parliament gained control of englandgÇÖs government

8/8/2019 PARLIAMENT GAINED CONTROL OF ENGLANDGS GOVERNMENT

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ENGLISHMEN REVOLTED AGAINST RULEBY DIVINE RIGHT

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POLITICAL PARTIES AND THE CABINETSYSTEM DEVELOPED IN BRITAIN

PARLIAMENT GAINED CONTROLOF ENGLANDS GOVERNMENT


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ENGLISH REVOLTED AGAINST RULE

BY DIVINE RIGHT


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Under the capable rule of the Tudors, England had risen to ahigh place among the nations. But when Elizabeth died in1603, she left no heir. The councilors had favored James VIof Scotland, son ofMary Queen of Scots and a Stuart, as her

successor. He became James I (1603-25) of England.

He declared that he ruled by divine right; that is, by the willof God. Therefore, he said, the way he ruled concerned onlyhimself and God, not the people. As James put it, the state

of monarchy is the supremest thing on earth, for kings arenot only Gods lieutenants upon earth but even by Godhimself are called gods.


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He declared that their liberties were not theirs by right, asthe Magna Carta said, but were a gift of the king, who couldtake them away at his pleasure.

James expected the House of Commons to do only as hecommanded. Gradually the House of Commons began tooppose the kings wishes

Finally James dissolved Parliament and raised money byborrowing from friends and by selling titles of nobility.


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Many Englishmen still felt that the Church of England wastoo much like the Roman Catholic church. They were calledPuritans, because they wanted Parliament to pass laws topurify the church. By purifying, they meant that thechurch service should be made simpler and that the use ofaltars and statues should be discontinued.

When James opposed any change in the English church,

many Puritans left England some of them came to America.


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James son, Charles I (1625-49) stubbornly pursued hisfathers policies. When Parliament refused his request forfunds, Charles disbanded it and tried by illegal means toforce the people to pay taxes. But the serious financialtroubles that arose out of his unsuccessful war againstFrance and Spain forced him to reconvene Parliament.

In 1628 the House of Commons took advantage of Charles

plight by demanding that he sign a Petition of Rights,setting forth the liberties of Englishmen.


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Charles agreed that:

1. No one could be taxed without the consent of Parliament.

2. No one could be imprisoned without a jury trial.

3. No one could be compelled to quarter soldiers in his homein peacetime.


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When the war ended, Charles financial problems eased and heproceeded to ignore the Petition of Rights. For eleven years heruled England without calling Parliament into session. But in1639 rebellion broke out in Scotland, and Charles needed moneyto crush the uprising. He summoned Parliament, but this timethe House of Lords and the House of Commons made a unitedeffort to limit the kings power.

Most of the royal officers and large landowners, called Cavalierssupported the king.

The townsmen and landowners, on the other hand, supportedParliament in the contest for power. Men of the middle classcalled Roundheads.


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1642 civil war broke out between the Roundheads and theCavaliers. Under the Puritan leader, Oliver Cromwell, theRoundheads defeated the king and his followers. Forseveral years Charles was held a prisoner.

When they gained control of Parliament in 1649, they orderedthe king brought to trial as a tyrant and a traitor toEngland. Charles, who refused to make any plea before the

court, was found guilty and sentenced to death. Heaccepted his execution with such courage and dignity thathe later came to be regarded by many Englishmen as amartyr.


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After the execution of Charles, the House of Commons metand voted to abolish the office of king and the useless anddangerous House of Lords. It also declared England to be aCommonwealth and Free State.

Cromwell drove the members of the House of Commons outof the halls of the Parliament building, had the door lockedand pocketed the key. He took the title of Lord Protector

Although Cromwells authoritative rule was efficient,Englishmen grew to hate it. They longed for theirtraditional king and Parliament.


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Cromwells son tried to carry on after his fathers death, buthe was forced to resign. The Houses of Parliament met andinvited the son of Charles I to return from exile in theNetherlands. England welcomed the restoration ofCharles

II (1660-85) with great rejoicing. Ever since the restoration,England has had a monarchy.

During his reign Parliament and the king had nearly equal

constitutional powers. By skillful managing, Charles, whowas an able politician, acquired a great deal of power beforehis death in 1685.


