Editing Radical Whigs (section)

==Seventeenth century==

The radical Whigs ideology "arose from a series of political upheavals in 17th-century England: the [[English Civil War]], the [[exclusion crisis]] of 1679{{ndash}}81, and the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688. Broadly speaking, this Whig theory described two sorts of threats to political freedom: a general moral decay which would invite the intrusion of evil and despotic rulers, and the encroachment of executive authority upon the legislature, the attempt that power always made to subdue the liberty protected by [[mixed government]]."<ref>[[Robert Middlekauff]] (2005), ''The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789'', Revised and Expanded Edition, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-516247-9}}, p. 51</ref> This political theory was mainly based on the writings of [[John Milton]], [[John Locke]], [[James Harrington (author)|James Harrington]], and [[Algernon Sydney]].<ref>Middlekauff (2005), p. 136</ref>