Rota Club
Encyclopedia
The Rota Club refers to a debate society, composed of learned gentlemen, who debated republican ideology in London between November 1659 and February 1660. The Club was founded and dominated by James Harrington (author). It began during the English interregnum
(1649–1660) and lasted until the early months of the Restoration (1660).
The Rota Club owes its creation to James Harrington. This aristocratic author had been using English Coffee houses since as early as 1656 to promote his works of republican political philosophy, such as The Commonwealth of Oceana
(which was released in 1656), and was well received in these venues. In the summer of 1659 however a more serious and organized kind of discussion was instituted in the Bower Street Club. This club met at John Wildman's
tavern and was frequented by Harrington's close friends and followers. Their discussion revolved around the republican politics of its members and how to propagate their ideas into the public. This club was short lived and in October or November 1659 Harrington made the decision to form the Rota Club to further advertise his republican ideas.
The Rota Club met at Miles’ Coffeehouse at the Turk’s Head in the Palace Yard. Its location in one of these new establishments is of some importance. The English Coffeehouse was gaining in popularity at this time as it provided a place of sobriety to stage enlightening conversations and debates. As a result Harrington saw moving the Rota Club into the Coffee House as hugely beneficial. In the past such assemblies of men had met in taverns, but the introduction of the exotic coffee in England allowed for a different sort of meeting based on moderation and conversation.
Harrington may have based the Rota Club after the Italian Academies he had seen on his travels through Europe. Such an organization would have been interesting to the Virtuosi, a class of men in England at this time, were a conscious replication of a similar Italian class of gentleman. They certainly were interested in the exotic new coffee house and were frequenters of this club (and the Bower Street Club).
The Rota Club was named after Harrington's obsession with political rotation, though the specific form of political rotation seems to have had one of two origins. The first possibility is that the name 'Rota' came from the rotation of ministers in seats of government which figured prominently in Harrington's Utopian work Oceana as a means to ensure experienced members were always present while at the same time ministers were switched out to prevent a consolidation of unbalanced power. Another possibility is that the Rota Club derived its name from the revolving contrivances used for ballot voting in papal elections, and the ballot box used in the Rota Club itself. Either way the name 'Rota' referred to a republican or more democratic method of governance than monarchy.
, a known member of the Rota Club through his diary, records a fairly sparse attendance. In some periods he records attending the debates once every third or fourth night, followed by long periods of time with no mention of the society at all.
This freedom of attendance and membership did however allow a very large groups of men to meet, filling the Rota Club's room at Miles' Coffeehouse on any given night. The size of the group allowed that many of these men were spectators to the debate which would have had relatively few direct participants. For these spectators the Rota Club was a novelty, and a popular one at that. This high attendance operated as a stage for Harrington's republican
ideas to play and gain ground.
However there was a core group who carried out most of the debate between themselves. Among these more notable and regularly attending members of the Rota Club were John Aubrey
, Samuel Pepys, Henry Nevill
, Major Wildman, Francis Cradoc, Edward Bagshaw, William Croon, Philip Carteret, Maximilian Petty, Sir John Hoskyns, and Roger Coke. These were men from a wide array of backgrounds, much like the general attendance themselves. They were antiquarians, authors, members of parliament, Justices of the Peace, military officers, theologians, future New World governors, and aristocrats. In general they were Harrington's republican disciples and the virtuosi, well educated and attracted to the free flow of ideas and intellectual debate. They, like the mass of spectators, would not have attended every night, with the exception of Harrington himself, but they did play significant parts.
Those of differing views on any topic were encouraged to attend, and Harrington himself sought out men of every kind of view point.
it was primarily a place of discussion for democratic
ideals. However the type of republicanism was important as not everyone agreed with Harrington's views. It was not unusual to hear a debate which contradicted Harrington's views. Samual Pepys records one debate where he heard "a good argument against Mr. Harrington's assertion that overbalance of propriety was the foundation of government."
