petitioners

Supporters of the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, who petitioned Charles II to call the parliament elected in August 1679 but suspended until October 1680. They supported the proposed Exclusion Bill to prevent a Catholic succession to the throne The petitioners were eventually to become the Whigs, and their opponents, the Abhorrers, so called because they objected to interference with the king's prerogative to summon a parliament, were to became known as the Tories.