THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY AND WHIG HISTORIOGRAPHY

AMERICAN MILITARY UNIVERSITY

HIST 501: HISTORIOGRAPHY

Dr. LESLIE KELLY

By

Kenneth Oziah

September 20, 2013

The perfect historian is he in whose work the character andspirit of the age is exhibited

in miniature.—Thomas Babington Macaulay, “On History”1

English History prior to Thomas Babington Macaulay was seen

through the lens of a prior historian, David Hume, who also wrote

a History of England in six volumes, published in 1778.2 Hume’s

History encompassed the time of Julius Caesar to the Glorious

Revolution of 1688, culminating in the removal of James II and

the installation of William and Mary, who began a joint

Protestant reign that ensured Protestantism for the future of the

monarchy. Thomas Macaulay was a political Whig who wrote

everything in his life around the ideals of progress and classic

liberalism, not only for the British but for the whole of

1 David A. Hughes, Thomas Babington Macaulay: The Rhetorician, An Examination of his structural devices in the History of England (Ithica, NY: Cornell University, 1898), 2.2 David Hume, The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688, Foreword by William B. Todd, 6 vols. (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1983). http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1868&Itemid=28 (accessed July 20, 2013).

2

society. Macaulay, wanting to improve upon the works of Hume,

wrote and published his own History of England, which he intended to

cover from the Glorious Revolution down to the time of George

III.

To Whiggish historians, English historical works center on

the repressive yoke of the Norman conquest of 1066 with William

the Conqueror.3 Classical works such as Ivanhoe and Robin Hood

take the reader back to the oppression of Normans. This theme –

oppression - appears to be central to Whiggish English history at

least to the time of the Magna Carta. Though King John later

refused to abide by it and Pope Innocent III declared it invalid,

the original Magna Carta seems to be the turning point for

English freedoms not enjoyed during the reigns of the Norman

kings, at least to Whig historians such as Macaulay.

In this paper, we will take a look at Macaulay; his

education and the training that led to his views. We will also

3 Thomas B. Macaulay, The Life and Works of Lord Macaulay Complete in Ten Volumes (Longmans, Green & Co, 1896), 10. Here Macaulay alludes to man such as Robin Hood, favorite heroes of our oldest ballads.

3

look at the English approach to history prior to Macaulay and

compare it with his own approach to English history. Macaulay

made a lasting impression on English history and historiography.

His work abroad while in India set the stage for the legal system

of many Far Eastern colonies of the British Empire that are still

used to this day. Macaulay and Whig historiography did provide

England with a nationalistic love of country that served the

English people up to the end of the Victorian Era.

Thomas Babington Macaulay

Thomas Babington Macaulay was born 25 October, 1800 in

Leicestershire, England. Macaulay was the son of a British

government official, Zachary Macaulay who served abroad for a

time as a colonial governor and was an ardent abolitionist4.

Macaulay was a brilliant child prodigy and had a great deal of

self-confidence at an early age. Macaulay bore a deep love for

his family and he maintained that throughout his life.5 Macaulay

would never marry, would insist one sister (Hannah) follow him to

4 George Otto Trevelyan, The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay (London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1881), 9.5 John Clive, Macaulay: The Shaping of the Historian (London: Secker & Warburg, 1902), 5.

4

India and become heartbroken later in life when she married and

moved away. Another sister (Margaret) would pass on in death in

England while Macaulay was abroad.

