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Failure of Absolutism
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Petition of Rights
Parliament wrote a list of grievences to King Charles I in hopes to change the way things were. Their Petition called for an end to martial law during peacetime, unnecessary taxes, unjust death and imprisonment, as well as with an end to soldiers taking shelter in commoner's homes. This was the first step in an attempt to limit the King's power. -
English Civil War
The English Civil War divided England into two groups: those who sided with the king with the power of the nobility and the king, along with an official Church of England, and then the people who supported Parliament and demanded individual rights including freedom of religion. Charles I was ultimately tried and executed by the forces backing Parliament. -
Grand Remonstrance
Along with the Petition enacted in 1628 Parliament sent another list of 204 points that upsest them concerning Charles I's rule. The group was led by John Pym and was the document was eventually passed around to the public when no response was recieved from the King. Charles denied most of the accusations in the document and the petition did not go any further politically than the one that was previously enacted. However this document created more followers for Parliament. -
Execution of Charles I
The execution of Charles I was a landmark event because he had such a powerful reign and after him there wouldn't be another successful absolute monarch. Plus after his death this allowed Parliament to have a chance to gain more strength and hopefully knock the next king down to hopefully establish a fairer form of government. -
William & Mary
William and Mary took the first steps on the throne to establish a limited monarchy. This was monnumenatal because Parliament had been working at overthrowing a monarch and attempting to have a King/Queen on the throne for almost a hundred years. The power of the king was finally limited and laws had to be checked by another governmental body, -
Glorious Revolution
The Revolution of 1688 was when Parliament took action against the absolute monarch James II. William of Orange led the troops to overthrow James II who eventually became King William who established a limited monarchy, The Revolution changed England enormously because the last absolute monarch (that they knew of ) no longer held the throne. -
John Locke's "Second Treatise of Civil Government"
John Locke was very influential in English politics and in his book he argued for why there should be limits to the government. He also declares philisophical reasoning saying that each man should be a judge of himself and men should not be ruled by another. This became a basis of how to establish a limited government.
