Difference between revisions of "Glorious Revolution"

Revision as of 10:32, November 29, 2009

The Glorious Revolution or Bloodless Revolt, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was a coup d'etat that took place in Britain, replacing the Catholic King James II^[1], with the Protestants William of Orange and his wife Mary, who was James's daughter. Despite the often used title of "Bloodless", there was some fighting and loss of life, though none of it took place in England itself.

The cause of the overthrow was a combination of two battles taking place in England at the time; one was a battle between Protestantism and Catholicism, the other between the growing power of Parliament and the "Divine Right" of the King. James was unpopular and seen as a threat due to his Catholicism and his closeness to King Louis XIV of France. However attempts to exclude him from becoming King had been unsuccessful. William III and Mary II were effective rulers, Protestantism became firmly established, Parliament gained the upper hand in the government, and a Bill of Rights was issued to protect the rule of law from arbitrary royal power.

Crisis of 1688

Harris (2005) shows the monarchy's recovery, following the near-disaster of the Exclusion crisis of 1679-81. Charles used ruthless skill in defeating this attempt, by his Whig opponents, to exploit popular anti-Catholicism in order to keep his brother James from the succession. Charles soundly defeated the Whigs, but at a cost of making the Crown the prisoner of a Tory, Anglican faction, upon whose continuing co-operation it now depended. James' alienation of this group after 1685, through his pro-Catholic policies, caused his downfall and the Glorious Revolution.

At the death of King Charles II in 1685, his younger brother James II became king of England, Scotland and Ireland, alarming many leaders by his pro-Catholic policies. William let it be known he was available if invited by a very broad spectrum of English political leadership. Unrest escalated with the birth of a son to James by his wife, Mary of Modena, a Catholic, on June 10, 1688. Within a few days, an invitation, signed by seven prominent personages, was taken over to William with an assurance of military support if he effected a landing in England. William issued a "Declaration of Reasons", which immediately won widespread acceptance by the English elite as a statement of his policy.^[2] With 50 ships of the line (very large warships) and 14,000 men William landed on November. 5, 1688, and marched on London. There was no opposition as James' army melted away and the political leadership welcomed William. James in late December fled the country, thereby abdicating the throne. James received protection in France from King Louis XIV and began plotting schemes for the invasion of England with French and "Jacobite" military help. ("Jacobites" were the English and Scottish supporters of James and his sons.)

William insisted he would rule England as king and not merely as his wife's consort; accordingly, in February, 1689, Parliament offered the crown to William and Mary, each to have full sovereign rights. A similar offer was made by the Parliament of Scotland. The first stage of the English Revolution, with its advance toward constitutional monarchy and responsible government was complete with their double coronation on April 11, 1689, and their acceptance of the "Bill of Rights" (1689). It sharply limited royal power, prescribed the line of succession, and gave Parliament control of finances and of the army. Parliament was now supreme.

World empire or merchant economy?

The overthrow of James was hailed at the time, and ever since, as the "Glorious Revolution." Edmund Burke set the tone for over two centuries of historiographical analysis when he proclaimed that:

The Revolution was made to preserve our ancient indisputable laws and liberties, and that ancient constitution of government which is our only security for law and liberty.

Many historians have endorsed Burke's view, including Macaulay (1848) and more recently John Morrill, who captured the consensus of contemporary historiography well when he declared that "the Sensible Revolution of 1688—89 was a conservative Revolution." On the contrary, argues Pincus (2009), it was momentous, especially when looking at the alternative that James was trying to enact of a powerful centralized autocratic state. England's role in Europe and the country's political economy in the 17th century refutes the view of many late-20th-century historians that nothing revolutionary occurred during the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89. Pincus says it was not a placid turn of events. In diplomacy and economics James II transformed the English state's ideology and policies. This occurred not because James II was an outsider who inflicted foreign notions on England but because foreign affairs and political economy were at the core of the English revolutionaries' agenda. The revolution of 1688-89 cannot be fathomed in isolation. It would have been inconceivable without the transformations resulting from the events of the 1640s and 1650s. Indeed, the ideas accompanying the Glorious Revolution were rooted in the mid-century upheavals. Thus, the 17th century was a century of revolution in England, deserving of the same scholarly attention that 'modern' revolutions attract.