At the age of eight years old, Macaulay wrote a compendium

of universal history and also The Battle of Cheviot, a poem in the

style of Sir Walter Scott. At the age of eighteen, Macaulay

attended Trinity College at Cambridge and wrote several pieces of

poetry and prose, becoming an award winning author and writer

before graduation. Macaulay despised the sciences and

mathematics. In a letter to his mother Macaulay stated, “Oh! For

words to express my abomination of that science, if a name sacred

to the useful and embellishing arts may be applied to the

perception and recollection of certain properties in numbers and

figures. Oh! That I had to learn astrology, demonology or school

divinity…”6 He did excel at Latin and the classics, where his

love of literature was made manifest. Macaulay graduated from

Cambridge and continued with his writing of prose and history,

also writing articles for the Edinburgh Review.7

6 Ibid., 8.7 Elbert Hubbard, Thomas B. Macaulay (New York: Roycroft Shop, 1900), 9.

5

Once he had achieved a college education, Macaulay become

surer of his own credentials as a historian and attacked other

historians for what he perceived as attempts to color historical

writing with political sentiments. One such person receiving his

ire was David Hume. Macaulay considered Hume to be of the Tory

persuasion politically and attacked his works in 1828. He

claimed Hume asserted many things that he did not back up and

glossed over unfavorable parts of history that did not favor his

perceived side of the issues.8

Despite his early training and love of the classics,

Macaulay believed it was more important to emphasize present and

future progress rather than dwell on the past for more than mere

enjoyable reading. In one passage he wrote, “What do we mean

when we say one past event is important and another

insignificant? No past event has intrinsic importance. The

knowledge of it is valuable only as it leads us to form just

calculations with respect to the future.”9 It is of some

8 Michael Bentley, Modern Historiography, An Introduction (London & New York: Routledge, 1999), 26.9 Thomas Babington Macaulay, Essays, Critical, and Miscellaneous, Rev. ed. (Boston: Philips, Sampson,& Company, 1856), Google Reader e-book.

6

interest considering Macaulay’s reputation later in life as a

biased historian that he viewed the ancient historians as

fabricators and men with an agenda to spread.10

Macaulay’s turn to Whig politics happened sometime around

the end of his college days at Cambridge. Macaulay was ‘called

to the bar’ in 1826, which in English terms means he was approved

to practice law. He did some early work as a barrister and

continued to write. Macaulay’s break into politics came in 1830

when he was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the small

borough of Calne. Macaulay believed he could do great things in

the world of politics that could not be accomplished as an

attorney. Later events in his life would prove him an apt

politician and progressive man for the people.

Macaulay found his niche in the Parliament where his skills

in oration excelled. He spoke in Parliament at length about

voting rights, rights for the poor, Jewish rights and other

Parliamentary reform.11 When Macaulay spoke on the floor of

Parliament, hearing him was compared to “a summons like a

10 Clive, Macaulay, 120.11 Ibid., 145.

7

trumpet-call to fill the benches”.12 Prime Minister William

Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, commented of Macaulay, “I wish I

was as cock-sure of anything as Tom Macaulay is of everything”.13

Macaulay’s great difficulty was in the open debate. He was, to

his misfortune, not quick enough on his feet to match others in

Parliamentary floor debate.14

Macaulay combined his love for history and public service

whenever he could. Indeed, Macaulay often used his historical

training and writing to further Whiggish policies and bills in

Parliament. He was instrumental in the passage of the Reform

Bill of 1832 which brought about progressive changes for Britain.

Macaulay sought to enfranchise more Englishmen and lighten the

yoke of government upon the people. This was all in line with

Macaulay’s view of continual English progress through the ages.

Macaulay was instrumental in the passage of the Reform Act

of 1832. Contained in the Act was a position that suited

Macaulay perfectly. He was appointed as one of the Commissioners

12 Ibid., 21.13 Lloyd C. Sanders, Ed. Lord Melbourne's Papers (London & New York: Longmans, Green & Co, 1889), xii.  14 Robert E. Sullivan, Macaulay: The Tragedy of Power (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2009), 86-87.

8

on the Board of Control that had oversight of the East India

Trading Company.15 This important position took Macaulay from

his familiar England to the far off land of India. It also

provided a handsome salary of ten thousand pounds a year, equal

to fifty thousand US dollars of the time period. To put this

salary into perspective, it was double that of the President of

the United States.16

Macaulay did not give up writing history while in India. It

was in India that Macaulay took up the pen to write Lays of Ancient

Rome, writing when he was not engaged in his duties as Secretary

of the India Supreme Council. Lays was published in 1842 after

Macaulay returned from service in India. His real contribution

to historical writing was what followed; his History of England.

English Whig Historiography

What distinguishes Whig historiography from other schools?

We first need to define Whig historiography; what is it and what

makes it different from other schools of historical thought?

Whiggish historiography centered on the development of concepts

15 Hubbard, Macaulay, 17.16 Ibid., 18.

9

of constitutionality and liberty but did so with an anachronistic

view of the past. This Whig interpretation of history came from

an idea of the common-law claims of an ancient constitution.

Whiggish historiography centered on the belief that England bore

an ancient constitution that was interrupted by William the

Conqueror down to King John. Men such as Macaulay believed the

events of the Glorious Revolution in 1688 were the culmination of

a natural continuity of progress. Such ideas of progress would

become central to Macaulay’s historical writings.

Whig historians focused on constitutional and political

history rather than social or cultural history. They also

focused on a specific period of history, leaving the rest of the

world outside England to its own devices.17 To Whig historians,

the history of England progressed through events such as the

Glorious Revolution of 1688, the various renditions of the Magna

Carta, the freedom and liberty loving Britons going back as far

as early Saxon heritage. The cycle of the world outside the

shores of Britain was less a concern for historians of this

school, and as such, went almost unnoticed.

