Shaftesbury, Earl of (1621-1683), was a controversial English statesman. He spent much of his career in opposition to the monarchy, but he also spent years as a supporter of and adviser to King Charles II.
The future Earl of Shaftesbury was born Anthony Ashley Cooper on July 22, 1621, in Wimborne, Dorset. He studied at Oxford University and in 1640, he entered Parliament. During the English Civil War of the 1640’s, Cooper was originally a supporter of King Charles I. However, by 1644, he had shifted his support to Parliament and the commander of its army, Oliver Cromwell. England became a republic in 1649, following the overthrow and execution of King Charles. Cooper continued to support Cromwell when, in 1653, Cromwell established the Protectorate, a military dictatorship. After Cromwell’s death in 1658, Cooper helped plan the Restoration (reestablishment) of the monarchy. After King Charles II took the throne in 1660, the king appointed Cooper to the Privy Council, the monarch’s closest circle of advisers.
In 1666, Cooper befriended the English philosopher John Locke, who later helped him write political speeches and tracts (essays). During the late 1660’s, Cooper briefly joined the opposition to the monarchy. By 1670, however, he was back in the king’s favor and one of five members of the Cabal, Charles II’s inner council. Cooper became a vocal supporter of the king’s policies regarding religious toleration and war against the Dutch. In 1672, Charles II appointed him Earl of Shaftesbury, as well as lord chancellor, the highest judicial official in England. However, the earl soon fell out of favor with the king and was dismissed from the posts in 1673.
During the 1670’s, Shaftesbury helped establish the Whigs, a political group that sought to lessen the power of the monarchy. He pushed for the Test Acts, which restricted the political activities of Roman Catholics and other people who were not members of the Church of England. He delivered famous speeches calling for the exclusion of James, Duke of York, the Catholic brother of Charles II, from the royal succession.
In 1679, the king again turned to Shaftesbury, and Shaftesbury briefly headed the Privy Council. During this time, he secured passage of the Habeas Corpus Amendment Act—sometimes called the Shaftesbury Act—which held that a prisoner could not be detained against the wishes of Parliament and the courts (see Habeas corpus). However, Shaftesbury soon became a suspect in plots against the king, and he spent his later years in and out of prison. He eventually fled England, to Amsterdam, where he died on Jan. 21, 1683.
