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Paul Halsall
Modern Western Civilization

Class 5: Another Way: England, Holland, and America

I. Introduction

• The problem of political disintegration in early 17^th century England - the English Revolution
• England - Absolutism and Constitutionalism in competition.
  

II. Elizabeth I (1558-1603) - Practical Constitutionalism

• Withdrawal of nobility from politics.
• Working with the gentry.
• The Gentry as a class - hold local power.
• Parliament.
• Ministers - the Cecils.
  

NB: Great age of literature in England - Shakespeare, Spencer, Jonson, Webster.

III. The Stuart Family - Attempted Absolutism

• Mary, Queen of Scots, granddaughter of Henry VII.
• James I & VI came to the English throne in 1603.
  
• James I & VI 1603-25
• Charles I 1625-49

They promoted absolutism and the Divine Right of Kings.

James VI A Trew Law of Free Monarchies 1598
- advocated the Divine Right of kings to rule.

A. Problems Faced by the Stuart Kings

1. Fiscal problems.
   Issue of Taxation and Consent.
2. Religious issues between Anglican Kings and very Protestant parts of the population.
   Also there were Protestants in Scotland - opposed to bishops.
3. Problem for Kings in England was the strong tradition of Parliament.
4. James I and Charles I were not tactful in dealing with the Gentry class who controlled Parliament. James I and titles, plus favorites - Duke of Buckingham.
5. Also had dirty habits. He had ruled well in Scotland, but did not go down well in England.
   
   

IV. The English Civil War 1642-49

1. Charles II tried to rule without Parliament but he needed it for direct taxation.
2. Archbishop William Laud (1573-1645), Archbishop after 1633. Episcopacy in Scotland.
3. Parliament called 1628.
   Petition of Right - against taxes and arbitrary royal power.
4. Intellectual Debate in the Period
   Ranters Baptists evellers Unitarians Quakers Congregationalists
5. War with Scotland
   Forced Charles to call Parliament twice in 1640. Short and Long Parliament,
6. War broke out between Charles and Parliament.
   Cavaliers and Roundheads.
   He lost. Beheaded 1649
7. The Parliamentry Army (New Model Army)
   Marston Moor 1644, Nasby June 1645
   

V. The Commonwealth 1649-1660

1. Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) (Destroyer of Ireland) Cromwell became Lord Protector/Military Dictator died 1658
2. England a Republic
   Scotland and Ireland conquered.
   

VI. The Restoration 1660-

1. The Stuarts were restored 1660.
2. Charles II (1660-1685) was clever king. died a Catholic.
3. 1662 - Anglicanism restored fully
4. Mercantilism - competition in trade.
5. Restoration culture. Plays. Science
   

VII. James II & VII (1685-1688)

• Roman Catholic - belief in England in Catholic plots His aim was absolutism.
  

VIII. 1688 - The Glorious Revolution

• James II deposed - a bloodless coup known as the Glorious Revolution.
• William III of Orange and Mary (James' daughter) became joint monarchs.
• 1688 Bill of Rights said sovereignty - the right to rule - rested with "the King in parliament"
  

IX. The Hanoverians

• 1714 George I of Hanover becomes King.
• He could not speak English. - results of this.
  

X. The Establishment of Political Stability

• After 1688 you have a process of political stabilization consequent on the return of the nobility to politics.
• Tories - lower level gentry
• Whigs - Upper Aristocrats
  

Control of Patronage was the issue.

• English Whig aristocrats take control of Britain through buying up parliamentary seats - The three year rule helps -
• King is in background.
• Effectively get a one party state.
  

Robert Walpole (1676-1745) becomes first in long series of Prime Ministers from about 1720 until 1742.

XI. Why did Kings in England Fail to Become Absolute Monarchs?

• They were personally inept
• They also faced a strong tradition in Parliament. The people who ran Parliament actually ran the country.
• But 18th c. England was not, although the most liberal regime in Europe, a Democracy.
• Britain was looked to from all over Europe in 18th and 19^th Centuries as a model for government.
  

XII. The Netherlands

A. Dutch Wars with Spain

B. The United Provinces

1. League of Counties
2. Statholder

C. Social and Economic Issues

1. High Population
2. Trade as source of Wealth
3. Amsterdam as and Entrepot

D. The Dutch Golden Age

E. The Atlantic Economy


XIV. Theoretical Elaboration of Constitutionalism

A. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
Absolutism defended as rational, not by divine right

B. John Locke, Two Treatises on Government