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Historical Background
1. Revolution
Between 1629 and 1640, the
King of England, Charles I ruled England without Parliament. However at this
time England and Charles were in a constant state of war so Charles needed
Parliament. He recalled Parliament but there were many power conflicts
between both the Parliament and the King and the two sides later went to
war. After a few years of battles Parliament were victorious and in 1649
Charles was executed. England became a republic; however this lasted only
until 1660 when the monarchy was restored.
Charles I had dissolved the previous Parliament for
refusing to fund his war efforts but was forced to summon another in order
to raise money to support his war against the Scots. The Long Parliament,
which met on November 3, 1640, promptly demanded reform as the price for
aid. It impeached and executed Charles's chief adviser, Thomas Wentworth,
for high treason, in the belief that he was the a major supporter of royal
powers. The Parliament did much to deal with Charles including taking away
power from the King's royal courts, insuring that the Parliament would
decide whether or not it would be dissolved and that sessions of the
Parliament must be held at least once every three years.
The Catholics in Ireland revolted against British rule
in 1641, and the Long Parliament agreed to finance a support to fight them,
however the Parliament wanted to be in charge of it rather than Charles.
This dispute and the anti-English unrest in Ireland, led to the creation of
the “Grand Remonstrance,” a petition by the House of Commons which asked for
(1) Church reform, and (2) the appointment of ministers in whom the
Parliament could trust. Insisting on his right to appoint his own ministers,
the king tried unsuccessfully to arrest several of the parliamentary leaders
who opposed him. This was the final action which led to the English Civil
War.
In 1643, the Scots took sides with the Parliament after it
promised the Scots to establish Presbyterianism as the state religion. The
king’s forces were defeated in 1646 and Charles surrendered to the Scots.
The Parliament stated that it would allow Charles to re-sit on the throne if
he agreed to allow the Parliament to control the army and that
Presbyterianism be established. The king rejected these proposals, whereupon
the Scots handed him over to Parliament.
The Parliament was now ruling the country. However
Charles I, while exiled on the Isle of Wight, was not willing to accept
this. The Parliament which was in charge was becoming unpopular amongst the
English people due to high taxation, restraints on religious practices, as
well as a constant military presence. As a result, Charles I gained a great
deal of support and there were uprisings by Royalists against the Parliament
in Essex, Kent and Wales, as well as an invasion from the Scots in the
North.
The Parliamentary army meanwhile had become the stronghold of the various
independent religious sects led by General
Oliver Cromwell. His New Model
Army in September 1648 had defeated the Royalists and crushed the all the
revolts against the Parliament.
In 1649, Charles was put on trial and later executed.
Oliver Cromwell became the new English dictator after disbanding the House
of Lords and established England as a Commonwealth. In 1653 Cromwell gave
himself the title, Lord Protector. Cromwell died in 1658, so his son Richard
took over.
However soon after this the dissolved Parliament returned and
in 1660 restored the Presbyterian members to their seats. After issuing a
call for the election of a new parliament, the Long Parliament dissolved
itself on March 16, 1660. People where not happy with the new system and
with Scottish support, the monarch was restored with the son of the executed
King, Charles II succeeding to the throne.
The importance of the English Revolution and the
English Civil War to both England and the World cannot be underestimated.
Although by the 1660’s when the monarchy had been restored it may seem as if
the English system was the same as it was 50 years ago, in fact England was
very different. Charles II knew that if he were to act as the sole ruler of
England like previous monarchs, the same fate which had happened to his
father would happen to him. From that point Parliament’s existence was
absolute and has lasted to this day. This was the first triumph for the
democratic system of government over the Monarchist system of government and
was the main catalyst for the revolutionary democratic changes which
occurred for 400 years to follow in England and the World.
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