Algernon Sydney or Sidney (January 1623 – December 7, 1683) was an English politician, political theorist, and opponent of King Charles II of England, who became involved in a plot against the King and was executed for treason. Events 43 BC - Marcus Tullius Cicero assassinated 1696 - Connecticut Route 108, one of the oldest highways England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland A politician (from Greek " Polis " is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of Politics or a person Charles II (Charles Stuart 29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685 was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
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Life
A son of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, and the great-nephew of Sir Philip Sidney, he is thought to have been born at Penshurst Place in Kent. Robert Sidney 2nd Earl of Leicester ( 1 December 1595 &ndash 2 November 1677) was the son of Robert Sidney 1st Earl of Leicester Sir Philip Sidney ( November 30, 1554 &ndash October 17, 1586) became one of the Elizabethan Age's most prominent figures Penshurst Place is an historic building near Tonbridge in Kent, 32 miles (50 km to the south east of London, England. KENT (1400 AM) is a Radio station broadcasting a Adult Standards/MOR format All of his life Sydney had been consistent in his support of liberty. He had served in the New Model Army, though he opposed the decision to execute Charles I. The New Model Army was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War. Charles I, (19 November 1600 &ndash 30 January 1649 was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution. He was for a time the lover of Lucy Walter, later the mistress of Charles, Prince of Wales. Lucy Walter or Lucy Barlow (c 1630 &ndash 1658 was the mistress of the English king Charles II and mother of the Duke of Monmouth. Charles II (Charles Stuart 29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685 was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. In the end Oliver Cromwell's absolutism was little better for Sydney than that previously practiced by the king. Oliver Cromwell (25 April 1599 Old Style &ndash 3 September 1658 Old Style) was an English military and political leader best known His dismissal of the Long Parliament in 1653 was the act of a Caesarian dictator, subverting the republic and the constitution. The Long Parliament is the name of the English Parliament called by Charles I, on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. In retirement Sydney was bold enough to outrage the Lord Protector by putting on a performance of Julius Caesar, with himself in the role of Brutus; and Brutus he was to remain. Julius Caesar is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599
A republican by deep conviction, he was abroad when the monarchy was restored in 1660, choosing to remain in exile for some years. The English Restoration, or simply The Restoration began in 1660 when the English monarchy, Scottish monarchy and Irish monarchy were restored While writing Court Maxims (1665-6) he was busy negotiating with the Dutch and French for support of a republican invasion of England. He was only to return in 1677, almost immediately becoming involved in opposition to Stuart monarchial absolutism. When Charles dismissed his final Parliament in 1681, saying he would have no more, Sydney united with Shaftesbury and others in plotting against the perceived royal tyranny, of a 'force without authority. Anthony Ashley-Cooper 1st Earl of Shaftesbury ( July 22, 1621 &ndash January 21, 1683) known as Sir Anthony Ashley-Cooper ' Sydney was later to be implicated in the Rye House Plot, a scheme to assassinate Charles and his brother, though on the evidence of only one witness. The Rye House Plot of 1683 was a plan to assassinate King Charles II of England and his brother (and heir to the throne James Duke of York. James II of England and Ireland James VII of Scotland (14 October 1633 &ndash 16 September 1701 was King of England, King of Scots, Later that same year James
Recognizing that a conviction rested on the testimony of two witnesses, Sidney pled the law and demanded a second witness be produced in court against him; at which juncture his own writings were offered into evidence, as, "false, seditious and traitorous libel". "An argument for the people", said the Solicitor General, "to rise up in arms against the King". In response Sydney said that it was easy to condemn him by quoting his words out of context "If you take the scripture to pieces you will make all the penmen of the scripture blasphemous; you may accuse David of saying there is no God and of the Apostles that they were drunk. " But for the court, to write such was to act. The republican aristocrat was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Neither denying nor affirming the charge of treason for which he had been condemned, Sydney maintained republican faith to the end, declaring on the scaffold: "We live in an age that makes truth pass for treason. "
Views
For Sydney absolute monarchy, in the form practiced by Charles II, was a great political evil. Absolute monarchy is a monarchical Form of government where the king and queen have absolute power over everything Charles II (Charles Stuart 29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685 was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. His Discourses Concerning Government (the text for which Sydney lost his life) was written during the Exclusion Crisis, as a response to Robert Filmer's Patriarcia, a defence of divine right monarchy, first published in 1680. The Exclusion Bill Crisis ran from 1678 through 1681 in the reign of Charles II of England. Sir Robert Filmer (1588 – 26 May 1653) was an English Political theorist. The Divine Right of Kings is a general term that refers to the philosophy and ideas used to justify the authority and legitimacy of Monarchs in Medieval and Sydney was appalled that a free-born Englishman could ever have compiled such a work, a defence of despotism. It was Filmer's business, he wrote, "to overthrow liberty and truth. " Patriarchial government was not 'God's will', as Filmer and others contended, because the "Civil powers are purely human ordinances. "
In countering the Hobbesian argument that the coercive power of the monarchy was necessary to prevent the return of the Civil Wars, Sydney invoked Tacitus, the Roman historian, saying that the pax Romana, the Imperial peace, was the 'peace of death. Thomas Hobbes (born 5 April 1588died 4 December 1679 was an English philosopher, whose famous 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation The English Civil War (1642-1651 was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (ca 56 &ndash ca 117 was a senator and a Historian of the Roman Empire. ' Rebellion may have dangerous consequences but
| “ | They who are already fallen into all that is odious, and shameful and miserable, cannot justify fear. . . Let the dangers never be so great, there is the possibility of safety while men have life, hands, arms and courage to use them but that people must surely perish who tamely suffer themselves to be oppressed. | ” |
Memory
Algernon Sidney is one of the namesakes for Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. Hampden-Sydney College is a liberal arts college for men located in Hampden-Sydney Virginia. The College formerly used the original spelling of Sidney. He was chosen because of the role his ideas played in molding the beliefs of the American Revolutionary thinkers.