The building block on which the Rota Club styled its political debates was that of separating itself from practical politics. This was an arena distinct from the parliament in that it debated theoretical political philosophy. Harrington, in using the Rota club to propagate his ideas on government, felt that it was enough to simply allow his philosophy to enter the political debates of the day. He felt that once these theories were properly understood they would filter into the practical (parliamentary) government of their own accord. During his interrogation in 1661 Harrington "disavowed any practical political purpose to his Rota activities in 1659." It should not be misunderstood, however, as a disinterested debate club at least as far as Harrington himself. He did want to see his ideas enter into the parliamentary government.
was distrustful of the Rota Club and the ideals they stood for. Most of the Rump politicians disliked the voting by ballot idea, and they were even more loath to the Rotation of political positions espoused by a Rota or Oceana style government. They disliked the principle of Oceana by which all members would be turned out of their seats in government within nine years. There was in this period much contention, then, over the politics of England without a monarch.
The Stuart monarchs also knew of the Rota Club. Henry Hyde
, a loyalist to the crown, had informants who took the club seriously and used the testimony of these spies against Harrington and his club in 1661. In 1660, with restoration of Charles II, the political establishment began to voice its opposition to the Rota Club.
. They are the only debate society known to have done this, and presented this information in THE ROTA: OR, A Model of a free State, or equal Commonwealth.
. Namely these interests were the lessons of Roman and ancient history
, and modern states craft. Pepys diary records that on 14 January 1660 he heard a "good argument against Mr. Harrington's assertion that overbalance of propriety was the foundation of government". On January the 17th the discussion was on "the state of the Roman Government [as] not a settled government [or]... a steady government." The final discussion recorded of the Rota club was " whether learned or unlearned subjects are the best." These discussions conform to the general interests of James Harrington, but more than that represent discussions relating directly to politics. More specifically they relate to the politics of the Rota Club, being discussions to do with the proper functioning of a republic
.
In THE ROTA: OR, A Model of a free State, or equal Commonwealth the first declaration of the Rota Club is of their desired topic for any given debate.
The topic of any debate then had to conform to the discussion of a republican government, or a discussion that would lead to an understanding of this sort of government. This conforms nicely to the evidence given by other primary sources which corroborate this point.
or Sir William Poulteney. This structure was instituted so that the debate would be orderly, carefully considered, and serious.
The group of participants would be placed around an oval, sometimes called 'Roman,' table with a passage cut into it for the waiter of the Coffeehouse to serve his drinks. It appears from accounts that those less important spectators could have been place around the room as Pepys seems to have been. This was perhaps a system of replicating equality of the members of the Rota Club, that no one stood at the head of the table.
The benefit of the Rota Club printing the proper form of its operation is that we have an itemization of their organization and methodologies. In THE ROTA: OR, A Model of a free State, or equal Commonwealth we can see a basic frame work discussed.
The first resolution of the Rota was that at any given debate a topic must be presented in printed form so that all could read it. From Samuel Pepys diary we can see that these debates need not end at the first reading, but rather could and did spill over into other nights of debate. From the same journal entry we can also see evidence of the other resolutions being that the initially proposed topic was produced, given a full days time to consider, upon which Pepys says he "heard [a] very good discourse; it was in answer to Mr. Harrington's answer." Further Pepys states that "it was carried by ballot that it was a steady government; though, it is true by the voices, it had been carried before that it was an unsteady government. So tomorrow it is to be proved by the opponents..." The cycle of the Rota Club then was sober consideration followed by debate and lastly voting.
This was used to discover the "true" feelings of those in attendance, which was not always to the benefit of the topics proposer as Harrington himself was voted down in the ballot after having won the vocal vote. This was the system espoused by the Oceana however and the successful application of Harrington's ideas required that this important aspect of his utopian government feature heavily in his Rota Club to publicize it.
, as proposed by Jürgen Habermas
, operated in the Coffeehouse, a venue of urbanity and commercialism for men to debate matters of interest logically and rationally. To quote Habermas the Coffeehouse
was “a forum in which the private people, come together to form a public, readied themselves to compel public authority to legitimate itself before public opinion
.” The Rota Club and its place in the Coffeehouse as well as its logical and rational debates fit into this ideology well. Furthermore Harrington’s motivations to get his work into the public (the public opinion), and from there into parliament (the public authority) complies with Habermas’ ideas on public authority having to legitimate itself to public opinion. While Habermas focuses on the eighteenth century, the Rota Club conforms to the criteria of the public sphere.
