Early-18th-century Whig plots

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During the early 18th century, Great Britain was undergoing a government shift into a two party system. The leading conservative political grouping, the Tories, was the primary political party, but at the turn of the 18th century the Whigs, a liberal faction, had begun to rise in influence.^[1] As the parties struggled for power in Parliament, tensions rose. When the Whig Party continued to grow in power and influence, gaining more representation in Parliament and recognition in the general public, the Tories found themselves challenged over their policies and opinions.^[1] The arguments of government went beyond the House of Parliament. Public speeches, debates, and other forms of popular influence arose, creating a new style of politics. This was the environment that Princess Anne found herself when she became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702.^[2] Her brother-in-law, William III of England and II of Scotland, who had preceded her, had been in support of the growing two party system, and in respect, Anne "endured" the Whigs despite her personal preference for the Tory party.^[3] The tensions between the parties had escalated to the point where party members became paranoid of conspiracies and conducted plots against one another. The Whigs concocted assassination plots against important Tory figures as an attempt to make way for their policies and political agendas.

The first accused conspiracy was that of the Screw Plot. This plot was assumed to be an assassination attempt on the life of Queen Anne in 1708.^[4] According to Tory belief, the Whigs planned to kill the Queen, and close advisers, by designing a chandelier to fall upon them.^[4] Although the accusations have been today determined as faulty,^[5] the Tories seeded doubt in the public eye. In 1710, the Whigs attempted to assassinate Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, in what has been labelled as the Bandbox Plot.