Did The British People Seize Their Personal Freedom In The Glorious Revolution
To what extent did the British people seize their personal freedoms in the Glorious Revolution of 1688-9? The Glorious Revolution (which is sometimes known as the Bloodless Revolution) of 1688, saw King James II abdicate from the throne and be replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband William of Orange. Importantly, it introduced the Bill of Rights which gave individuals certain civil, religious and political rights as well as ensuring a constitutional Monarchy and a protestant line of succession. Having a Protestant monarchy freed us from another Catholic regime and additionally, freed us from being ruled by an absolute monarch like that of Louis XIV in France. However, this essay will also show that the Revolution was
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not all it appeared to be on the surface. In fact, William’s obsession with fighting Louis XIV was his main reason for accepting the throne and his vision for creating a grand anti-French alliance should not be ignored. The letter William received, which invited him to come to England to depose James II, did little more than to convince William that his existing plan to invade England was a good idea and William went to great lengths to ensure that the English people were made to understand that he had been invited to England and that the overthrowing of James II was legitimate. As part of his ambiguous plan he created the ‘Declaration of William’, which was effective in masking the obvious invasion of the Dutch and subsequently, William was welcomed by the English people, albeit under false pretences. It should be noted that London remained under Dutch military occupancy for 18 months after William arrived, this could be interpreted as being a measure William enforced to protect the throne, possibly from James II, but it makes one question why he would need to do this if the Throne was legitimately his.The Bills Of Rights came about as a direct result of the Revolution and James II’s repeated abuse of power. It is a statement of individual rights and freedoms and offered freedom for the people as it limited Royal interference and gave parliament political supremacy; thereby establishing a constitutional monarchy. It allowed the people the right to change Government if they believed their freedoms were at risk, and additionally, the right to speak freely in Parliament without fear of retribution. The freedom to bear arms was an important inclusion to the Bill as it restored rights previously taken from the people by James II. The Bill of Rights further protected individual freedoms as the King was proscribed to establish his own courts, to act as a judge or juror and was forbidden to impose excessive bail or fines, or cruel and unusual punishments. Contrary to popular belief, Parliament did not insist upon the Bill of Rights being signed as a condition of becoming the new Monarchs (Living Heritage 2010), in fact, William of Orange would have probably rejected such a proposal.
William thought a free parliament would be more likely to support his war on France, especially after Charles II’s ‘Secret Treaty of Dover’ and involvement with Louis XIV and therefore respected the supremacy of parliament. The Bill of Rights, which was eventually supplemented by the ‘Settlement Act’ in 1701, was a crucial breakthrough in the progression of English society; transforming citizens who were ruled under the authority of an absolutist, to a nation of free citizens with inviolable rights. It is commonly accepted that it is one of the most significant and influential documents in the political history of Britain to this day.
The significance of The Glorious Revolution was that it abolished any chance of England being ruled by an absolute monarch and it established a constitutional monarchy in England. Having a constitutional monarchy limited the Sovereign’s control and thus enabled Parliament to have the most power and influence, this was important because it provided guarantees that William could not abuse powers like that of his predecessor, James II and other Stuart Kings. It also ensured that parliament could not be dissolved if the monarch felt concerned that parliament was gaining too much control and influence over the country 's decisions. The English government under this new parliament took control of all the country’s finances, it managed to raise revenues and handle debts which neither Charles nor James ever contemplated. Overall it was far stronger and far more competent than it had been at any time during the Restoration period (Bliss 1985). James II was pro Catholic and pro French but he was jealous of his friend Louis XIV, who held absolute power over France. France under the reign of Louis was Catholic and extremely repressive and James constantly and blatantly strove to become an absolutist like Louis as he saw that parliament did not interfere with his friend and that he was free to establish and change laws as he pleased. This angered the English Parliament and scared the English people, which led to the Glorious Revolution and the eventual deposition and exile of James. William II and Queen Anne II were weaker, restricted monarchs which provided security, assurances and freedom to the people.
