The group was formed in opposition to the government of Robert Walpole in the House of Commons in 1725, when William Pulteney (later 1st Earl of Bath) and seventeen other Whigs joined with the Tory Party in attacks against the ministry.
[1] The Whig Patriots believed that under Walpole, the executive had grown too powerful by the abuse of patronage and government placemen in the Parliament of Great Britain.
They also accused Walpole personally of being too partisan, too important and too eager to keep competent potential rivals out of positions of influence.
Under Queen Anne, the Tories had sent Walpole to the Tower of London for misappropriations as Secretary at War, and even radical Whigs such as John Tutchin had publicly accused him of siphoning off money.
The remnants of those who identified as Patriots would later join the unofficial "party" of his son, William Pitt the Younger.