Why is England Different? The un-absolute monarchy.

The Magna Carta—the Great Charter 1215—King John I His nobles forced him to sign it Gave nobles basic political rights Jury Trial No taxes without representation Protection of law Limited the king’s power—the king is not above the law

Parliament Started as nobles who advised the king Had the power to approve or deny new taxes Developed into the House of Lords (upper classes) and House of Commons (normal people) Today, provides a check on royal power Most Powerful member is the Prime Minister

Elizabeth I

James I

Charles I fights with Parliament There was religious turmoil in England Charles I needed money, but Parliament would not approve new taxes In 1628 Charles was forced to sign the Petition of Right by Parliament

The Petition of Right The King could not . . . Imprison people without reason Charge taxes without Parliament’s consent Force people to house soldiers in their homes Impose martial law in peacetime

More Problems for Charles Charles ignored the Petition of Right He dissolved Parliament, and refused to let them come back To get money he imposed fees on the people He got less popular every day

Religious Problems Some people in England were Puritan--they wanted to purify the Anglican/English Church Charles (and most English people) were Anglican (Henry VIII’s Church) The people in Scotland (owned by England) were Presbyterian Charles tried to force everyone to follow the same religion (his, of course)—bad idea!

More Trouble for Charles He tried to force the Scots to be more Anglican—they rebelled Since he needed money to put down the rebellion, he had to call Parliament back In the fall of 1641 Parliament passed laws to limit royal power Charles tried to arrest them in January of 1642—resulted in uprisings in London

Charles fled to the north where he could find more supporters—called Royalists or Cavaliers The Puritans were called Roundheads because of their funny haircuts

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell was the leader of the Puritans/Roundheads By 1645 their army was winning

Big Big Trouble for Charles In 1647 the Puritans took the king prisoner In 1649 they put him on trial for treason He was executed

Cromwell’s Rule Oliver Cromwell took over and ruled as lord protector Started with a Constitution (the first ever), but Cromwell tore it up and ruled as a dictator Crushed a rebellion in Ireland Forced Puritan morality on the English-abolished theater, dancing, drinking, and sports Allowed all Christian religions except Catholics

The Restoration Cromwell died in 1658, he son ruled for a short time—he was less popular then his dad Parliament then, sick of military rule, invited the older son of Charles I (who had fled England) to be king They restored the monarchy!

The Restoration

Parliament Takes Control Parliament was not about to let Charles II be an absolute monarch Passed the law of Habeas Corpus—gives prisoners the right to be brought before a judge and hear the charges against him/her A monarch could not jail someone for disagreeing them

Who’s Next? Parliament debated who should be the next king Charles had no heir His brother, James, was Catholic Charles died in 1685, and James became king because Parliament never made up their mind

James II James annoyed the English by being Catholic and appointing Catholics to high office He dismissed parliament and would not let them come back His wife gave birth to a son in 1688

The Glorious Revolution The English feared a long line of Catholic Kings Parliament invited James II’s older daughter, Mary (a Protestant), to be queen She and her husband William of Orange of the Netherlands overthrew James II

Constitutional Monarchy William and Mary agreed to share power with Parliament and have limited power Parliament wrote a Bill of Rights in 1689 The king could not suspend Parliament’s power No taxes without permission from Parliament No interfering with Parliament’s freedom of speech Citizens can complain to the king without punishment

Impact England has a government that represents the people (well, the nobles) The Prime Minister became a powerful and important job in England (leading person in Parliament) Nobles in other countries are jealous of England’s freedoms