The Glorious Revolution of 1688 removed the danger of an intolerant Catholic Monarch and came at the end of the reign of James II who wanted Catholicism reinstated as England’s religion. During his reign James II tried to become an absolute monarch like Louis XIV, he respected Louis and aspired to rule and become like Louis. Unfortunately for the English people Louis was extremely cruel to the Protestants in France. He originally tried to convert Protestants, initially imposing severe penalties upon them such as: life sentences in the galleys for men and imprisonment for women, amongst other things. Eventually however, Louis revoked the ‘Edict of Nantes’ which gave protection to French Protestants and declared Protestantism in France to be illegal. The Protestants, who did not flee France after this ruling, either faced being converted to Catholicism by gunpoint, or refuse and almost certainly would have been killed. This was a problem for the people as the vast majority were Protestants and did not want to be ruled by Catholics but having William on the throne meant that the people were safe from this fate. On May 24, 1689, William III declared ‘The Toleration Act’ which allowed religious freedoms for the Protestant people. A.V. Dicey (1905, p.78) sums up the importance of the Toleration Act in that, it “gave from the moment it was enacted, substantial religious freedom to the vast majority of English people”. It also allowed William to pay back his ‘debt’ to the Dissenters who had gathered his armies and helped secure London for him. Other than an eagerness to establish peace, it is fair to say that William had no personal interest in England’s religious disputes (Dillon 2006).
On the 30th June 1688 William of Orange was sent a letter from the newly acquitted Seven Bishops inviting him to come to England. The invitation talked about the people’s grievances towards James II and it said he was unpopular and a tyrant. The signatories promised their loyalty and support to William if he sent an army and deposed James II. Although William badly desired the English throne and had already previously made provisional military plans to invade England before this invitation, he was cautious; the danger of France invading Holland in his absence was too great, so William waited. Finally, in September 1688, France invaded Germany and William’s opportunity arose to come to England. William used the letter to his advantage as it gave him the opportunity to present his intervention as a mercy mission (Vallance 2011). He also issued a ‘Declaration of Reasons’ which enforced the idea that he was only coming to rescue England from the misrule of James II, he also stressed that he had been invited to England – this declaration was printed in its thousands and was distributed widely across the country. William wasted no time after his propagandistic plan had been set and swiftly amassed a huge naval fleet consisting of 53 warships containing around 1,700 cannons, following the warships were around 500 more ships carrying an estimated 20000 specially trained troops and 20000 more mariners and support staff – they also had around ten fireships which were ready to be set ablaze if the fleet encountered any resistance from the English Navy. William landed in November 1688 and marched on London to take the throne. His plan to bring England into an alliance with Holland to fight his war against the French was audacious, verging on being negligent and his vast Navy was an outrageous and seemingly unnecessary amount of manpower for William’s alleged intentions. One can make an assumption from this, which is William only came to England with one true intention and that was to conquer the country. The Williamite war of 1689 was a conflict in Ireland between the supporters of William III and the ‘Jacobites’, who supported the Catholic James II. Whilst James was on the throne he called a ‘Patriot Parliament’ which was the name of the only session of the Irish Parliament during his reign, the ‘Act of Recognition’ was the first act passed by this Parliament and it recognised James’ right to the throne in Ireland. It also permitted full freedom of worship and civic and political equality for Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters as well as the repeal of the 1652 Cromwellian land settlement, which saw all land previously forfeited by the Irish, be returned to the former owners and descendants. As James still had considerable support amongst the Catholics, the country had to be reconquered by William before it would accept a change of sovereignty, in fact the Irish Catholics saw William’s new position and the Glorious Revolution as a “foreign domination and religious persecution” (Trevelyan 1938, p. 109). After the Revolution the pro Catholics announced that James was still King of Ireland and that William was an evil imposter. James II saw an opportunity to regain the throne and sailed to Ireland with an army supplied by the Catholic King of France, Louis XIV. William also landed in Ireland with a vast army and in 1690 he was victorious over James at the Battle of the Boyne, which ended James’ hope of regaining the throne. William’s victory dispelled Jacobite hopes of recovering land that had been confiscated from the Irish, instead, William allowed the first 'Penal ' Laws which oppressed the Jacobites as it penalized the practice of Catholicism and imposed civil disabilities against them. The Penal Laws were, according to Edmund Burke (1869, p16) “a machine of wise and elaborate contrivance, as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment and degradation of a people, and the debasement in them of human nature itself, as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man”.The combined aforementioned events created a milestone in British history in which pragmatic power moved from the monarch to Parliament. It cannot be argued the Bill of Rights did not give personal freedoms, as the people were clearly rewarded with civil, religious and political rights. Taxes raised through anything else other than Parliament was banned; a standing army during peace time, raised without Parliament’s consent was banned and the prosecution of anyone petitioning the Crown was also banned. The Bill of Rights also stated that calls for a Parliament should be frequent ensuring the people could vote accordingly if their interests were not being acknowledged and that there should be Parliamentary debates which were free from outside interference. The Toleration Act, in essence, allowed freedom of worship and removed the threat of England being ruled by Catholicism. In conclusion, The Glorious ‘Bloodless’ Revolution was a landmark event in world history and gave the English people rights and it placed sovereignty in Parliament, a parliament that ultimately represented the people.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:Bliss, R.
