Britain: The Triumph of Parliament
Section 4.20
Questions to Consider
• Explain the nature of the Restoration in England.
Of what significance was the legislation enacted
by the Restoration Parliament?
• How did religious matters again bring Parliament
and king into conflict? What policies of James II
precipitated the Revolution of 1688?
• Summarize the legislation introduced after the
Revolution of 1688?
• Of what constitutional significance for England
was the Revolution of 1688? Why have writers in
more recent times “deglorified” the revolution?
Give arguments for and against this point of
view?
• What were the consequences of these events for
Scotland? Ireland?
Terms to Know
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Charles II
Dissenters
Treaty of Dover
“declaration of
indulgence”
Test Act
Whigs and Tories
“trial of seven bishops”
“Glorious Revolution”
William and Mary
Battle of the Boyne
• Bill of Rights
• United Kingdom of Great
Britain
• Act of Settlement of 1701
• Toleration Act
• “penal code” for Ireland
The Restoration, 1660 – 1688: The Later Stuarts
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Along with the monarchy, the Anglican
church and the Parliament were
restored
Charles II is wary of Parliament
Parliament is more loyal to king to
keep the peace
Parliament cleans up property rights
by abolishing feudal payments
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Rents are replaced with taxes that
Parliament controls by placing taxes on
themselves
Payment of taxes gives Parliament control
over England
arranged to have the king paid from taxes
(Parliamentary control)
The Restoration Continued
• Landowners became the justices of
the peace “squirearchy”
– decided small lawsuits, punished
misdemeanors, cared for roads
• Exclusion of the Dissenters
– Puritans are excluded from
government participation
• forbidden to teach school,
excluded from two corporations,
gov. jobs, from having religious
meetings, to sit in the HOC
• Commoners are excluded as well
Act of Settlement of 1662 limited
the movement of the poor
– each parish is responsible for
its own poor (keep them
immobile)
The Restoration Continued
• Re-Catholicization was a slow drifting
tendency in much of Europe
– England remained staunchly antiCatholic
– Charles II was Catholic at heart
• Secret treaty of Dover of 1670
– Charles agreed to help Louis
against the Dutch
– Louis agreed to give Charles
3 million livres
• James the heir of Charles
announced his conversion to
Rome (Catholicism)
• Declaration of indulgence
– Charles II announced nonenforcement of laws against
dissenters
– feared as a way to promote
Catholicism
James II of England
The Restoration Continued
• Parliament passes the “Test Act”
1673
– All office holders had to take
communion in the Church of
England (1828)
– Movement to exclude James
from the throne by law grows
– Exclusionists (known as
Whigs) were mostly from
Upper Aristocracy (great
nobles)
– Kings supporters (Tories)
Lower Aristocracy and gentry
The Revolution of 1688
•
1685 James II becomes king
• Suspends the Test Act and appoints
Catholics to important positions
• The alienation created by James II
moves Tories over to Whig side
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1688 a son is born to James II and
baptized Catholic
– Leading political figures abandon
James II and offer the throne to his
daughter Mary (Protestant)
– Mary is the wife of William III who is
focused solely on the plight of the
Dutch
The Revolution of 1688
• William III “invades”
England and James II
flees
– 1689 a skirmish with
James II in Ireland
(Catholic) ends the
dispute and James II
flees to France
– Louis XIV refuses to
recognize William III as
king and supports
James II
The Revolution of 1688 Continued
• 1689 Bill of Rights
– no law could be suspended by the king
– no taxes could be raised or army
maintained without Parliament’s
consent
– no subject could be arrested without
legal process
• 1701 Act of Settlement
– no Catholic could be king of England
• Toleration Act
– Allows Dissenters to practice their
religion but not be in gov
– Existence of Catholic interests
eventually was accepted ending wars
over religion in England
Irish Threat of Revolution
•
1707 Scotland unites
with England
– Keeps Catholicism
off the throne in
Scotland
– Gives Scotland
economic rights in
England
• rights to the East
India Company,
English colonies,
mercantilism,
and Navigation
Acts
Irish Threat of Revolution
• England establishes a “penal” code over
Ireland to keep it in check
– Catholic clergy was banned
– Catholics could not vote
– Catholic teachers could not teach
– Catholic parents could not send
children to Catholic schools
– Catholics could not take a degree at
Trinity College
– Catholic Irishmen could not purchase
land
– Catholic Irishmen could not own a
horse worth more than 5 pounds
– Irish exports are prohibited
– Irish imports must come from England
– Ireland was the most repressed
population in Europe
Continuation of Cromwellian Settlement
Coalition Against France
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England joins the coalition
against France under William’s
leadership
– England lends money to the
Dutch
– Create the Bank of England
• Creates liquidity that the
Continent cannot match
• British National Debt
– Merchants of London, Whig
aristocrats, having lent money
to gov had big reason to
defend it
Glorious Revolution
• Sum of events after 1688 became known as
the Glorious Revolution
– Parliamentary government
– Rule of law
– Right of rebellion against tyranny (not in
Ireland)
– Restrictions on the power of English
kings
– Participation in government in England is
limited
• no salaries
• serves the landed aristocracy
• 1710 Act requires large, landed
incomes of HOC members
• This class in many ways was the only
class fit to lead