Works
- Literature from and about Algernon Sidney published
- Sidney, Algernon: "Discourses concerning government, London 1698 u. öfter; deutsch, Leipzig 1794;
- Sidney, Algernon: "Discourses", hrsg. John Toland, 1698;
- Sidney, Algernon: "Discourses Concerning Government";
- Sidney, Algernon: "Apology in the Day of His Death";
- Sidney, Algernon: "The Administration and the Opposition. Addressed to the Citizens of New-Hampshire", Concord, Jacob B. Moore, 1826, ASIN B000IUQ14Q
- Sidney, Algernon: "Discourses Concerning Government", ed. Thomas G. West, Indianapolis, 1996, ISBN 0865971420
- Sidney, Algernon: "Court Maxims (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)", Cambridge University Press, 1996, ISBN 9780521461757
- Sidney, Algernon: "Discourses on Government. To Which is Added, An Account of the. . . ", Reprint, The Lawbook Exchange, New York, 2002 ISBN 1584772093
Literature
- Johnson, J. : "The Essence of Algernon Sydney’s Work on Government. To which is annexed, his Essay on Love. ", London, 1795.
- Meadley, George W. : "Memoirs of Algernon Sidney" London, Cradock and Joy, 1813
- Ewald, A. C. : "Life and times of Algernon Sidney" London, 1872, 2 Bände,
- Blackburne: "Algernon Sidney" London, 1885
- Jones, James R. : "The First Whigs: The Politics of the Exclusion Crisis 1678-1683" London, Oxford University Press, 1961, ISBN 9780197131244;
- Conniff, James: "Reason and History in Early Whig Thought: The Case of Algernon Sidney,” in: "Journal of the History of Ideas", No. 43 (1982), pp. 397–416, ISSN 00225037
- Wordon, Blair: "The Commonwealth Kidney of Algernon Sidney" in: "The Journal of British Studies/The Historical Journal", Vol. An International Standard Serial Number ( ISSN) is a unique eight-digit number used to identify a print or electronic Periodical publication. 24, No. 1, 1985, S. 1-40, ISSN 0018246X;
- Pocock, J. An International Standard Serial Number ( ISSN) is a unique eight-digit number used to identify a print or electronic Periodical publication. G. A. :"Englands Cato: The virtues and fortunes of Algernon Sidney" in: "The Historical Journal", Vol. 37, No. 4, 1994, S. 915-935 ISSN 0018246X;
- Carswell, John:"The porcupine: the life of Algernon Sidney", London, John Murray, 1989, ISBN 0719546842;
- Scott, Jonathan: "Algernon Sidney and the Restoration Crisis, 1677-1683" Cambridge University Press, 1991, ISBN 9780521352918;
- Houston, Alan Craig: "Algernon Sidney and the Republican Heritage in England and America", Princeton University Press, 1991, ISBN 0691078602
- Nelson, Scott A. An International Standard Serial Number ( ISSN) is a unique eight-digit number used to identify a print or electronic Periodical publication. :`"The discourses of Algernon Sidney", London und Toronto, Associated University Presses, 1993, ISBN 9780838634387;
- Santvord, George Van: "Life Of Algernon Sidney: With Sketches Of Some Of His Contemporaries And Extracts From His Correspondence And Political Writings", Kessinger Publishing, 2007, ISBN 9781430444497;
External links
- William F. Campbell: "Classical Republicans, Whigs, and Tories":, Louisiana State University
- Why did the Whigs fail to force exclusion on Charles II.?
- PDF Sample Chapter "Algernon Sidney and the Restoration Crisis, 1677–1683"
- Colonel Sidney's Speech, Delivered to the sheriff on the scaffold, December 7th 1683
- Algernon Sidney, "Discourses Concerning Government", Foreword of Thomas G. West
| Preceded by John Boys |
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1648–1651 |
Succeeded by Thomas Kelsey |
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