The long 18th century was characterized by the gradual erosion of consensual politics: the transfer from a cross-class consensus based on the Whig/Tory divide t... » 

The long 18th century was characterized by the gradual erosion of consensual politics: the transfer from a cross-class consensus based on the Whig/Tory divide to divisions based instead on the notion that the state privileged the interests of certain social groups over others. «