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The Rise of
Parliamnt in England
Significance
of
the
English
parlimentary
system
England
during
the
16th
and
17th
centuries
was
deve1oping the
Parliamentary system of government, while on the
continent,
especially in France, the
trend was
toward
absolutism.
The
English
revolutions
of
the
17th
century
assured
the
supremacy
of
Parliament
over
the
Crown, and established a
stable, yet flexible government. This development
has had an immense influence on the
general
political
evolution
of
Europe.
English
Parliamentarians
represents
one
of
the
three
main
streams
of
historical influence that have gone
into the making of modern democracy, the other two
streams being the French
Revolution,
and the rise of laissez faire Capitalism.
Part One
1)
Early Steps
Toward Parliamentary Government
The
germ of the Eng1ish Parliament is to be
found in the ancient Witen of the
Anglo-Saxon Kings, an advisory council of the
chief (literally, the wise) men of
the
kingdom. After the Norman conquest (l066) the
Witen was replaced by the Great Council, composed
of all who
held
land
by
feudal
tenure
directly
from
the
king.
It
was
thus
originally
in
no
sense
an
elective
body
or
one
representative of the English people,
but it served to form a tradition that government
was a joint responsibility.
2)
Magna
Carta
In
12l5, exasperated by the abuses of the worthless
King John, a group of barons
rose in
rebellion and, forced the king to sign the
agreement called the Great Charter or Magna Carta
which placed
restrictions on his
Powers. Later generations undoubted1y read into
the Magna Carta a great rnany guarantees of
civil liberty that were never in the
minds of the thoroughly reactionary and self-
interest seeking barons who drew it
up.
Reinterpreted to suit changing times, the Magna
Carta was appealed to in the 17th century as the
great bulwark
of the rights of English-
men. It served as a reminder that the subjects had
once risen in arms against their monarch.
It furnished a basis for se1f-taxation.
It was the most important landmark in the
tradition of the supremacy of the
law
as opposed to the king's arbiter will.
3)
Bgeninning of
the representative parliamant
In the middle of the thirteenth century
King John's
successor,
Henry
III,
aroused
great
opposition
by
his
subservience
to
the
financial
exactions
of
the
Pope.
Once
more
the barons resisted and obtained substantial
concessions. But the most interesting result of
the contest was the
establishment
of
Parliament
as
an
elective
and
representative
body
containing
commoners
as
well
as
the
great
feudal
1ords. Early in the fourteenth century there was a
formal separation of Parliament into two houses,
Lords
and Commons.
4)
Progress
in
the
14th
and
15th
Centuries
Un1ike
analogous
representative
and
consultative
bodies on the continent, which seemed
rudimentary, the English Parliament continued its
development through the
14th and 15th
centuries and became an indispensable arm of the
government. It had the sole power of taxation and
its
consent
was
necessary
for
legislation.
Although
the
Tudor
sovereigns
in
the
sixteenth
century
established
a
nearly absolute monarch, they did it by
managing and overawing Parliament rather than by
suppressing it. The real
Powers of
Parliament did not die but merely slept. Even
Henry VIII, the most despotic and powerful of the
Tudors,
did not rule by decree, as did
kings and princes in continental countries.
Part Two
1) Stuarts and the revival of
resistance
The death of Elizabeth, the
last of the Tudors, and the accession
of James I in 1603 marks
the
beginning of a long period of friction
between Parliament
and the Crown. Of
the
1
many
factors
that
contributed
to
this
friction,
three
were
especial1y
conspicuous:
l
)
the
religious
controversy
between the
growing sect of Puritans and the conservatives who
wished to maintain the Episcopal establishment
and the forms and ritua1s that the
English Church sti1l retained from Roman
Catholicism, 2) the determination of
the
bourgeoisie
and
the
smal1
1andowners
to
resist
taxation
unless they
could
control
the
foreign
and
domestic
polices
of
the
government,
and
3)
the
personal
tactlessness
and
political
ineptitude
of
the
Stuart
kings
James
I,
Charles I, Charles II, and James II.
2)
James
I
and
parliament
When
James
attempted
to
lay
and
collect
taxes
himself
and
Parliament
protested, he
dissolved Parliament. A further cause of annoyance
to the monarch was by the Puritans, a wing of the
Church of England that wished to purify
the Church of the doctrines and rituals that were
still retained from the old
Catholicism. Many of them also favored
a change in Church organization from the Episcopal
(government of the
church
by
a
hierarchy
of
consecrated
bishops)
to
the
Presbyterian
(government
by
e1ders
selected
from
the
congregations). This group, the
Puritans, whose strength was in the middle class,
were troubled by the polices of
James
I, and sough to combat him and his successors with
the weapon of parliamentary traditions. The
condolatory
Policy of James with Spain
and the union of Scotland with England were
opposed by the merchants.
3)
Parliament
under Charles I
The
beginning of the reign of Charles I (l625), James'
successor, was
assiduous. He favored a
war with Spain, and upon his marriage to Henrietta
Maria, sister of Louis XIII of France,
he promised that no concession would be
granted to Roman Catholics. But Charles I had also
Noised Louis XIII
that he would grant
concessions to Catholics in England. Par1iament
granted Charles I money to carry on a war
with
Spain, but he
used the
money and
Pinheaded to ask for more
without showing any signs
of
engaging in a
conflict with Spain. When
the House of Commons refused further subsidies, he
dissolved it.
The failure
of the English fleet at Cadiz, the unsuccessful
attempt to help the French Huguenots at the siege
of La Rochelle, and his inability to
get money by forced loans so added to Charles
difficu1ties that he was forced to
Call
a new parliament. In return for the grant of
subsidies, Charles signed the Petition of Right
(1628) promising
not to 1evy taxes
without consent of Par1iament, not to quarter
so1diers in private houses, not to establish
martial
law in times of peace, and not
to order arbitrary imprisonment. Parliament asked
more and more concessions and
finally
Charles I once more dissolved Parliament (1629)
and did not call another until l640.
During this
time
Charles tried every possible method of
getting funds. The most
obnoxious way
of raising
revenue was the levying of
He relaxed the restrictions on
Catholics and reintroduced certain dogmas of the
Catholic church into the Anglican.
In
the meantime the Puritan movement was gaining
Strength. Many advanced Protestants left the
country and fled
to America.
The attempt of Charles I to
interfere with the Presbyterian religion in
Scotland aroused the Scotch, who swore
to defend their religion. They
overthrew the King's bishops and revolted. Fai1ing
to put down the rebellion, Charles
I
called a Parliament (l640) but dissolved it when
it failed to grant the necessary funds (Short
Parliament). However,
he
immediate1y
had
to call
another
to
check
the
Scotch forces (Long
Parliament,
1640-1660)
By
this
last
deed
Charles admitted he
could not rule without the help of Par1iament;
divine-right monarchy had failed.
4)
Reforms of
the Long Par1iament
The Long
Parliament, confident that it had the upper hand,
proceeded to correct certain abuses
before giving Charles the necessary subsidies to
check the Scotch. John Pym,
John
Hampden, and Oliver Cromwel1 were in control.
5)
Powers
of
parliament
increased
The
House
of
Commons
impeached
Chariest
minister,
Thomas Wentworth (Earl of Strafford)
and Archbishop Laud, whose arbitrary church
government during the period
of Char1es
personal rule had aroused great resentment, and
sent them to the Tower where they were later
executed.
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