The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1678 through 1681 in the reign of Charles II of England. The Exclusion Bill sought to exclude the king's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland because he was Roman Catholic. The Tories were opposed to this exclusion while the "Country Party," who were soon to be named the Whigs, supported it. In 1673, when he refused to take the oath prescribed by the new Test Act, it became publicly known that the Duke of York was a Roman Catholic. His secretary, Edward Colman, had been named by Titus Oates during the Popish Plot (1678) as a conspirator to subvert the kingdom. Members of the Anglican English establishment could see that in France a Catholic king was ruling in an absolutist way, and a movement gathered strength to avoid such a form of monarchy from developing in England, as many feared it would if James were to succeed his brother Charles, who had no legitimate children. Sir Henry Capel summarized the general feeling of the country when he said in a parliamentary debate in the House of Commons of England on 27 April 1679:

The occasion which brought these sentiments to a head was the impeachment of Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby, as a scapegoat for a scandal by which Louis XIV bought the neutrality of Charles's government with an outright bribe. Charles dissolved the Cavalier Parliament, but the new Parliament which assembled on 6 March 1679 was even more hostile to the king and to his unfortunate minister, thus Danby was committed to the Tower of London. On 15 May 1679, the supporters of Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury, introduced the Exclusion bill in the Commons with the intention of excluding James from the succession to the throne. A fringe group there began to support the claim to the throne of Charles's illegitimate – but Protestant – son, the Duke of Monmouth. As it seemed likely that the bill would pass in the House of Commons, Charles exercised his Royal prerogative to dissolve Parliament. Successive Parliaments attempted to pass such a bill, and were likewise dissolved. The "Petitioners", those who backed a series of petitions to Charles to call Parliament together in order to complete the passage of the Exclusion Bill, became known as the Whigs, while the Court party, or the "Abhorrers" in the political cant of the hour, meaning those who found the Exclusion Bill abhorrent, would develop into the Tories.

Der Exclusion Bill war eine Gesetzesvorlage, die England von 1678 bis 1681 in eine tiefe politische Krise stürzte. Die Absicht der Vorlage war es, den Bruder von König Karl II., (den späteren König Jakob II.) von der Thronfolge auszuschließen, weil er römisch-katholisch war. Die "Court party" (Partei des Hofes, die späteren Tories) war gegen einen Ausschluss, während die "Country party" (Partei des Landes, die späteren Whigs) den Ausschluss unterstützte.

La crise de l‘Exclusion Bill toucha l'Angleterre de 1678 à 1681 sous le règne de Charles II et pendant la Restauration anglaise. L'Exclusion Bill est un projet de loi avorté dont l'objet était d'exclure de la succession au trône d'Angleterre et d'Irlande le frère du roi, Jacques (futur Jacques II d'Angleterre), en raison de sa foi catholique. Les Tories s'opposèrent à cette mesure, tandis que le Country party, ancêtre du parti whig, la soutenait.

In 1660 werd in Engeland de Stuart-dynastie hersteld toen Karel II (°1630- 1685), zoon van de veroordeelde Karel I opnieuw de macht in handen nam. Toen eind jaren zeventig duidelijk dat Karel geen wettelijke nakomelingen zou voortbrengen, zou zijn broer Jacobus, hertog van York de nieuwe koning worden.

La crisis de la exclusión con motivo del proyecto de ley de exclusión (Exclusion Bill) afectó a Inglaterra desde 1678 a 1681, bajo el reinado de Carlos II y durante la Restauración inglesa. La Exclusion Bill es un proyecto de ley aborttada en la que el objeto era excluir de la sucesión al trono de Inglaterra y de Irlanda al hermano del rey, Jacobo (futuro Jacobo II de Inglaterra) con motivo de su catolicismo. Los Tories se opusieron a esta medida, en tanto que el "Country party", antecesor de los whigs, la sostenía.