The end of the Rota Club is tied to the end of the Rump Parliaments in England. As a debate club centered on a Commonwealth and republican ideals it experienced most of its success when the power of government was solidly with the parliament. However with the imminent arrival of King Charles II of England
the attendance at the Rota club's meetings fell off dramatically. In his Brief Lives
John Aubrey
records that that when General George Monck entered London in early February 1660 the debate on models of republicanism and Commonwealth ceased. Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary on the 20th of February 1660 that "after a small debate upon the Question whether learned or unlearned subjects are the best, the club broke off very poorly, and I do not think they will meet any more." The Rota Club, while not declaring itself a politically charged society, did rely on a political atmosphere conducive to its philosophies. With the fall of the Rump Parliament on the 16 of March and the coming of Charles II's monarchy this club no longer held the imagination of those who had so briefly attended the republican club, there just was not an opportunity to see the republican ideas expressed in a Monarchy.
The secret ballet voting specifically seems to also have made its way into such institutions as the Royal Society
, Bank of England
, and other clubs following this period. Furthermore, some members of the Royal Society had frequented the Rota Club and likely took the ideologies they had learned in the Rota Club with them. More generally the republican views tempered by the Rota debates and remembered by those who participated may have helped form the United States constitution
. Over all, however, the significance of the Rota Club specifically is that the members who learned and trained in republican ideology there went into the world, taking these philosophies with them.
Interregnum
An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...
(1649–1660) and lasted until the early months of the Restoration (1660).
Origins
The Commonwealth of Oceana
The Commonwealth of Oceana, published 1656, is a composition of political philosophy written by the English politician and essayist, James Harrington . When first attempted to be published, it was officially censored by Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell...
(which was released in 1656), and was well received in these venues. In the summer of 1659 however a more serious and organized kind of discussion was instituted in the Bower Street Club. This club met at John Wildman's
John Wildman
Sir John Wildman was an English soldier and politician.-Biography:Wildman was born in the Norfolk town of Wymondham, the son of Jeffrey and Dorothy Wildman. His father was a butcher. John was educated as a sizar at Corpus Christi College University of Cambridge taking an MA in 1644...
tavern and was frequented by Harrington's close friends and followers. Their discussion revolved around the republican politics of its members and how to propagate their ideas into the public. This club was short lived and in October or November 1659 Harrington made the decision to form the Rota Club to further advertise his republican ideas.
The Rota Club met at Miles’ Coffeehouse at the Turk’s Head in the Palace Yard. Its location in one of these new establishments is of some importance. The English Coffeehouse was gaining in popularity at this time as it provided a place of sobriety to stage enlightening conversations and debates. As a result Harrington saw moving the Rota Club into the Coffee House as hugely beneficial. In the past such assemblies of men had met in taverns, but the introduction of the exotic coffee in England allowed for a different sort of meeting based on moderation and conversation.
Harrington may have based the Rota Club after the Italian Academies he had seen on his travels through Europe. Such an organization would have been interesting to the Virtuosi, a class of men in England at this time, were a conscious replication of a similar Italian class of gentleman. They certainly were interested in the exotic new coffee house and were frequenters of this club (and the Bower Street Club).
The Rota Club was named after Harrington's obsession with political rotation, though the specific form of political rotation seems to have had one of two origins. The first possibility is that the name 'Rota' came from the rotation of ministers in seats of government which figured prominently in Harrington's Utopian work Oceana as a means to ensure experienced members were always present while at the same time ministers were switched out to prevent a consolidation of unbalanced power. Another possibility is that the Rota Club derived its name from the revolving contrivances used for ballot voting in papal elections, and the ballot box used in the Rota Club itself. Either way the name 'Rota' referred to a republican or more democratic method of governance than monarchy.