17 Bentley, Historiography, 62.

10

Bentley stated the problem with Whig historiography

succinctly: “But then, that is what Whig theory has done: it

provides insight into one hundred years of historiography by

telling posterity what all historians had in common rather than

establishing criteria that might help differentiate them.”18 Whig

historians appear to be clumped together by history as a group

rather than individuals. Bentley goes on to point out a

different issue with Whig historians. He noted they were all

white males who were predominantly Anglican.19 This would put a

different outlook on Whig historiography, grouping all Whig

historians into one demographic.

Whiggish history was heavily influenced by the predominant

peace that existed during the Victorian Era. Because of this

peace, Whiggish historians had not been exposed to life outside

of a perceived paradigm. Whiggish historians wrote with a view

that life was progressing smoothly and Britain was the model for

the entire world. As Bentley put it, “They wrote, too, in an age

innocent of tragedy on the scale known to the century that

18 Ibid., 65.19 Ibid.

11

followed.”20 After World War I, Whig historiography would begin

to rapidly decline as the world was no longer a serene and

peaceful place. Whig historians would soon lose their status as

the world slipped into one regression after another.21

Some contemporaries of Thomas Macaulay held a different view

of history. Marxism was coming into play during the middle years

of the Nineteenth century. Marxist historical theory stated

mankind had been marching on towards an eventual communist style

governing system. Marx lashed out at capitalism and progress as

class warfare, pitting the poor against the rich. He deplored a

system he believed was responsible for keeping down the poor.

Eighteen years the junior of Macaulay, Prussian born Karl

Marx spent his formative years under the tutelage of liberal

humanists. When the school he attended was raided in 1832, many

publications discovered were labeled as seditious due to the

extreme liberal views that were espoused.22 The training Marx

received through his secondary and post-secondary years helped

20 Ibid., 66.21 The regressions following the turn of the century that marked the end of Whig historiography were the First World War as well as the Great Depression and Second World War. 22 Francis Wheen, Karl Marx, (London: Fourth Estate, 2001), 13.

12

establish his thoughts and views on life and class struggle. It

would also form the basis for his thoughts on the history of

mankind and what he perceived as the future inevitability of

Communism as the primary political and social structure for

society.

Karl Marx and those of his school of thought believed that

one’s social status or social classification, as well as the

economic constraints placed upon an individual by an unfair

system, was a result of long established class warfare.

According to Marx, the flawed system produced more and more poor

people dependent on wealthy business owners. Marxist

historiography admonishes the belief that all history is moving

in one direction towards a classless society. Marx believed "The

history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class

struggles".23 This put Marx and Marxist historiography at odds

with Whiggish historiography and Macaulay.

English Historiography prior to Macaulay

23 Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Manifesto of the Communist Party (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1969), Chapter One.

13

One of the most prominent English historians prior to

Macaulay was David Hume. Hume was classed as somewhat of a Tory

by many. Hume did not share the same Whiggish beliefs about the

eventuality of English progress through the ages. Hume felt the

Whigs were wrong in their assumption of an age old constitution

handed down through the centuries. To Hume, England had been

shaped by many different events that occurred over a long period

of time, not due to any teleological progress.

To Whig historians, Charles I violated the ancient code but

to men such as Hume, there was no ancient code and thus no

violation could have occurred.24 Hume and most other historians

did not believe in a teleological process by which events were

shaped throughout history. Englishmen looked to history for

precedents long established to satisfy all parties in a dispute.

English institutions had been around since the Middle Ages and

they were looked on as stable ground.2526

24 Ernst Breisach, Historiography Ancient, Medieval, and Modern 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), 215.25 Herbert Butterfield, The Englishman and his History (London: Cambridge University Press Archive, 1970), 5.26 Macaulay, Life and Works, 21.

14

Prior to the turn of the century, the Enlightenment had a

profound effect on historians, producing men such as Edward

Gibbon, whose classic work The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is

still widely read. Gibbon was among those who were of the

conservative vein during his time period. Like his contemporary

Edmund Burke, Gibbon despised the bloody French Revolution. What

set Gibbon apart from other historians of his day and of

Macaulay’s was his incessant search for sources. Gibbon would

set the bar for future historians, though it would take some time

for the discipline to catch up to him.

What happened with English historiography during the

eighteenth and nineteenth centuries can best be described as

reactionary. The American War of Independence was fought from

1775 to 1783 while the Napoleonic Wars occurred from 1799 to

1815. The loss of the American colonies stung Whig forces within

Parliament as well as King George III’s government. The war with

Napoleonic France was also costly. Englishmen were eager to

settle in from the numerous battles and wars that cost the nation

in material and men.

