The Caps () were a political faction during the

Age of Liberty In Swedish history, the Age of Liberty () was a period that saw parliamentary governance, increasing civil rights, and the decline of the Swedish Empire that began with the adoption of the Instrument of Government in 1719 and ended with Gustav ...

(1719–1772) in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The primary rivals of the Caps were known as the

Hats A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

. The Hats are actually responsible for the Caps' name, as it comes from a contraction of Night-cap, a name used to suggest that the Caps were the soft and timid party. The Caps represented mostly peasants and clergymen.

Policy

The foremost representative of the Age of Liberty, ''de facto'' leader of government and of the Caps from 1719 to 1738 was the Chancery President, Count

Arvid Horn Count Arvid Bernhard Horn af Ekebyholm (6 April 166418 April 1742) was a Swedish general, diplomat and politician, a member of the noble Horn family. He served twice as president of the Privy Council Chancellery of Sweden, privy council chancel ...

. Horn reversed the traditional policy of Sweden by keeping the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...

at a distance and drawing near to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Thus a twenty years' war was succeeded by a twenty years' peace, during which the nation recovered so rapidly from its wounds that it began to forget them. The

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

of 1738 was to mark a turning-point in Swedish history, the Hats carried everything before them, and the aged Horn was finally compelled to retire from a scene where, for thirty-three years, he had played a leading part. For the next twenty five years the Hats did dominate government, with disastrous results where the country was plunged into two costly and ill-advised wars. At the Riksdag in 1765, the Caps returned to government and they struck at once at the weak point of their opponents by ordering a budget report to be made, and it was speedily found that the whole financial system of the Hats had been based upon reckless imprudence and the wilful misrepresentation and that the only fruit of their long rule was an enormous addition to the national debt and a depreciation of the note circulation to one third of its face value. This revelation led to an all-round retrenchment, carried into effect with a drastic thoroughness which has earned for this parliament the name of the "Reduction Riksdag". The Caps succeeded in reducing the national debt, half of which was transferred from the pockets of the rich to the empty exchequer, and establishing some sort of equilibrium between revenue and expenditure. They also introduced a few useful reforms, the most remarkable of which was the liberty of the press in 1766. However, their most important political act was to throw their lot definitely in with the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, so as to counterpoise the influence of France.

Majority leaders

These representatives of the Caps were elected as Lantmarskalk (speakers) of the Riksdag of the Estates, signifying a parliamentary majority. *

(1720, 1726, 1731) * Swen Lagerberg (1723) * Mattias Alexander von Ungern-Sternberg (1742, 1746) * Thure Gustaf Rudbeck (1765)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caps (Party) Political parties established in 1719 Defunct political parties in Sweden Liberal parties in Sweden 1719 establishments in Sweden Political parties with year of disestablishment missing Sweden during the Age of Liberty

Policy

Majority leaders

See also

References