Social composition
The Rota Club as an institution seems to have had a wide variety of social classes in attendance. It was open to all, ranging from bohemians, aristocrats, officers, soldiers, merchants and other parts of society. The only stipulation for attendance was a fee to be paid, which did limit attendance to those who could afford it but also allowed for a wide range of persons who would not usually have access to such venues. This freedom of attendance allowed for the Rota Club no truly fixed membership as there was a free flow of individuals, those who sat in one meeting would not necessarily be there at the next one. For instance Samuel PepysSamuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
, a known member of the Rota Club through his diary, records a fairly sparse attendance. In some periods he records attending the debates once every third or fourth night, followed by long periods of time with no mention of the society at all.
This freedom of attendance and membership did however allow a very large groups of men to meet, filling the Rota Club's room at Miles' Coffeehouse on any given night. The size of the group allowed that many of these men were spectators to the debate which would have had relatively few direct participants. For these spectators the Rota Club was a novelty, and a popular one at that. This high attendance operated as a stage for Harrington's republican
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
ideas to play and gain ground.
However there was a core group who carried out most of the debate between themselves. Among these more notable and regularly attending members of the Rota Club were John Aubrey
John Aubrey
John Aubrey FRS, was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the collection of short biographical pieces usually referred to as Brief Lives...
, Samuel Pepys, Henry Nevill
Henry Nevill
Henry Nevill may refer to:*Henry Nevill, 2nd Earl of Abergavenny , British nobleman*Henry Nevill, 3rd Marquess of Abergavenny , British nobleman*Henry Nevill, 6th Baron Bergavenny , English nobleman...
, Major Wildman, Francis Cradoc, Edward Bagshaw, William Croon, Philip Carteret, Maximilian Petty, Sir John Hoskyns, and Roger Coke. These were men from a wide array of backgrounds, much like the general attendance themselves. They were antiquarians, authors, members of parliament, Justices of the Peace, military officers, theologians, future New World governors, and aristocrats. In general they were Harrington's republican disciples and the virtuosi, well educated and attracted to the free flow of ideas and intellectual debate. They, like the mass of spectators, would not have attended every night, with the exception of Harrington himself, but they did play significant parts.
Those of differing views on any topic were encouraged to attend, and Harrington himself sought out men of every kind of view point.
Politics
Politics of the Rota Club
The politics of the Rota Club are primarily those seen in its founding. As a club dedicated to the popularization of Harrington's Oceana and republicanismRepublicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
it was primarily a place of discussion for democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
ideals. However the type of republicanism was important as not everyone agreed with Harrington's views. It was not unusual to hear a debate which contradicted Harrington's views. Samual Pepys records one debate where he heard "a good argument against Mr. Harrington's assertion that overbalance of propriety was the foundation of government."
The building block on which the Rota Club styled its political debates was that of separating itself from practical politics. This was an arena distinct from the parliament in that it debated theoretical political philosophy. Harrington, in using the Rota club to propagate his ideas on government, felt that it was enough to simply allow his philosophy to enter the political debates of the day. He felt that once these theories were properly understood they would filter into the practical (parliamentary) government of their own accord. During his interrogation in 1661 Harrington "disavowed any practical political purpose to his Rota activities in 1659." It should not be misunderstood, however, as a disinterested debate club at least as far as Harrington himself. He did want to see his ideas enter into the parliamentary government.
The club in politics
The Rump ParliamentRump Parliament
The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....
was distrustful of the Rota Club and the ideals they stood for. Most of the Rump politicians disliked the voting by ballot idea, and they were even more loath to the Rotation of political positions espoused by a Rota or Oceana style government. They disliked the principle of Oceana by which all members would be turned out of their seats in government within nine years. There was in this period much contention, then, over the politics of England without a monarch.
The Stuart monarchs also knew of the Rota Club. Henry Hyde
Henry Hyde
Henry John Hyde , an American politician, was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 2007, representing the 6th District of Illinois, an area of Chicago's northwestern suburbs which included O'Hare International Airport...