James II was building a powerful militarized state on the assumption that the world's wealth was necessarily finite, and empires were created by taking land from another state. The East India Company was thus an ideal tool to create a vast new English imperial dominion by warring with the Dutch and the Mogul Empire in India. After 1689 came an alternative understanding of economics, which saw Britain as a commercial rather than an agrarian society. The proponents of this view, most famously Adam Smith in 1776, realized that wealth was created by human endeavor and thus potentially infinite.^[3]

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-'''Charles II''' (1630-1685) was the King of [[England]] and [[Scotland]] from 1649 to 1685. He was the oldest son of [[Charles I]]. He was born on May 29, 1630 and lived in exile in France after his father was executed and Britain was run as a republic by [[Oliver Cromwell]].  He spent his years in exile working to win recognition, support, and reinstatement as king. He successfully led the '''Restoration''' of the monarchy in 1660, which proved popular since it ushered in an era of pleasure and excess.  Called the "Merry Monarch," he was notorious for his love of theater, music, hunting, and beautiful women, fast horses, and talented dogs. Charles did little to smooth over the divisions in politics and society which exploded after his death.
+'''The Glorious Revolution''' or '''Bloodless Revolt''', also known as the '''Revolution of 1688''', was a coup d'etat that took place in [[Britain]], replacing the Catholic King [[James II]]<ref> As King of Scotland, he was styled King James VII </ref>, with the Protestants [[William and Mary|William of Orange and his wife Mary]], who was James's daughter. Despite the often used title of "Bloodless", there was some fighting and loss of life, though none of it took place in England itself.
-He established the rights of prisoners not to be held unless there was a good reason (the [[Habeas Corpus Act]]) in 1679.
+The cause of the overthrow was a combination of two battles taking place in England at the time; one was a battle between Protestantism and Catholicism, the other between the growing power of [[Parliament]] and the "Divine Right" of the King. James was unpopular and seen as a threat due to his Catholicism and his closeness to King [[Louis XIV]] of France. However attempts to exclude him from becoming King had been unsuccessful.  [[William III]] and [[Mary II]] were effective rulers, Protestantism became firmly established, Parliament gained the upper hand in the government, and a [[English Bill of Rights|Bill of Rights]] was issued to protect the rule of law from arbitrary royal power.
-He disbanded Cromwell's army of 42,000 men because it was heavily Puritan. In the years around 1680, rumors of a popish plot led to strife between Whigs and Tories, but war was averted, and the Tories proved victorious before Charles's death in 1685. Charles retained his throne to the end, but three years later his incompetent brother, King [[James II]], lost it and went back into exile.
+==Crisis of 1688==
-==Debate==
+Harris (2005) shows the monarchy's recovery, following the near-disaster of the Exclusion crisis of 1679-81. Charles used ruthless skill in defeating this attempt, by his Whig opponents, to exploit popular anti-Catholicism in order to keep his brother James from the succession. Charles soundly defeated the Whigs, but at a cost of making the Crown the prisoner of a Tory, Anglican faction, upon whose continuing co-operation it now depended. James' alienation of this group after 1685, through his pro-Catholic policies, caused his downfall and the Glorious Revolution.
-Historians debate how bad he was. One school argues that the [[Glorious Revolution]] of 1688 was needed to reverse the continuation by James II of frcing on britain a royal absolutism, which had begun in the final years of Charles II's reign. Only the intervention of William of Orange in the autumn of 1688 brought about a change of direction, perhaps at the last possible moment, say these historians.  Others (such as Miller (1991)) say Charles was too cautions to be very dangerous; he profound insecurity, arising from England's recent past of civil war and republican rule, meant that his priority was personal survival--the preservation of existing royal powers rather than their systematic extension.  His borther James II was less pragmatic and more driven by his passionate commitment to Roman Catholicism. James did not seek power for its own sake, but aimed to place Catholics on an equal footing with Protestants by securing for them religious toleration and access to public office, which alarmed Protestants.<ref> See Goodland (2007)</ref>
-==Dutch wars==
