Charles James Fox

A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James the Second

"A History of the Early Part of the Reign of James the Second" by Charles James Fox is a history written in the early 1800s. This Whig politician's unfinished work examines the first year of James II's reign in 1685, challenging Tory historian David Hume's interpretation. Fox viewed England's history as an ongoing struggle between monarchical absolutism and subjects fighting for liberty. Left incomplete at his death in 1806, the work sparked mixed reactions—praised by some for its constitutional principles, criticized by others for its oratorical style.