English Civil War
& Enlightenment
Charles I
 Son of James I (grandson of Mary, Queen
of Scots)
 Believed in divine right of kings
Charles I and Parliament
 Parliament opposed his tax measures
– Sent him the Petition of Rights
• The king could not tax people without Parliament’s
permission
• The king could not declare martial law
• He could not board soldiers in private homes during
peace times
• The king could not imprison people without a
specific charge
• Charles signed petition, but dismissed congress
The Long Parliament
 Parliament wanted to be in charge of the
army
 Charles refused to compromise, led troops
into House of Commons to arrest opponents
 Neither side would compromise
 As a result Civil War broke out in 1642
English Civil War
 Cavaliers
– Called royalists, supported the king
 Roundheads
– Supported Parliament
 Oliver Cromwell
– Organized New Model Army and defeated Charles
 Rump Parliament
– Abolished monarchy and House of Lords
– Proclaimed England a commonwealth
 Charles I tried for treason, executed
Irish Rebellion
Longstanding
tension between
monarchy and
Parliament
English
Civil
War
General
population
rejected Puritans’
attempted
changes within
church
Long Parliament
trying to limit
monarchy’s
power
Cromwell’s Commonwealth





Raised money from taxes and land sales
Army was disciplined and powerful
Enemies had no organized army
Encouraged trade and manufacturing
Ruled harshly for five years
– Known as Protectorate
End of the Revolution
 Cromwell quarreled with Parliament
– Dissolved it
– Cromwell died
 Parliament invited son of Charles I to return
– Charles II restored monarchy
– Policies of religious tolerance fueled Catholic
fear
– Had no legitimate children, his Catholic brother
James II assumed power upon his death
The Restoration and the Glorious
Revolution
 Political parties develop
– Tories supported Anglican Church
– Whigs opposed having Catholic ruler
 The Glorious Revolution
– Bloodless transfer of power in English monarchy
– William of Orange assumed power
• Protestant Dutch, not English
Changes in English Government
 Thomas Hobbes – Leviathan
– Said that anarchy was a state of nature
 Johns Locke – Two Treatises of Government
– Said that people kept rights to life, liberty and ownership of
property
– Said that individual rights were more important that those of the
government
 Habeas Corpus Act and Declaration of Rights
– Protected individuals against:
• Unfair arrest and imprisonment
• Unfairly high bail
• Cruel or unusual punishment
– Lead to English Bill of Rights
 Toleration Act and Act of Settlement
– Religious freedoms to Dissenters, but not Roman Catholics or Jews
– Act of Settlement kept Catholics from the English throne
Parliamentary Rule
 Growing power of Parliament
– Monarch must consult with Parliament
– Development of cabinet and prime minister
 Act of Union
– United England and Scotland into Great Britain
 Constitutional monarchy
– Monarch remained head of state
– Royal powers were limited by constitution
The Beginnings of the British
Empire
 Explorers and sea dogs
– English sea captains who challenged the
Portuguese and Spanish
• Monopolies of sea trade
• Plundered foreign ships
• Helped defeat Spanish Armada
 The British in India
– British East India Company
• Unofficial extension of British government
• Dominated European trade in India
The British in America
 British settlements
– Plymouth
• Mayflower Compact – 1620 – first constitution type
document
– Jamestown
• 1st English Settlement in Americas – 1607
 Mercantilism and the British colonies
– Discouraged colonial manufacturing
– Forced colonists to sell certain products only to
Britain
– Made colonies resent the motherland
Crusaders of the Enlightenment
 Believed that natural law governed human
behavior and that truth could be determined
by logic, secularism, and individualism
 Promoted the idea of rationalism
– Human behavior could be explained by the
scientific method
Political Criticism
 Montesquieu
– Government divided into branches to create checks on
political power
 Voltaire
– Criticized intolerance and attempts to suppress personal
freedoms
 Rousseau
– Distrusted reason
– Opposed strong government
– Supported popular sovereignty
 Mary Wollstonecraft
– 1st women’s rights activist