Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st earl of Shaftesbury summary

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Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st earl of Shaftesbury, (born July 22, 1621, Wimborne St. Giles, Dorset, Eng.—died Jan. 21, 1683, Amsterdam, Neth.), English politician. He served in the English Civil Wars, fighting first for the king (1643) and then for Parliament (1644). He was appointed by Oliver Cromwell to the council of state (1653–54, 1659) and also served in Parliament (1654–60). One of 12 commissioners sent to invite Charles II to return to England, he was appointed to Charles’s privy council (1660) and served as chancellor of the Exchequer (1661–72) and lord chancellor (1672–73). As head of the Council of Trade and Foreign Plantations (1672–74), he drew up a constitution for the North American province of Carolina, aided by his protégé John Locke. Dismissed by Charles for supporting the anti-Catholic Test Act and opposing the marriage of Charles’s brother James (later James II) to another Catholic, Shaftesbury became a leader of the Whig opposition. He exploited the political chaos caused by Titus Oates to consolidate his parliamentary power and tried unsuccessfully to pass the Exclusion Bill, to keep James from the throne. In 1681 Charles dissolved the Parliament; Shaftesbury was arrested and tried for treason but was acquitted. In 1682 he fled to Holland, where he died.

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