AP European History

Crash Course

Constitutionalism: England, 1600-1689

II. English Society in the Seventeenth Century

• A. Impact of the Commercial Revolution
  • 1. As the commercial revolution gained momentum, the size of the English middle class increased.
  • 2. With the exception of the Dutch Republic, the English middle class was proportionally larger than that of any country in Europe.
  • 3. English entrepreneurs financed joint-stock companies that played a key role in promoting English colonies in North America.
• B. Gentry
  • 1. The gentry included wealthy landowners who dominated the House of Commons.
  • 2. It is very important to note that unlike France, the English gentry was willing to pay taxes. This had two important consequences:
    • a. First, since the tax burden was more equitable in England, the peasantry was not overburdened with excessive taxes.
    • a. Second, the gentry and thus the House of Commons demanded a role in determining national expenditures. This created an inevitable conflict with the Stuart kings.
• C. Religion
  • 1. By the end of the seventeenth century, Calvinists comprised the largest percentage of the English population.
  • 2. Puritans continued to demand changes in the Anglican church.

III. Key Issues

• A. The Role of the Monarch
  • 1. The Stuart kings believed that their authority came from God.
  • 2. The Stuart kings thus wanted a monarchy free from parliamentary restraints.
• B. The Role of the House of Commons
  • 1. The House of Commons was dominated by the gentry, merchants, and lawyers.
  • 2. Members were determined to preserve traditional privileges such as freedom of open debate and immunity from arrest.
  • 3. They demanded a stronger voice in political affairs.
• C. Organization of the Anglican Church
  • 1. The Stuarts favored the established Episcopal form of church organization. In this hierarchical arrangement, the king, Archbishop of Canterbury, and bishops determined doctrine and practice.
  • 2. The Puritans favored a Presbyterian form of church organization. This arrangement allowed church members a much greater voice in running the church and expressing dissenting views.

IV. James I (Reigned 1603-1625)

• A. Divine Right of Kings
  • 1. James believed that royal authority came directly from God.
  • 2. James published a work called The True Law of Free Monarchies in which he asserted that “kings are not only God’s lieutenants upon earth, and sit on God’s throne, but even by God himself they are called gods.”
• B. Quarrels with Parliament
  • 1. Puritan members of Parliament urged James to “purify” the Church of England of “popish remnants” including the authority of bishops.
  • 2. James was convinced that the Presbyterian system of church government would destroy royal control of the church and threaten the monarchy. He reportedly summed up his opposition by declaring, “No bishops, no king.”

V. Charles I (Reigned 1625-1649) and Parliament

• A. Like Father, Like Son
  • 1. like his father, Charles I was a firm believer in the divine right of kings.
  • 2. like his father, Charles I was always in need of money.
  • 3. And finally, like his father, Charles opposed the Puritans and supported the Anglican Church.
• B. Petition of Right, 1628
  • 1. In return for grants of money, Charles I agreed to the Petition of Right.
  • 2. The Petition of Right contained two key provisions:
    • a. No one should be compelled to pay any tax or loan “without common consent by act of Parliament.”
    • b. No one should be imprisoned without due process of law.
• C. Religious Policies
  • 1. Religion was the single most explosive issue in England.
  • 2. With Charles’s encouragement, William laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, attempted to transform the Church of England into a Catholic church without a pope.
  • 3. In 1639, laud foolishly attempted to impose the English Prayer Book on the Scottish Presbyterian Church.
  • 4. Determined to defend their religion, the Scots formed an army and occupied northern England.
• D. The Long Parliament, 1640-1648
  • 1. Desperate for money to fight the Scots, Charles reluctantly recalled Parliament into session, thus precipitating a constitutional and religious crisis.
  • 2. Determined to undo what they saw as royal tyranny, the Long Parliament executed Laud and passed a number of laws limiting royal power.

NOTE: The period from 1640 to 1660 can be very confusing. Don’t spend your time memorizing the Short Parliament, the Long Parliament, and the Rump Parliament. Instead, focus on the causes and consequences of the changing relationship between the monarchy and Parliament.