(1985) Restoration England 1660-1688. New York: Methuen & Co.Burke, E. (1869) Fenian Heroes and Martyrs. London: Rare Book ClubClaydon, T. (2002) William III. Harlow: Longman.Dillon, P. (2006) The Last Revolution. London: Pimlico.Harris, T. (2006) The Great Crisis of the British Monarchy. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
Israel, J. (2003) The Anglo-Dutch Moment: Essays on the Glorious Revolution and its World Impact . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Kishlansky, M. (1996) A Monarchy Transformed Britain 1603-1714. London: Clays Ltd.Miller, J. (1999) The Glorious Revolution. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
Pincus, S. (2005) The Glorious Revolution: A Brief History with Document. New York: St. Martin’s Press.Trevelyan, G. (1938) The English Revolution 1688-1689. London: Oxford University Press.Vallance, E. (2006) The Glorious Revolution 1688 – Britain’s Fight for Liberty. London: Little, Brown Book Group.
Electronic Sources:
Living Heritage. (2010) UK Parliament. [Online] Available at: <http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/revolution/overview/billofrights> [Last accessed 1st November 2013]Vallance, E. (2011) BBC History. [Online] Available at: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/glorious_revolution_01.shtml> [Last accessed 24th October
2013]
not all it appeared to be on the surface. In fact, William’s obsession with fighting Louis XIV was his main reason for accepting the throne and his vision for creating a grand anti-French alliance should not be ignored. The letter William received, which invited him to come to England to depose James II, did little more than to convince William that his existing plan to invade England was a good idea and William went to great lengths to ensure that the English people were made to understand that he had been invited to England and that the overthrowing of James II was legitimate. As part of his ambiguous plan he created the ‘Declaration of William’, which was effective in masking the obvious invasion of the Dutch and subsequently, William was welcomed by the English people, albeit under false pretences. It should be noted that London remained under Dutch military occupancy for 18 months after William arrived, this could be interpreted as being a measure William enforced to protect the throne, possibly from James II, but it makes one question why he would need to do this if the Throne was legitimately his.The Bills Of Rights came about as a direct result of the Revolution and James II’s repeated abuse of power. It is a statement of individual rights and freedoms and offered freedom for the people as it limited Royal interference and gave parliament political supremacy; thereby establishing a constitutional monarchy. It allowed the people the right to change Government if they believed their freedoms were at risk, and additionally, the right to speak freely in Parliament without fear of retribution. The freedom to bear arms was an important inclusion to the Bill as it restored rights previously taken from the people by James II. The Bill of Rights further protected individual freedoms as the King was proscribed to establish his own courts, to act as a judge or juror and was forbidden to impose excessive bail or fines, or cruel and unusual punishments. Contrary to popular belief, Parliament did not insist upon the Bill of Rights being signed as a condition of becoming the new Monarchs (Living Heritage 2010), in fact, William of Orange would have probably rejected such a proposal.