-Charles fought very expensive naval wars with the Dutch, almost bankrupting the Crown; his fleet managed to seize New Netherlands, soon renamed after his brother as New York.
-After the restoration in 1660, the king cooperated with London-based merchants. He issued a series of anti-Dutch policies that reflected the mercantilist notion that weakiening the rival was the way to wealth. Charles believed that advancing trade and shipping would strengthen the political and financial position of the restored monarchy. The merchants and chartered companies, such as the East India Company, Royal Adventurers Trading into Africa, and Levant Company, thought economic primacy could be seized by defeating the Dutch. A combination of English naval force and privateering would, they hoped, cripple the Dutch Republic and force the States General to agree to a favorable peace. The Second Anglo-Dutch War, 1665-67, did not bring these results, however. Only some 450 Dutch merchantmen were captured instead of the 1,200-1,500 vessels taken during the First Anglo-Dutch War, 1652-54. In 1665 many Dutch ships were intercepted, and Dutch trade and industry declined. After the initial shock had worn off. Dutch traders took precautions and benefited from the absence of the English fleet, and the Dutch maritime trade recovered from 1666 onward. However, English commercial interests were hit much more severely, and by the end of the war Charles' regime faced virtual bankruptcy. English attempts to gain economic dominance through violence had failed.
+At the death of King [[Charles II]] in 1685, his younger brother [[James II]] became king of England, Scotland and Ireland, alarming many leaders by his pro-Catholic policies. William let it be known he was available if invited by a very broad spectrum of English political leadership. Unrest escalated with the birth of a son to James by his wife, Mary of Modena, a Catholic, on June 10, 1688. Within a few days, an invitation, signed by seven prominent personages, was taken over to William with an assurance of military support if he effected a landing in England. William issued a "Declaration of Reasons", which immediately won widespread acceptance by the English elite as a statement of his policy.<ref> However Claydon (1996) argues that James's supporters did try to refute it. Once king, the "Declaration" was used to limit William's ambitions. Tony Claydon "William III's Declaration of Reasons and the Glorious Revolution." ''Historical Journal'' 1996 39(1): 87-108. Issn: 0018-246x Fulltext: [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2639941 in Jstor]</ref>  With 50 [[ship of the line |ships of the line]] (very large warships) and 14,000 men William landed on November. 5, 1688, and marched on London. There was no opposition as James' army melted away and the political leadership welcomed William. James in late December fled the country, thereby abdicating the throne. James received protection in France from King [[Louis XIV]] and began plotting schemes for the invasion of England with French and "Jacobite" military help. ("Jacobites" were the English and Scottish supporters of James and his sons.)
-==Religion and Politics==
-Charles's religious policy failed in the face of intense opposition from the [[Church of England]].  He persecuted the Quakers and directed John Hilton's gang of thugs to use criminal violence to repress religious Dissenters in London.
-Harris (2005) shows the monarchy's recovery, following the near-disaster of the Exclusion crisis of 1679-81. Charles used ruthless skill in defeating this attempt, by his Whig opponents, to exploit popular anti-Catholicism in order to keep his brother James from the succession. Charles soundly defeated the Whigs, but at a cost of making the Crown the prisoner of a Tory, Anglican faction, upon whose continuing co-operation it now depended. James' alienation of this group after 1685, through his pro-Catholic policies, caused his downfall and the [[Glorious Revolution]].
+William insisted he would rule England as king and not merely as his wife's consort; accordingly, in February, 1689, Parliament offered the crown to William and Mary, each to have full sovereign rights. A similar offer was made by the Parliament of Scotland. The first stage of the English Revolution, with its advance toward constitutional monarchy and responsible government was complete with their double coronation on April 11, 1689, and their acceptance of the "Bill of Rights" (1689). It sharply limited royal power, prescribed the line of succession, and gave Parliament control of finances and of the army.  Parliament was now supreme.