VI. The English Civil War, 1642-1649

• A. The Cavaliers
  • 1. The Cavaliers were aristocrats, nobles, and church officials who remained loyal to the king.
  • 2. Cavaliers favored a strong monarchy and an Anglican Church governed by bishops appointed by the crown.
• B. The Roundheads
  • 1. The Roundheads included Puritans, townspeople, middle¬class businessmen, and people from Presbyterian-dominated London.
  • 2. Roundheads favored a Parliamentary monarchy and a Presbyterian church governed by elected “presbyters” or elders.
• C. Oliver Cromwell
  • 1. Led by Oliver Cromwell, a previously unknown country gentleman, the Roundheads defeated the Cavaliers.
  • 2. Cromwell organized an army of zealous Protestants called the New Model Army.
  • 3. In January 1649, Cromwell and his supporters executed King Charles I.

VII. The Interregnum Under Oliver Cromwell

• A. The Commonwealth and the Protectorate
  • 1. With Charles I executed, Cromwell now held the reigns of power.
  • 2. The Commonwealth (1649-1653) abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords. Oliver Cromwell and a one-house Parliament exercised political power.
  • 3. In late 1653, Cromwell took the title Lord Protector, establishing a one-man rule supported by the army.
• B. Foreign Policy
  • 1. Cromwell brutally crushed a royalist uprising in Ireland. Protestant landlords replaced Catholic property owners. Nearly half of Ireland’s population may have perished from famine and plague.
  • 2. England passed the Navigation Act of 1651. The act barred Dutch ships from carrying goods between other countries and England. The act was also designed to give England greater control over its American colonies.
  • 3. England waged a series of wars that weakened the Dutch.
• C. Domestic Policy
  • 1. The Puritans attempted to impose a strict moral code that censored the press, prohibited sports, and closed theaters.
  • 2. Cromwell opposed radical groups such as the Levellers and the Quakers.
    • a. The Levellers advocated a more egalitarian society with nearly universal manhood suffrage and a written constitution guaranteeing equal rights to all.
    • b. The Quakers rejected religious hierarchies and allowed women to preach at their meetings.
• D. The Death of Cromwell
  • 1. Oliver Cromwell ruled until his death in 1658. His son Richard did not command the same respect as his father.
  • 2. Parliament invited Prince Charles Stuart, the eldest son of Charles I to return from exile.

VIII. The Restoration

• A. Charles II (Reigned 1660-1685)
  • 1. The Restoration restored the monarchy, the Church of England, and Parliament.
  • 2. Nonetheless, the central issues concerning the relationship between the king and Parliament and the conflict over religion remained unresolved.
• B. The Question of the Succession
  • 1. Charles’s second wife and his brother, the Duke of York, were Roman Catholic.
  • 2. Since Charles had no legitimate children, his brother James was next in line to the throne.
• C. Tories and Whigs
  • 1. The debate over James’s successor divided Parliament into two groups:
    • a. The Whigs were deeply suspicious of Catholics and wanted to lawfully exclude James from the throne.
    • b. The Tories felt a strong loyalty to the monarchy and supported James’s right to the throne.
  • 2. The Whigs and the Tories became the first political parties in the English-speaking world.
• D. James II (Reigned 1685-1688)
  • 1. Despite opposition from the Whigs, James II inherited the throne. He promptly adopted policies that antagonized both Whigs and Tories. Determined to return England to Catholicism, he appointed Catholics to influential positions of power.
  • 2. James’s second wife was a Catholic. In June 1688, she gave birth to a son who became the next heir to the throne.

IX. The Glorious Revolution

• A. William and Mary
  • 1. James’s first wife had been a Protestant who raised their eldest daughter, Mary, as a Protestant. Mary was the wife of William of Orange, a powerful Dutch leader.
  • 2. Whigs and Tories invited William and Mary to overthrow James II for the sake of Protestantism. Faced with united opposition, James II fled to France.
• B. The Bill of Rights, 1689
  • 1. In 1689, Parliament required William and Mary to accept a Bill of Rights.
  • 2. The Bill of Rights contained the following key provisions:
    • a. The members of Parliament enjoyed the right to free debate.
    • b. Taxation required parliamentary consent.
    • c. Laws could be made only with the consent of Parliament.
    • d. The monarch could not be a Roman Catholic.
    • e. Parliament would hold frequent sessions.
    • f. Parliament could be dissolved only by its own consent.
    • g. No subject could be arrested and detained without legal consent.
• C. Importance
  • 1. The English rejected the theory of the divine right of kings.
  • 2. The Glorious Revolution – as the overthrow of James II in favor of William and Mary came to be known – placed clear limits on the power of the English monarchy.
  • 3. England became a constitutional monarchy controlled by an aristocratic oligarchy.

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