William thought a free parliament would be more likely to support his war on France, especially after Charles II’s ‘Secret Treaty of Dover’ and involvement with Louis XIV and therefore respected the supremacy of parliament. The Bill of Rights, which was eventually supplemented by the ‘Settlement Act’ in 1701, was a crucial breakthrough in the progression of English society; transforming citizens who were ruled under the authority of an absolutist, to a nation of free citizens with inviolable rights. It is commonly accepted that it is one of the most significant and influential documents in the political history of Britain to this day.
The significance of The Glorious Revolution was that it abolished any chance of England being ruled by an absolute monarch and it established a constitutional monarchy in England. Having a constitutional monarchy limited the Sovereign’s control and thus enabled Parliament to have the most power and influence, this was important because it provided guarantees that William could not abuse powers like that of his predecessor, James II and other Stuart Kings. It also ensured that parliament could not be dissolved if the monarch felt concerned that parliament was gaining too much control and influence over the country 's decisions. The English government under this new parliament took control of all the country’s finances, it managed to raise revenues and handle debts which neither Charles nor James ever contemplated. Overall it was far stronger and far more competent than it had been at any time during the Restoration period (Bliss 1985). James II was pro Catholic and pro French but he was jealous of his friend Louis XIV, who held absolute power over France. France under the reign of Louis was Catholic and extremely repressive and James constantly and blatantly strove to become an absolutist like Louis as he saw that parliament did not interfere with his friend and that he was free to establish and change laws as he pleased. This angered the English Parliament and scared the English people, which led to the Glorious Revolution and the eventual deposition and exile of James. William II and Queen Anne II were weaker, restricted monarchs which provided security, assurances and freedom to the people.
The Glorious Revolution of 1688 removed the danger of an intolerant Catholic Monarch and came at the end of the reign of James II who wanted Catholicism reinstated as England’s religion. During his reign James II tried to become an absolute monarch like Louis XIV, he respected Louis and aspired to rule and become like Louis. Unfortunately for the English people Louis was extremely cruel to the Protestants in France. He originally tried to convert Protestants, initially imposing severe penalties upon them such as: life sentences in the galleys for men and imprisonment for women, amongst other things. Eventually however, Louis revoked the ‘Edict of Nantes’ which gave protection to French Protestants and declared Protestantism in France to be illegal. The Protestants, who did not flee France after this ruling, either faced being converted to Catholicism by gunpoint, or refuse and almost certainly would have been killed. This was a problem for the people as the vast majority were Protestants and did not want to be ruled by Catholics but having William on the throne meant that the people were safe from this fate. On May 24, 1689, William III declared ‘The Toleration Act’ which allowed religious freedoms for the Protestant people. A.V. Dicey (1905, p.78) sums up the importance of the Toleration Act in that, it “gave from the moment it was enacted, substantial religious freedom to the vast majority of English people”. It also allowed William to pay back his ‘debt’ to the Dissenters who had gathered his armies and helped secure London for him. Other than an eagerness to establish peace, it is fair to say that William had no personal interest in England’s religious disputes (Dillon 2006).
