Progress of the Revolutionary Settlement from 1688 to 1714 - Term Paper Example

Progress of the Revolutionary Settlement from 1688 to 1714 Within thirty years of the restoration to the throne of Charles II in 1660, which marked the end of Republican rule, England found itself once again faced by the possibility of civil war. In an attempt to extend his reign in the face of religious opposition, James II had issued the declaration of Indulgence in 1687, with which he sought to grant freedom to Catholics and Dissenters as a way of gaining their support against Anglican supremacists by repealing laws against Catholics and Dissenters. This reform process was extended to the church in 1688, although the clergy actively set out to ensure its failure, to which James II responded by charging them with seditious libel. In mid-1688, a coalition of seven aristocrats, christened “The Immortal Seven,” decided to solidify their almost yearlong support for William to invade England. William accepted, ostensibly to prevent the emergence of a Catholic French-England alliance, protect his wife Mary’s right to the throne, and to leverage England’s power and wealth in the Dutch struggle against a hostile French monarchy. William’s invasion of England was also helped by James II’s apparent miscalculation about his ambitions. King James II escaped from England, thus bringing to an end the Restoration Settlement and the Great Chain of Being. In 1689, the Convention Parliament agreed to jointly crown William and Mary, requiring them to ascent to the Declaration of Rights, condemning executive and arbitrary actions of the monarchy, and affirming the rights of subjects to free elections and petition. In effect, Parliament was directly involved in the choosing of the English monarch. The Declaration of rights was later enacted as a statute later in the year as the Bill of rights. The Revolution Settlement constituted bills that shaped the fiscal, religious, and constitutional arrangements of the country for years afterwards. Alongside the Tolerance Act of 1689, the Act of Settlement in 1701 was passed to ensure a smooth succession and to ensure only the House of Hanover would have a right to the throne. The final momentous action of the Revolution Settlement involved the Act of Union between England and Scotland in 1707, following which the Parliament of the new British state accepted the first Scottish members. In 1714, George I of Hanover succeeded Queen Anne, cementing the solidification of the Act of Settlement. The Revolution Settlement in its entirety was antithetical to the Great Chain of Being and, despite the many obstacles faced in securing the Settlement; the results set England on the path to modernity by creating a new government paradigm. The Revolution and the period following it faced obstacles from the beginning. The decision to back William’s invasion of England committed the resources of England to William’s conflict with King Louis XIV. Despite being widely unpopular in England, James II retained loyalists in Ireland, Scotland, and England, christened the Jacobites. This group sought the help of the French King, an erstwhile enemy of William, to restore James II and defeat the Revolution’s aims. This drew William’s attention towards ensuring James II would not return to England, which was crucial in preserving the Revolution Settlement. However, convincing the British to join in the war against King Louis XIV and, by extension, James II, to protect Protestantism and Parliament was difficult because Britain was still smarting from a poor war record in Europe, as well as the costs of the war. William was also still not considered the rightful heir, especially by the Tory clergymen. Also, as long as James II still lived, doubt existed about his legitimacy, giving added impetus to the Jacobites. In addition, most of William’s subjects did not revere him because most still held post-civil war beliefs that the hereditary monarch was the only true king, dulling their acceptance of him or the Revolution Settlement. However, this obstacle was counteracted somewhat by Mary’s own claim as a legitimate heir to the throne, as did her Anglican and English history and her reputed piety. Her death in 1694 acted to isolate William further from the British, particularly due to his obsession with diplomacy and administration, which failed to resonate with the British, despite the importance of defeating King Louis XIV and James II to cement the Revolution Settlement. The Revolution Settlement also faced an obstacle in the revolution in Ireland and Scotland. Both countries were not majority-Anglican and reacted strongly to the increasingly weak toleration policy. James II had given control of the Irish army to a Roman Catholic, who had filled the Army with Irish Catholic natives. This provided a base for James II to launch a counter-offensive against William with the help of King Louis XIV, threatening the Revolution Settlement by empowering a Jacobite Army. However, William did invade Ireland and managed to crush the insurrection. In Scotland, on the other hand, Presbyterians and Whigs de-established the Anglican Church in Scotland, while Episcopalians and Highland Catholics united to form Scottish Jacobitism, who opposed the Revolution Settlement and its initial elevation Anglican ministers over Episcopalians. This revolution was crushed, however, by