The Peerage Bill was a 1719 measure proposed by the British Whig government led by James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland which would have largely halted the creation of new peerages, limiting membership of the House of Lords. The Bill led to a public dispute between Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, former friends and collaborators and both Whig members of the Kit-Kat Club. Addison supported the Bill while Steele opposed it.