-From 1670 there were sustained attempts to use excommunication as a tool to influence parliamentary elections. Ex-communicants could not qualify for membership of municipal corporations under the Test and Corporation Acts. Toward the end of Charles II's reign, as fear of Protestant dissent grew, excommunication was, however, used to deny voters the right to exercise their franchise. There was a concerted attempt, encouraged by the king, to ensure the election of a compliant Tory parliament through the use of excommunication in elections in borough seats. The attempt, reliant on bishops and spiritual courts, represented the high water mark of the 'confessional state.' Of questionable legality, the exclusion of ex-communicants from the right to vote was short-lived. The accession of James II and his Catholicizing policies created new alliances between Anglicans and dissenters and eroded the willingness of bishops to use excommunication as an electoral instrument. In 1689, the Toleration Act removed the principal cause of the persecution of dissent. The use of excommunication, nevertheless, represented an important attempt to unite the church and state for electoral reasons.<ref> William Gibson, "The Limits of the Confessional State: Electoral Religion in the Reign of Charles II," ''Historical Journal'' 2008 51(1): 27-47, </ref>
+===World empire or merchant economy?===
+The overthrow of James was hailed at the time, and ever since, as the "[[Glorious Revolution]]."  [[ Edmund Burke]] set the tone for over two centuries of historiographical analysis when he proclaimed that:
+:The Revolution was made to preserve our ancient indisputable laws and liberties, and that ancient constitution of government which is our only security for law and liberty.
+Many historians have endorsed Burke's view, including Macaulay (1848) and more recently John Morrill, who captured the consensus of contemporary historiography well when he declared that "the Sensible Revolution of 1688—89 was a conservative Revolution." On the contrary, argues Pincus (2009), it was momentous, especially when looking at the alternative that James was trying to enact of a powerful centralized autocratic state.  England's role in Europe and the country's political economy in the 17th century refutes the view of many late-20th-century historians that nothing revolutionary occurred during the Glorious Revolution of 1688-89. Pincus says it was not a placid turn of events. In diplomacy and economics James II transformed the English state's ideology and policies. This occurred not because James II was an outsider who inflicted foreign notions on England but because foreign affairs and political economy were at the core of the English revolutionaries' agenda. The revolution of 1688-89 cannot be fathomed in isolation. It would have been inconceivable without the transformations resulting from the events of the 1640s and 1650s. Indeed, the ideas accompanying the Glorious Revolution were rooted in the mid-century upheavals. Thus, the 17th century was a century of revolution in England, deserving of the same scholarly attention that 'modern' revolutions attract.
-==Slave raids==
+James II was building a powerful militarized state on the assumption that the world's wealth was necessarily finite, and empires were created by taking land from another state. The [[East India Company]] was thus an ideal tool to create a vast new English imperial dominion by warring with the Dutch and the Mogul Empire in India. After 1689 came an alternative understanding of economics, which saw Britain as a commercial rather than an agrarian society. The proponents of this view, most famously [[Adam Smith]] in 1776, realized that wealth was created by human endeavor and thus potentially infinite.<ref> See Pincus (2009)</ref>
-Needing money, Charles used his navy to raide the coast of North Africa (around modern Morocco) for slaves in the 1670s-1680s. After receiving Tangier as part of a marriage dowry in 1662, Charles encouraged slave trading in the Mediterranean in order to have sufficient labor to construct a naval yard in his new acquisition. Admiral John Narborough, who commanded several slave-raiding expeditions during the 1670s, recorded these voyages, which targeted primarily Muslims. He suggested that religion, rather than skin color, was the most important determinate of who was enslaved. When the English abandoned Tangier in 1683 and stopped supplying food to the region, a number of enslaved Turkish and Moorish Muslims starved to death.<ref> G. E.  Aylmer, "Slavery under Charles II: the Mediterranean and Tangier," ''English Historical Review'' 1999 114(456): 378-388, </ref>
-see [[English Civil War]]
 ==Further reading==
-* Bryant, Arthur. ''King Charles II'' (1931), entertaining but old-fashioned [http://www.questia.com/read/80945872?title=King%20Charles%20II online edition]
+* Barone, Michael. '' Our First Revolution: the Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers'', Crown Publishers, New York (2007) popular