bribery and atrocious force, including Jacobite. When Queen Anne succeeded William, the Revolution Settlement was threatened by Tory and Whig rivalry. Following the Revolution, there was a significant increase in political parties, which increased and focused party positions and increased political participation and conflict. This conflict was best evidenced by differences between the majority Tories and Whigs. While Whigs were comfortable with the cementing of the House of Hanover as the royal family through the Revolution and the Act of Settlement, the Tories were divided between the House of Hanover and James III. This resulted in Queen Anne appointing more Whigs to her government, thus the Whig resurrection of 1704-1710. This escalated conflict with the Tories, who began to block the war effort against France. Blocking the war effort, however, was a direct threat to the Revolution Settlement, as it would increase Louis XIV’s chances of victory and his elevation of James III. However, as already seen, most of these obstacles were overcome, and the Revolution actually went further than its architects expected, representing a seminal era in England’s transition into the modern society, it is today. First, it provided a futuristic and rational answer to questions on sovereignty with parliament emerging as the ultimate sovereign power. Parliament became permanent, separate, and dominant over the monarchy, changing forever the absolute and oft-abused power of the monarchy deriving its legitimacy from the Great Chain of Being by making it a constitutional office subject and limited to the constitution. The Revolutionary Settlement also allowed partial religious tolerance as parliament moved away from coercing its citizens to a national church. This allowed different protestant sects to worship freely and remain accepted English citizens, although this did not include Catholics. However, the rejection of a national church was modern and revolutionary and set England on its way diversity, tolerance, and modernity. The Revolutionary Settlement was also important in that it enabled parliament to separate the personal finances of the monarch from public finances involving maintenance of the navy and Army. This resulted in armed forces that were more professional, rather than the standing army that was characteristic in England during the Great Chain of Being era. In turn, this made the British Army and Navy an increasingly efficient and massive bureaucracy that would help Britain towards becoming the largest economy in the world prior to WWII. The Revolution Settlement was also critical in settling issues about local control and the question of the three Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland in terms of finances. However, the issue of control in Scotland would not be settled until the Act of Union, while the issue on Ireland would be settled centuries later with independence. Another importance of the Revolution Settlement in the modernization of England was that it showed that the people could depose monarchs, while also choosing their rulers according to their preferences, accepting that humans did not need to rely on divine intervention to solve their issues. The revolutionary Settlement broke the Great Chain of Belief by showing that subjects and their representatives could chose their monarch and choose their religious beliefs. In addition, the Revolution Settlement also led to a financial revolution, beginning with offerings of self-liquidating annuities to moneylenders, while also establishing the Bank of England through the 1694 charter. In time, the Bank of England became the center of English finance as the single largest lender, banker, and debt manager. This financial revolution allowed the monarchy to amass great wealth and fund British expansionary and imperial ambitions across Europe in the 18th century and internationally in the 19th century. It also acted to fund Britain’s national debt, while also increasing the power and initiative of parliament by requiring the monarch to seek parliamentary approval to spend the vast sums of money involved in the debt. The Triennial Act of 1694 required the monarch to summon parliament frequently, allowing parliament to control the monarch’s expenditure, making the monarch dependent on parliament. The Revolution Settlement was the result of unwillingness by the English to tolerate uncertainty brought about by an unresponsive monarchy. James II’s dalliance with Catholicism was the tipping point, encouraging broad support for invasion by the Protestant William of Orange and the subsequent revolution. However, the latter faced obstacles, including Jacobite support for James II’s return, doubts about William’s legitimacy, Scottish and Irish revolution, and the Whig and Tory rivalry. In spite of these obstacles, the revolution offered the path to England’s modernization and was, essentially, unstoppable. Indeed, it enabled England to settle the question of sovereignty, reduced religious intolerance, separated private and public finances, enabled the election and deposing of leaders, elevated parliament above the monarchy, and triggered a financial revolution. In short, the Revolution Settlement shattered the previous Great Chain of Being and initiated a new paradigm of government that defined a new relationship between the monarchy and the people. Read More