15

With the return of tranquility and relative peace to both

the continent and the island nation, Englishmen turned towards

progress once again. Liberty and freedom had come to pass in the

former British colonies, now known as the United States of

America. It had also come to a bloody pass in France, with the

creation of the French Republic. With the advent of a

constitutional monarchy in France during the 1830s Whig

historians saw a bright future for England and the continent.

Macaulay’s Works

Thomas Macaulay wrote many essays and articles throughout

his lifetime, many for the Edinburgh Review. He gave numerous

speeches in Parliament on a host of issues, but usually on behalf

of progress. To discuss at length his speeches and essays as

well as publications would take more time and space than is

allotted for this paper. Macaulay’s speeches highlight his

progressivism and presentism. He was an avid supporter of

growing a middle class and increased participation in government

on the part of the average man.

16

Macaulay spent several years in India serving on the

governing board and wrote many laws and penal codes for the Far

East British colonies. Macaulay returned to England in 1838 and

within a few years began his work on History of England. Macaulay

wrote in a time prior to history really developing into a

profession, or discipline. Due to this fact, Macaulay’s History

bears few citations of sources, either primary or secondary. He

also skims over some very important events in early modern

English history, not the least of which is the War of the

Roses.27

The English struggle known as the War of the Roses began

with the Battle of St. Albans in May of 1455 and was fought on

and off throughout the next thirty years, to August of 1485. It

ended with the defeat of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth

field. The War was a struggle for the English throne between the

Lancastrian forces of King Henry VI and the Yorkist forces of

Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York. During this time, the

throne passed back and forth between Henry VI and Edward IV.

27 Thomas B Macaulay, The Life and Works of Lord Macaulay Complete in Ten Volumes (Longmans, Green & Co, 1896), 3.

17

Edward’s eldest son reigned (though uncrowned) for a brief time

as Edward V, followed by the infamous Richard III. However,

Macaulay gives the entire situation not even a full page of

consideration in his publication.28

Throughout History Macaulay portrays some English monarchs as

the ‘good guy’ while others are portrayed as the typical ‘bad

guy’. One example is on the subject of the Norman invasion of

1066 by William the Conqueror. Macaulay portrays this event as

something that “gave up the whole population of England to the

tyranny of the Norman race.”29 Through this section, Macaulay

portrays William I and the line of kings that followed him to

King John as a time full of depredations laid upon the Saxons by

the French Norman kings and the plethora of Norman nobles that

were granted lands and titles in England. He even refers to the

seven kings from William I to John as the “French kings”.

Of these he styled as French kings; Macaulay claims the

follies and vices of the seventh, King John, was the salvation of

England.30 Macaulay pointed to the ‘bad’ king, John, as the

28 Ibid., 16-17.29 Ibid., 10.30 Ibid., 12.

18

saving grace for England to reclaim her heritage. He put it in

this manner, “In the time of Richard the First, the ordinary

imprecation of a Norman gentleman was “May I become an

Englishman!” His ordinary form of indignant denial was “Do you

take me for an Englishman?” The descendant of such a gentleman a

hundred years later was proud of the English name.”31

The way in which Macaulay wrote about history is far

different from what a trained modern historian would do when

writing about history. A good modern historian records the facts

without passing judgment on any of them. This was not the case

with Macaulay, who laid blame for one thing or another on bad

kings. Of course, post-Macaulay historians know and understand

the importance above all of impartiality. However, this was just

coming to light towards the end of Macaulay’s lifetime.

Macaulay also placed much emphasis on the continuity or

teleological sequence of events in English history. Always the

progressive, Macaulay pointed to events of the past as leading up

to the eventuality of a constitutional monarchy, as if kings of

old had this system of government in mind all through the ages. 31 Ibid., 13.

19

Macaulay believed the King’s ability to impose taxes had always

risen from the assent of the governed. He believed it was a

fundamental law of England and had been so since time

immemorial.32 Macaulay believed there had always been a

universally recognized and accepted constitutional rule, that it

was at times broken by different monarchs of England.

Macaulay completed History of England and the first two volumes

were published in late 1848. To say it was a hit would be an

understatement. Macaulay’s History was translated into nine other

languages and sold 13,000 copies in the first four months with

another 100,000 being sold in the United States. Though Macaulay

failed to critically analyze and properly cite sources, his work

quickly became a favorite with the general public. The reason

for the notoriety was because of Macaulay’s style of writing, his

way of drawing the reader in to the conversation and enthralling

him until the end. His eloquence appeared to be unmatched by his

contemporaries.