, a loyalist to the crown, had informants who took the club seriously and used the testimony of these spies against Harrington and his club in 1661. In 1660, with restoration of Charles II, the political establishment began to voice its opposition to the Rota Club.
Politics in print
What differentiated the Rota Club from other debate societies at this time was that they published their political view points in the last months of the interregnumInterregnum
An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...
. They are the only debate society known to have done this, and presented this information in THE ROTA: OR, A Model of a free State, or equal Commonwealth.
Topics of discussion
The topics of discussion of the Rota Club conformed more or less to the interests of its founder James HarringtonJames Harrington
James Harrington was an English political theorist of classical republicanism, best known for his controversial work, The Commonwealth of Oceana .-Early life:...
. Namely these interests were the lessons of Roman and ancient history
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
, and modern states craft. Pepys diary records that on 14 January 1660 he heard a "good argument against Mr. Harrington's assertion that overbalance of propriety was the foundation of government". On January the 17th the discussion was on "the state of the Roman Government [as] not a settled government [or]... a steady government." The final discussion recorded of the Rota club was " whether learned or unlearned subjects are the best." These discussions conform to the general interests of James Harrington, but more than that represent discussions relating directly to politics. More specifically they relate to the politics of the Rota Club, being discussions to do with the proper functioning of a republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
.
In THE ROTA: OR, A Model of a free State, or equal Commonwealth the first declaration of the Rota Club is of their desired topic for any given debate.
RESOLVED, that the proposer be desired, and is hereby desired to bring in a model of a free state, or equal commonwealth, at large, to be farther debated by this society, and that in order thereunto it be first printed.
The topic of any debate then had to conform to the discussion of a republican government, or a discussion that would lead to an understanding of this sort of government. This conforms nicely to the evidence given by other primary sources which corroborate this point.
Structure
The Rota Club had a defined organization within its operation. There was a person to take the minutes, Harrington himself, a system of membership, and a Chairman, usually occupied by Cyriack SkinnerCyriack Skinner
Cyriack Skinner was a friend, pupil and amanuensis of the English poet John Milton, and the author of an anonymous biography of the poet.-Biography:Cyriack Skinner was the third son of William Skinner, a Lincolnshire squire who died in 1627....
or Sir William Poulteney. This structure was instituted so that the debate would be orderly, carefully considered, and serious.
The group of participants would be placed around an oval, sometimes called 'Roman,' table with a passage cut into it for the waiter of the Coffeehouse to serve his drinks. It appears from accounts that those less important spectators could have been place around the room as Pepys seems to have been. This was perhaps a system of replicating equality of the members of the Rota Club, that no one stood at the head of the table.
The benefit of the Rota Club printing the proper form of its operation is that we have an itemization of their organization and methodologies. In THE ROTA: OR, A Model of a free State, or equal Commonwealth we can see a basic frame work discussed.
RESOLVED, that the proposer be desired, and is hereby desired to bring in a model of a free state, or equal commonwealth, at large, to be farther debated by this society, and that in order thereunto it be first printed.
RESOLVED, that the model being proposed in print, shall be first read, and then debated by clauses.
RESOLVED, that a clause being read over night, the debate thereupon begin not at the sooner till the next evening.
RESOLVED, that such as will debate, be desired to bring in their queries upon, or objections against the clause in debate, if they think fit, in writing.
RESOLVED, that debate being sufficiently had upon a clause, the question be put by the ballotting-box, not any way to determine of, or meddle with the government of these nations, but to discover the judgment of this society, upon the form of popular government, in abstract, or secundum artem.
The first resolution of the Rota was that at any given debate a topic must be presented in printed form so that all could read it. From Samuel Pepys diary we can see that these debates need not end at the first reading, but rather could and did spill over into other nights of debate. From the same journal entry we can also see evidence of the other resolutions being that the initially proposed topic was produced, given a full days time to consider, upon which Pepys says he "heard [a] very good discourse; it was in answer to Mr. Harrington's answer." Further Pepys states that "it was carried by ballot that it was a steady government; though, it is true by the voices, it had been carried before that it was an unsteady government. So tomorrow it is to be proved by the opponents..." The cycle of the Rota Club then was sober consideration followed by debate and lastly voting.
