]] and had a great influence on [[Republicanism in the United States]], but little impact in Britain.<ref> Caroline Robbins, ''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)</ref>
The most noted commonwealthmen were [[John Trenchard (writer)|John Trenchard]] and [[Thomas Gordon (writer)|Thomas Gordon]], who wrote the seminal work [[Cato's Letters]] between 1720 and 1723. Other members include [[Robert Crowley]], [[Henry Brinkelow]], [[Thomas Beccon]], [[Thomas Lever]], and [[John Hales]]. They condemned [[political corruption|corruption]] and lack of morality in British political life, theorizing that only [[civic virtue]] could protect a country from despotism and ruin. ▼
▲The most noted commonwealthmenCommonwealthmen were [[John Trenchard (writer)|John Trenchard]] and [[Thomas Gordon (writer)|Thomas Gordon]], who wrote the seminal work [[Cato's Letters]] between 1720 and 1723. Other members include [[ Robert Crowley (Protestant)|Robert Crowley]], [[Henry Brinkelow ]], [[Thomas Beccon]], [[Thomas Lever]], and [[ John Hales (theologian)|John Hales]]. They condemned [[political corruption|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]] and the general material plight of the poor was particularly notable to early twentieth-century scholars like [[Richard Tawney]] 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]] enabled and sustained the rise of [[capitalism]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}} On the other hand, it has been argued that the Commonwealthmen "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]."<ref>Thomas L. Pangle, ''The Spirit of Modern Republicanism: The Moral Vision of the America Founders and the Philosophy of Locke'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 30.</ref> ''''' ▼
▲Their criticism about [[enclosure]] and the general material plight of the poor waswere particularly notable to early twentieth-century scholars like [[Richard Tawney]] who saw in them a valuable though regrettably abortive form of [[Christian Socialismsocialism]] that represented a preferable alternative to the view of [[Max Weber]] that [[Protestantism]] enabled and sustained the rise of [[capitalism]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}} On the other hand, it has been argued that the Commonwealthmen "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]."<ref>Thomas L. Pangle, ''The Spirit of Modern Republicanism: The Moral Vision of the America Founders and the Philosophy of Locke'' (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 30.</ref> '''''
Since the 1979 publication of an article by G. R. Elton, the existence of a "commonwealth party" has been widely rejected as a largely romantic, sentimental construction, and its supposed "members" are unlikely to be classified even as a "movement" now, but reference to the "commonwealth men" or "commonwealthsmen" persists in scholarly literature.
Although nearly all British politicians and thinkers rejected the ideas of the commonwealthCommonwealthmen menin 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.<ref>Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, (Cambridge MA, 1967).</ref> The Commonwealthman ideas of civic virtue, freedom, and government carefully regulated and controlled by the people were major principles in the [[Republicanism in the United States|republicanism]] that became the dominant ideology of the [[American Revolution]] and the new American nation.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
* Trevor Colbourn, ''The Lamp of Experience: Whig History and the Intellectual Origins of the American Revolution'' (1965) [http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/Book.php?recordID=0009 online version] ▼
==Sources==
* 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). [http://catalog.libertyfund.org/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=855&vmcchk=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1 table of contents online] ▼
* Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, (Cambridge MA, 1967). ▼
▲* Trevor Colbourn, ''The Lamp of Experience: Whig History and the Intellectual Origins of the American Revolution'' (1965) [http://oll.libertyfund.org/Home3/Book.php?recordID=0009 online version]
▲* 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). [http://catalog.libertyfund.org/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=855&vmcchk=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1 table of contents online]
▲* 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, {{ISBN|978-0-19-516247-9}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Commonwealth Men}}
[[Category:Republicanism in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1720s in Great Britain]]
[[Category:1730s in Great Britain]]
[[Category:1740s in Great Britain]]
[[Category:1750s in Great Britain]]
[[Category:Politics of the Kingdom of Great Britain]]
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