On the 30th June 1688 William of Orange was sent a letter from the newly acquitted Seven Bishops inviting him to come to England. The invitation talked about the people’s grievances towards James II and it said he was unpopular and a tyrant. The signatories promised their loyalty and support to William if he sent an army and deposed James II. Although William badly desired the English throne and had already previously made provisional military plans to invade England before this invitation, he was cautious; the danger of France invading Holland in his absence was too great, so William waited. Finally, in September 1688, France invaded Germany and William’s opportunity arose to come to England. William used the letter to his advantage as it gave him the opportunity to present his intervention as a mercy mission (Vallance 2011). He also issued a ‘Declaration of Reasons’ which enforced the idea that he was only coming to rescue England from the misrule of James II, he also stressed that he had been invited to England – this declaration was printed in its thousands and was distributed widely across the country. William wasted no time after his propagandistic plan had been set and swiftly amassed a huge naval fleet consisting of 53 warships containing around 1,700 cannons, following the warships were around 500 more ships carrying an estimated 20000 specially trained troops and 20000 more mariners and support staff – they also had around ten fireships which were ready to be set ablaze if the fleet encountered any resistance from the English Navy. William landed in November 1688 and marched on London to take the throne. His plan to bring England into an alliance with Holland to fight his war against the French was audacious, verging on being negligent and his vast Navy was an outrageous and seemingly unnecessary amount of manpower for William’s alleged intentions. One can make an assumption from this, which is William only came to England with one true intention and that was to conquer the country. The Williamite war of 1689 was a conflict in Ireland between the supporters of William III and the ‘Jacobites’, who supported the Catholic James II. Whilst James was on the throne he called a ‘Patriot Parliament’ which was the name of the only session of the Irish Parliament during his reign, the ‘Act of Recognition’ was the first act passed by this Parliament and it recognised James’ right to the throne in Ireland. It also permitted full freedom of worship and civic and political equality for Roman Catholics and Protestant Dissenters as well as the repeal of the 1652 Cromwellian land settlement, which saw all land previously forfeited by the Irish, be returned to the former owners and descendants. As James still had considerable support amongst the Catholics, the country had to be reconquered by William before it would accept a change of sovereignty, in fact the Irish Catholics saw William’s new position and the Glorious Revolution as a “foreign domination and religious persecution” (Trevelyan 1938, p. 109). After the Revolution the pro Catholics announced that James was still King of Ireland and that William was an evil imposter. James II saw an opportunity to regain the throne and sailed to Ireland with an army supplied by the Catholic King of France, Louis XIV. William also landed in Ireland with a vast army and in 1690 he was victorious over James at the Battle of the Boyne, which ended James’ hope of regaining the throne. William’s victory dispelled Jacobite hopes of recovering land that had been confiscated from the Irish, instead, William allowed the first 'Penal ' Laws which oppressed the Jacobites as it penalized the practice of Catholicism and imposed civil disabilities against them. The Penal Laws were, according to Edmund Burke (1869, p16) “a machine of wise and elaborate contrivance, as well fitted for the oppression, impoverishment and degradation of a people, and the debasement in them of human nature itself, as ever proceeded from the perverted ingenuity of man”.The combined aforementioned events created a milestone in British history in which pragmatic power moved from the monarch to Parliament. It cannot be argued the Bill of Rights did not give personal freedoms, as the people were clearly rewarded with civil, religious and political rights. Taxes raised through anything else other than Parliament was banned; a standing army during peace time, raised without Parliament’s consent was banned and the prosecution of anyone petitioning the Crown was also banned. The Bill of Rights also stated that calls for a Parliament should be frequent ensuring the people could vote accordingly if their interests were not being acknowledged and that there should be Parliamentary debates which were free from outside interference. The Toleration Act, in essence, allowed freedom of worship and removed the threat of England being ruled by Catholicism. In conclusion, The Glorious ‘Bloodless’ Revolution was a landmark event in world history and gave the English people rights and it placed sovereignty in Parliament, a parliament that ultimately represented the people.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books:Bliss, R.
(1985) Restoration England 1660-1688. New York: Methuen & Co.Burke, E. (1869) Fenian Heroes and Martyrs. London: Rare Book ClubClaydon, T. (2002) William III. Harlow: Longman.Dillon, P. (2006) The Last Revolution. London: Pimlico.Harris, T. (2006) The Great Crisis of the British Monarchy. London: Penguin Books Ltd.
Israel, J. (2003) The Anglo-Dutch Moment: Essays on the Glorious Revolution and its World Impact . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Kishlansky, M. (1996) A Monarchy Transformed Britain 1603-1714. London: Clays Ltd.Miller, J. (1999) The Glorious Revolution. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
Pincus, S. (2005) The Glorious Revolution: A Brief History with Document. New York: St. Martin’s Press.Trevelyan, G. (1938) The English Revolution 1688-1689. London: Oxford University Press.Vallance, E. (2006) The Glorious Revolution 1688 – Britain’s Fight for Liberty. London: Little, Brown Book Group.
Electronic Sources:
Living Heritage. (2010) UK Parliament. [Online] Available at: <http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/parliamentaryauthority/revolution/overview/billofrights> [Last accessed 1st November 2013]Vallance, E. (2011) BBC History. [Online] Available at: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/glorious_revolution_01.shtml> [Last accessed 24th October
2013]