King And Parliament example essay topic

Although not characterized by the dramatic elements of battle and beheading, the Glorious Revolution that put William and Mary on the throne was as important as the English Civil War nearly fifty years before that had attempted to bring about the same ideals of change. By the end of the reign of James I all the optimism that had preceded his ascension to the throne-that of Parliament and of the king-had been lost. To ensure a Protestant throne, Parliament asked James I to find his son Charles, who was to become king, a Protestant wife. In defiance, James tried to negotiate a marriage between Charles and a Spanish princess who was Catholic. Although that union did not come to pass, Charles did marry Henrietta Marie, a devout Catholic, who was French. While Parliament was relieved to see the end of James I's reign, they were apprehensive about Charles who, while more forthright and honest than his father, was a devout believer in the divine right of kings.

The uneasy union between king and Parliament that characterized James I's reign was only made worse with Charles I's ascension to the throne. Already in debt from James' expeditions, Charles soon realized that he wouldn't get the money he wanted from Parliament. The result was that Charles refused to call Parliament for eleven years, during which time Archbishop Laud and he implemented the process of "thorough", an attempt to free the king financially and reform a corrupted government and church. In this process, Charles I managed to antagonize everyone, particularly when he made overtures to return the ecclesiastical lands to the church and when he instituted the practice of receiving "tunnage and poundage" from all ports. All the while, Parliament had been stewing. When Charles I made the mistake of trying to force "thorough" on the Scots, a riot erupted and a war was declared.

He was forced to call Parliament for money. In what became known as the "Great Remonstrance", Charles I called Parliament, the body of which began issuing a long list of complaints acquired over eleven years. Charles dismissed the Short Parliament, but when the Scots demanded payment before they would leave England, the king was forced to call Parliament once again. This time, Parliament came prepared and demanded that they would meet every three years with or without the king's permission and that they would not be dismissed without their permission. Parliament also said that only they could enact taxes and that they would make all future appointments to the navy, military, and to the hierarchy of the church. Charles tried to arrest the most radical members, but his attempt failed.

In August of 1642, a war was declared between the king and Parliament, the country divided into Roundheads, who supported Parliament, and Royalists or Cavaliers, who supported the king. The experience of war was bloody and disorganized on both sides, and only after Oliver Cromwell developed the "New Model Army", which was better trained and paid, did the Puritans have any hope of winning the civil war. After the king's baggage carriage was captured and it was discovered that he had been writing letters to Catholic officials in both France and Germany, Parliament felt the king had committed the ultimate betrayal. Charles I turned himself in and was eventually tried for treason and publicly beheaded. At this turning point, after Parliament had publicly executed a king, England was declared a republic. By this definition, popular sovereignty was required.

However, an agreement could not be reached as to who should be able to vote. The Putney Debates divided Parliament. Their inability to agree and Cromwell's refusal to be called king resulted in Cromwell becoming the de facto head of state and Lord Protector of England. While Parliament was divided, Cromwell called and dismissed them repeatedly.

The strict Puritan ideals sought by Cromwell were unattainable and unacceptable to the majority of England. Cromwell, however, managed to hold the country together until his death in 1658. Upon his death, Charles II, son of Charles I, took the throne. The ideals and changes sought in the English Civil War and paid for with the blood of the English people had virtually come to naught, and the monarchy was restored with little or no change. Charles II's flamboyancy and flagrant infidelity combined with the plague of 1665 made him a less-than-popular ruler. He did redeem himself slightly when his brother and he joined in the efforts to put out the Great Fire of London in 1666.

As the end of his reign neared, it became clear that due to his barren marriage, the throne would pass to his brother James, who with his second marriage, had converted to Catholicism. This possibility led to the Exclusion Movement (1679-81), which attempted to prevent the Catholic James from taking the throne. The Whigs and the Tories, derogatory names taken from Scottish rebels and Irish thieves, respectively, took each side of this debate. The Whigs championed civil and political liberty and sought to keep James from the throne. The Tories championed the crown and king and supported James as the future king. In response, Charles II refused to call Parliament to give them a chance to pass the act and James II took the throne in 1685.

James II also managed to antagonize everyone in his attempts to restore Britain to Roman Catholicism. Parliament's consolation was that James II's first marriage had produced two Protestant daughters, Mary and Anne. However, a pregnancy by James II's second wife produced a male heir, who would be raised Catholic. Although suspicious of the legitimacy of the child, there was no proof that would indicate otherwise. Shortly after the birth, English political leaders sought out William of Orange, the husband of James I's daughter Mary and a Protestant.

They virtually invited William to invade England and take the throne. He agreed when it appeared his wife's inheritance was in jeopardy and on November 5, 1688, with a company of 15,000 men, landed in southwestern England. In fear, James II attempted to undo some of his most unpopular decisions, but it seemed too little, too late. When leader after leader in the English government pledged allegiance to William, James fled to France. James later tried to reclaim the throne, assembling an army in Ireland where he had Catholic support. In the Battle of Boyne, James II was defeated and the throne was left in the hands of William and Mary.

The changes enacted after the "Glorious Revolution" included the passing of the Triennial Act in 1694 that guaranteed that Parliament would be elected every three years. A Bill of Rights was drafted in 1689 that granted rights to all freeborn English citizens. These rights included protection from "excessive bail" and "cruel and unusual punishment". The right to vote, however, was not extended to all citizens. The Bill of Rights gave Parliament control over it's own proceedings, preventing the king from determining when Parliament would be called and when it would be dismissed. In a series of Mutiny Acts, beginning in 1689, Parliament secured control over the military by authorizing martial law, which gave them control of the foundation of military discipline, for a predetermined amount of time.

This act has been renewed from that point until today, usually for a year at a time, and serves to require parliamentary inspection of the military and ensures that Parliament will meet at least once a year. The most radical and lasting aspect of the Glorious Revolution was the way it changed the concept of sovereignty. In the Bill of Rights, the people of England, as spoken for by Parliament, were granted certain rights and only after those rights had been granted, were William and Mary declared sovereigns. This introduced the idea the sovereignty is not a divine right but the product of an agreement between the people and the ruler. Allegiance to the sovereign only follows when the crown maintains its end of the deal, so to speak.

If that agreement is violated, allegiance is void. This idea is reflective of the philosophy of John Locke and continues to be a part of the English political system. The Glorious Revolution took away the absolute control that the king had over Parliament and established a working model of a limited monarchy. The king was still head of the government, but power was checked by Parliament in a more effective way. These same ideals had been the source of contention between Parliament and Charles I that had eventually led the country to war. However, attempts to achieve these ideals with the republic under Cromwell were unsuccessful.

The ineffectiveness of the English Civil War is evident in the return of the problems between Parliament and the king during the reigns of Charles II and James II. With the Glorious Revolution, however, the changes were made more concrete and many have lasted from that time and remain a part of modern day English governmental structure..