Voting
Voting was extremely important for the Rota Club. It used two forms of voting, the first being orderly vocal voting, and the second being a closed ballot. These existed side by side, vocal voting always followed by a ballot. As seen in Pepys diary this system was in place to discover discrepancies with what persons would vote for vocally and then secretly.This was used to discover the "true" feelings of those in attendance, which was not always to the benefit of the topics proposer as Harrington himself was voted down in the ballot after having won the vocal vote. This was the system espoused by the Oceana however and the successful application of Harrington's ideas required that this important aspect of his utopian government feature heavily in his Rota Club to publicize it.
The public sphere
The Public SpherePublic sphere
The public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action...
, as proposed by Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas is a German sociologist and philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his theory on the concepts of 'communicative rationality' and the 'public sphere'...
, operated in the Coffeehouse, a venue of urbanity and commercialism for men to debate matters of interest logically and rationally. To quote Habermas the Coffeehouse
Coffeehouse
A coffeehouse or coffee shop is an establishment which primarily serves prepared coffee or other hot beverages. It shares some of the characteristics of a bar, and some of the characteristics of a restaurant, but it is different from a cafeteria. As the name suggests, coffeehouses focus on...
was “a forum in which the private people, come together to form a public, readied themselves to compel public authority to legitimate itself before public opinion
Public opinion
Public opinion is the aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by the adult population. Public opinion can also be defined as the complex collection of opinions of many different people and the sum of all their views....
.” The Rota Club and its place in the Coffeehouse as well as its logical and rational debates fit into this ideology well. Furthermore Harrington’s motivations to get his work into the public (the public opinion), and from there into parliament (the public authority) complies with Habermas’ ideas on public authority having to legitimate itself to public opinion. While Habermas focuses on the eighteenth century, the Rota Club conforms to the criteria of the public sphere.
End
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
the attendance at the Rota club's meetings fell off dramatically. In his Brief Lives
Brief Lives
Brief Lives is a collection of short biographies written by John Aubrey in the last decades of the seventeenth century. Aubrey initially began collecting biographical material to assist the Oxford scholar Anthony Wood, who was working on his own collection of biographies...
John Aubrey
John Aubrey
John Aubrey FRS, was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He is perhaps best known as the author of the collection of short biographical pieces usually referred to as Brief Lives...
records that that when General George Monck entered London in early February 1660 the debate on models of republicanism and Commonwealth ceased. Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary on the 20th of February 1660 that "after a small debate upon the Question whether learned or unlearned subjects are the best, the club broke off very poorly, and I do not think they will meet any more." The Rota Club, while not declaring itself a politically charged society, did rely on a political atmosphere conducive to its philosophies. With the fall of the Rump Parliament on the 16 of March and the coming of Charles II's monarchy this club no longer held the imagination of those who had so briefly attended the republican club, there just was not an opportunity to see the republican ideas expressed in a Monarchy.
Legacy
Coffee, political conversation and debate went hand in hand with radicalism and dangerous social strife in the mind of the monarchy following the period of the Rota Club in England. What differentiated the ‘loyal English man’ from the radical revolutionary was their choice of drink. Coffee was viewed as disloyal to the king, English beer and ale being the true mark of loyalists. This has been suggested to be a result of societies like the well known Rota Club's association with the coffee houses, such clubs being seen as dissenters and possible enemies of the monarchy after the restoration of Charles II. While not solely caused by the Rota Club it was one of the institutions that fed such talk.The secret ballet voting specifically seems to also have made its way into such institutions as the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
, and other clubs following this period. Furthermore, some members of the Royal Society had frequented the Rota Club and likely took the ideologies they had learned in the Rota Club with them. More generally the republican views tempered by the Rota debates and remembered by those who participated may have helped form the United States constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
. Over all, however, the significance of the Rota Club specifically is that the members who learned and trained in republican ideology there went into the world, taking these philosophies with them.