Which political party was dominant in Parliament around the time of colonial unrest?

The Whigs were the dominant political party in Parliament during the time of colonial unrest in the 1760s and 1770s. This period was marked by significant tension between the American colonies and Great Britain, largely due to policies and taxes imposed by the British government, such as the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts. The Whigs, characterized by their opposition to what they saw as the overreach of royal authority and increased taxation without representation, were more sympathetic to the colonial grievances compared to the Tories.

The Tories, on the other hand, were generally supportive of the king and his administration, often favoring the enforcement of British laws and colonial taxation. The Democrats and Federalists were not relevant in this context, as they emerged later in American politics after the Revolutionary War. Thus, the prominence of the Whigs at the time illustrates the political divisions in Great Britain that contributed to the growing unrest in the colonies, as they began to advocate for the rights of colonists against what they perceived to be tyrannical rule.