-* Coote, Stephen. ''Royal Survivor: The Life of Charles II'' (2000), 396pp; popular history; well-written and very well illustrated
+* Goodlad, Graham. "Before the Glorious Revolution: The Making of Absolute Monarchy? Graham Goodlad Examines the Controversies Surrounding the Development of Royal Power under Charles II and James II," ''History Review,'' 2007   [http://www.questia.com/read/5022714365?title=Before%20the%20Glorious%20Revolution%3a%20The%20Making%20of%20Absolute%20Monarchy%3f%20Graham%20Goodlad%20Examines%20the%20Controversies%20Surrounding%20the%20Development%20of%20Royal%20Power%20under%20Charles%20II%20and%20James%20II online edition]
-*    DeKrey, Gary S. ''Restoration and Revolution in Britain: A Political History of the Era of Charles II and the Glorious Revolution.'' (2007), a major scholarly history of the era
-*     Glassey, Lionel K. J., ed.  ''The Reigns of Charles II and James VII and II'' (1997) 309pp; articles by scholars
 * Harris, Tim. ''    Restoration: Charles II and His Kingdoms, 1660-1685'' (2005), 506pp; major scholarly history
-* Hutton, Ronald. ''The Restoration: A Political and Religious History of England and Wales, 1658-1667'' (1993)
-* Hutton, Ronald. ''Charles the Second: King of England, Scotland, and Ireland'' (1989), 584pp; scholarly biography
-* Miller, John. ''Charles II'' (1991); excellent scholarly biography
-* Ogg, David. ''England in the Reign of Charles II - Vol. 1'' (1934), old, solid scholarship [http://www.questia.com/read/98233635?title=England%20in%20the%20Reign%20of%20Charles%20II%20-%20Vol.%201 online edition]
-* [http://www.questia.com/library/charles-ii-england.jsp online books and articles]
 * Miller, John.  ''The Glorious Revolution,'' (2nd ed. 1997) [http://www.amazon.com/Glorious-Revolution-2nd-John-Miller/dp/0582292220/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257103761&sr=1-2 excerpt and text search], solid scholarly overview
 * Pincus, Steve. ''1688: The First Modern Revolution'' (2009) [http://www.amazon.com/1688-Modern-Revolution-Walpole-Eighteenth-C/dp/0300115474/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257104647&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search], major reinterpretation
 * Temperley, H. W. V. "England. (1687—1702)" ''Cambridge Modern History'' (1905) vol 5 [http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/cmh/cmh510.html#255 online], solid older scholarship
-* Uglow, Jenny. ''A Gambling Man'' (2009), popular biography.
+====references====
+<references/>
-===Historiography===
-* Dekrey, Gary S. "Between Revolutions: Re-appraising the Restoration in Britain," ''History Compass'' 2008 6(3): 738-773, advanced article reviewing ths historiography, reflecting the growing interest since 1980 in the politics and religion of the Restoration. Dekrey looks at the recent Restoration scholarship, provides an overview of the field, and offers suggestions about critical interpretive issues. He adopts a pan-British approach, seeking to find common patterns in the reigns of Charles II and James II in Scotland, Ireland, and England. He  traces the instability of the Restoration settlements to their coercive treatment of Protestant dissenters, and offers suggestions for developing a three-kingdom framework for the treatment of Protestant divisions from the 1640's through the Glorious Revolution. Dekrey agrees that the crisis of 1679-81 was a multifaceted restoration crisis rather than an exclusion crisis, and suggests also that in England the competition of Whigs and Tories marked a turning point in the development of more modern structures for political debate and discussion. Dekrey examines the question of whether Charles and James turned toward absolutism thereafter in the broader context of the emerging state. His article considers the Restoration as a transitional era between the 'long Reformation' and the 'long 18th century.'
-* Goodlad, Graham. "Before the Glorious Revolution: The Making of Absolute Monarchy? Graham Goodlad Examines the Controversies Surrounding the Development of Royal Power under Charles II and James II," ''History Review,'' 2007   [http://www.questia.com/read/5022714365?title=Before%20the%20Glorious%20Revolution%3a%20The%20Making%20of%20Absolute%20Monarchy%3f%20Graham%20Goodlad%20Examines%20the%20Controversies%20Surrounding%20the%20Development%20of%20Royal%20Power%20under%20Charles%20II%20and%20James%20II online edition]
-==See also==
-* [[Glorious Revolution]]
-* [[James II]]
-{{Nb_english_monarchs}}
-[[category:Scottish Monarchs]]
 [[Category:British History]]
-[[category:English Civil War]]
-[[category:Religion and Politics]]

Difference between revisions of "Glorious Revolution"

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