2. Revolution of England

MPPSCADDA 2. REVOLUTION OF ENGLAND

Things to Understand • Glorious Revolution or a Bloodless Revolution. • What are the reasons for Glorious revolution? • Why Glorious revolution is known as glorious one? • What were the impacts of Glorious revolution?

Words/name that Matter (3 Marker) Glorious Revolution, James I, civil war in England, James II, theory of Divine Right.

Practice Questions MPPSC Mains (Marks) • Bloodless Revolution (3 Marker) • King James II (3 Marker) • William of Orange (3 Marker) • Impacts of Glorious Revolution of England. • Divine Rights of Kings. (3 Marker)

THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION

Introduction • The History of the Revolution of England comprises three grand periods. In the first, during James I, who ruled from 1603 to 1625, the Revolution was preparing, was put forth, and took its stand. • In the second, during the Charles I (1625 to 1649), it essayed to found its own form of government, which it called a Republic, and fell in the attempt.

• The third period is that of monarchical re-action, successful for a while, under Charles II., who, in his cautious selfishness, aimed at nothing beyond his own personal enjoyment, but ruined by the blind passion of James II., who aimed at absolute power. • In 1688, England achieved the point she aimed at in 1640, and quitted the career of revolution for that of liberty. History of English Revolution in Brief • In the beginning of the seventeenth century the Stuart dynasty was established in England. James I was the first king of the Stuart dynasty. • He succeeded to the throne after the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603. James I ruled from 1603 to 1625. He was the staunch supporter of the theory of Divine Right. • He considered himself beyond the limits of law and did not regard it essential to follow the laws of the country. With the enthronement of James I, the Stuart dynasty was formed in England. • The Stuarts reigned in England for about 111 years and their period marked the beginning of a historical issue – the conflict between the king and the parliament. • The policies of James I led to the conflict between the king and the parliament. Not only the policies but his character was also responsible for the conflict.

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• Religious policy was also responsible for the outbreak of the struggle between the king and the parliament. James I belonged to Anglican Church. The other two sects were puritan and Catholics. • Thus, during the reign of James I from 1603 to 1625 a conflict between the king and the parliament continued. But House of Commons succeeded in sanctioning some rights to it.(To impeach the ministers of the king, to oppose the imposition of taxation without its approval and to save its own rights were its significant achievements) • After the death of James I, Charles I became the ruler of England. He ruled from 1625 to 1649.During his rule conflict with Spain and France took place. The king needed lot of a money, but the same was not sanctioned by the parliament. As there was no alternative the king started imposing many taxes. Charles I ruled as a despot. • In 1640 the session of the parliament was invited once more for the approval of the new taxes but there could be no uniformity between the king and the parliament, hence Charles I dissolved it. • The civil war in England started from 1642 -1649. Through this civil war it was also to be decided, from the political point of view, as to who, the king or the parliament was more powerful and also from religious point of view, which of the two, the Anglican or the Puritan Church, would succeed. • The king was defeated in the civil war and was imprisoned but he soon escaped from the prison due to differences between the army and the parliament. But later on he was once again imprisoned and was given death punishment (on 30th & 31st) January 1649. • Charles I was succeeded by Charles II on the England throne in 1660.He tried to exercise his influence in the new elections to impress the voters but in the meantime he fell sick and passed away in 1685. He followed a policy of caution. • Charles II died in 1685 and was succeeded by James II, his brother. He ruled for 25 years due to his qualities of head and heart but he had flee away after three years of his reign. • It was during his rule in 1688, the Glorious Revolution took place in England. The year of 1688 is regarded as the period of political and constitutional significance in the history of England – Glorious Revolution of 1688 • This year the people of England broke out in a revolution against the Stuart king James II and ended the constitutional struggle which had been continuing between them for several decades .The Chief characteristic of this revolution was that it was purely a bloodless revolution. • All the changes in spite of being revolutionary were effected peacefully. Therefore the revolution of 1688 came to be known as a Glorious Revolution or a Bloodless Revolution. Glorious Revolution

What led to Glorious Revolution? a. Personal shortcomings of James II. He was a fanatic and wanted to protect the Anglican church and the rights of the Catholics.(the people of England were not happy with James-II) b. He attempted to repeal the “Test Act” which barred the Catholics from holding the constitutional posts. c. He believed in the divine rights of Kinship and he had centralized the power of dispensing and suspending the judicial sentences. d. He has increased the strength of the army in order to exert his agenda. e. He was cruel towards his enemies and has established ecclesiastical commission to punish his opponents. mppscadda.com 13

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f. Arbitrary Foreign Policy: James II established friendly alliance with France to meet his selfish ends. He wanted to establish absolute monarchy in England with the military and economic help of France. Protestants of England were against this alliance

Why the Glorious revolution is known as glorious one? a. The revolution was peaceful one. b. William and James II’s daughter came with their army and James II fled to France without giving them a fight. c. There was no bloodshed in the revolt and transition was quite peaceful d. The above factors earned the revolution the tag of being glorious.

What were Impact of Glorious revolution? a. It ended the King’s absolute powers. b. It ended the struggle between king and the parliament. c. Monarchy became a permanent institution. d. Supremacy of the Parliament was established. e. Press got freedom. f. Independent Judiciary was established.

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