Impact of Whig Historiography

32 Ibid., 25.

20

Whig historiography was rooted in the era of William IV and

Queen Victoria. The Victorian Era became synonymous with Whig

historiography. Liberal historian Lord Acton read Macaulay’s

History four times and he came to regard Macaulay as very nearly

the greatest of English writers.33 Whig historiography would not

survive the turn of the century. What had been written during

Britain’s golden era of Queen Victoria would no longer hold true

with regard to classical liberalism and progress.

Progress was held still while the world pushed through World

War One, the Great Depression and World War Two. Historians such

as Herbert Butterfield began to dissect Whig historiography and

take it apart piece by piece. The world represented by Whig

idealism had faded away and in some cases been blown apart. Whig

historiography saw a rapid decline with the Great Depression. In

modern times, Whig historiography is viewed as biased and flawed.

Butterfield took Whig historiography and broke it apart,

piece by piece. Butterfield tore down the high wall of Whiggish

historians who believed the British system of Parliament and the

constitutional monarchy were the pinnacle of society and 33 Roland Hill, Lord Acton (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000), 25.

21

development. He also pointed out fallacies in Whig theory that

led one to believe political leaders of the past held modern

views on political beliefs and situations. He also pointed out

the errors of presentism so prevalent with Whig historians.

Macaulay was very popular in his day with many

contemporaries and the general public. However, if he were alive

today and writing publications such as History, he could be viewed

as flawed and biased. Modern historical research methods demand

critical analysis of sources as well as the proper citation of

works of others. Macaulay would have had to properly cite his

sources and references and back up what he stated in order to be

accepted as a responsible and trustworthy historian.

Thomas Babington Macaulay did indeed leave his mark on

English history and historiography. Not only that, but through

his tireless work abroad in India, many former colonies of the

British Empire still use aspects of his Indian Penal Code. Whig

historiography, while flawed, did provide the English with a

nationalistic love of country following a very trying period at

the end of the eighteenth century. If there is one thing we can

22

glean from Macaulay, it is that classical liberalism put people

ahead of institutions. Macaulay was at the head of such work,

always eager to help Englishmen retrieve more of their rights

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bentley, Michael Modern Historiography, An Introduction. London & New York: Routledge, 1999.

Breisach, Ernst. Historiography, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.

Butterfield, Herbert. The Whig Interpretation of History. New York: Norton& Co, 1965.

___________. The Englishman and His History. London: Cambridge University Press Archive, 1970.

Clive, John. Macaulay: The Shaping of the Historian. London: Secker & Warburg, 1902.

Hill, Roland. Lord Acton. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000.

Hubbard, Elbert. Thomas B. Macaulay. New York: Roycroft Shop, 1900.

Hume, David. The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688, Foreword by William B. Todd, 6 vols. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1983. http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=1868&Itemid=28

Hughes, David A. Thomas Babington Macaulay: The Rhetorician; An Examination of his structural devices in the History of England. Ithica, NY: Cornell University, 1898.

Labov, William. The Language of Life and Death: The Transformation of Experience in Oral Narrative. Cambridge, Mass: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

23

Macaulay, Thomas Babington. "Speech in Parliament on the Government of India Bill, 10 July 1833," Macaulay, Prose and Poetry, selected by G.M. Young. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957, 716-18. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1833macaulay-india.asp

____________. Lays of Ancient Rome, with Ivry and the Armada London: Routledge, 1888.

____________. Essays, Critical, and Miscellaneous, Rev. ed. Boston: Philips, Sampson,

and Company, 1856. Google Reader e-book.

____________. "Minute of 2 February 1835 on Indian Education," Macaulay, Prose and Poetry, selected by G. M. Young. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1957, 721-24,729. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1833macaulay-india.asp

____________. The Life and Works of Lord Macaulay Complete in Ten Volumes. Longmans, Green & Co, 1896. http://archive.org/stream/lifeworksoflordm01macaiala#page/n7/mode/2up

___________. Inaugural Address delivered by the Right Honourable Thomas Babington Macaulay on his Installation as Lord Rector of the University of Glascow. London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1849. Google eBook. http://books.google.com/books?id=d7UsAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Marx, Karl; Engels, Friedrich. Manifesto of the Communist Party. Moscow:Progress Publishers, 1969.

Sanders, Lloyd C. Ed. Lord Melbourne's Papers. London & New York: Longmans, Green & Co, 1889. 

Sullivan, Robert E. Macaulay: The Tragedy of Power. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2009.

“The Macaulay Code of Laws for India”. The Spectator. (10 June, 1837).

Trevelyan, George Otto. The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay. London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1881.

24

Wheen, Francis. Karl Marx. London: Fourth Estate, 2001.

25