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His brother, James II (1685-88) was neither cautious norskillful: he refused to rule by the constitution (whichincluded the Magna Carta and the Petition of Rights) andmade no secret of the fact that he was Roman Catholic and

planned to abolish the Protestant faith in England.

In 1688 Parliament deposed James and elected a new kingand queen who it felt could be trusted. This act became

known as the Bloodless Revolution because James fled andthere was no fighting. Thus Parliament made itself the chiefpower in the government and settled for all time the bitterstruggle for power between the English king and theParliament.


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After successfully dethroning James, Parliament decided toask the ruler of Holland,William of Orange, who was agrandson of Charles I, and his wife Mary, Protestantdaughter of James II, to become king and queen of

England, provided they would accept certain limitations ontheir authority. Parliament put the conditions of their reignin the form of a written document called the Bill of Rights

In 1689 William and Mary signed the Bill of Rights and cameto the throne of England. Its most important safeguardsagainst tyranny were:


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1. The king must enforce all laws passed by Parliament andno other laws.

2. Neither excessive bail nor fines should be imposed, norcruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

3. No taxes can be levied without the consent of Parliament.

4. There must be freedom of speech and debate inParliament without fear of punishment.

The Bill of Rights was one of the most important steps in Englands longjourney from the iron-handed rule ofWilliam the Conqueror to thelimited, or constitutional, monarchy of present-day Britain.


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POLITICAL PARTIES AND THE CABINET

SYSTEM DEVELOPED IN BRITAIN


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Before a government can be said to be truly democratic, it must dothree things:

1. It must give a large part of the adult population the right andthe opportunity to vote as it sees fit. A country which allows

men to vote but gives them only one choice or punishes themfor the wrong choice is not a democracy.

2. It must see that those who make the laws are responsible to thevoters. If laws are made which the majority does not like, theremust be a way of voting the lawmakers out of office and

replacing them with others.

3. It must see that those who enforce the laws are also responsibleto the voters or to the legislative (lawmaking) assembly. Acountry can have the best laws on the world, but if its executive(law-enforcing) power is in the hands of men who ignore thelaws, it is not a democracy but a dictatorship.


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After the Restoration, when Parliament began to shapegovernment policy, its members began to express differingopinions. Because of the development of political parties inParliament in the 17th and 18th centuries, Englishmen

learned how to maintain an effective government despitethe many conflicts of interest.

After the Restoration, two separate groups began to form in

Parliament. The Tories (descendants of cavaliers), believedthat the king should have a great deal of power and should

be advised by the House of Lords.


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Those men who believed that Parliament should be strongerthan the king and that he should be guided by the House ofCommons were calledWhigs. The Whigs were merchants,

businessmen, and certain great lords who feared the

powers of the king.

Under Queen Anne (1702-14), the last of the Stuarts,Parliament passed the Act of Union, which joined England

and Scotland under one crown and one Parliament. Sincethat time, the two countries have been referred to as GreatBritain.


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When Anne died without leaving an heir, Parliament chose asking George I (1714-27), ruler of the German state ofHanover and a Protestant descendant of James I. George

was the first of a family of rulers, who still occupy the

British throne, although during WW I the family name waschanged from Hanover to Windsor. For over two hundredyears the descendants of George I have ruled Englandwithout further civil wars.

Under George I , the cabinet became the very heart of theBritish government. As a German prince who was used tohaving complete control over Hanover, he could notunderstand the relations between Parliament and anEnglish king. Even if he had tried to listen to his ministers,

he could not have understood a word they said because he


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He therefore allowed one member, who became known as thePrime Minister, to speak for the entire cabinet. The first tohold that title was Robert Walpole, who for twenty-one

years was the real ruler of England. He served in

Parliament for nearly a half century.

In the United States, the members of the Presidents Cabinetare not Congressmen, but in Britain Cabinet ministers arenearly always members of the majority party in the House

of Commons.The Cabinet members have great influence because they

decide what business shall be discussed in Parliament, whatnew bills shall be introduced, and how to defend theactions of the government when the minority party attacksit.

parliament gained control of englandgÇÖs government

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