And the Bill of Rights (1689)

 

The political events of 1688 were called "the Glorious Revolution" as they had realized the bourgeois theories of the nature of government and the demands that the powers of the king should be restricted and that the Parliament should be overall power in the state. Though some historians insists on calling it a coup d'etat of the ruling classes, the changes are recognized as a historic turning point in the conception and practice of government. It can be justly regarded as a "glorious compromise" between the new bourgeoisie and the old feudal institutions like the Monarchy and the House of Lord, but also in imposing new bourgeois parliamentary privileges and relations. The Parliament secured in superiority by adopting the Bill of Rights in 1689.

The Bill of Rights is an English Act of Parliament. It is one of the basic documents of English constitutional law, alongside Magna Carta, etc. The Bill of Rights (1689) is not a bill of rights in the sense of a statement of certain rights that citizens or residents of a free and democratic society have, but rather addresses only the rights of Parliamentarians sitting in Parliament as against the Crown.

 

The basic tenets of the Bill of Rights are:

· Englishmen, as embodied by Parliament, possessed certain civil and political rights that could not be taken away. These included:

- freedom from royal interference with the law (the Sovereign was forbidden to establish his own courts or to act as a judge himself);

- freedom from taxation by royal prerogative, without agreement by Parliament;

- freedom to petition the king;

- freedom from a peace-time standing army, without agreement by Parliament;

- freedom for Protestants to bear arms for self-defense, as allowed by law;

- freedom to elect members of Parliament without interference from the Sovereign;

- freedom of speech in Parliament, in that proceedings in Parliament were not to be questioned in the courts or in any body outside Parliament itself (the basis of modern parliamentary privilege);

- freedom from cruel and unusual punishments and excessive bail;

 

· Certain acts of the king were specifically named and declared illegal on this basis.

· Roman Catholics could not be king or queen of England. The Sovereign was required to swear a coronation oath to maintain the Protestant religion.

In addition, the Sovereign was required to summon Parliament frequently (reinforced by the Act 1694 which required the regular summoning of Parliaments).

 

The Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Rights are two of the most astonishing and far-reaching events of the modern period. From them were planted the seeds of the American Revolution and the American constitution and ultimately, the fundamental structure of all modern government: representation and checks and balances.

For the government that the English slowly forged after the Glorious Revolution was one in which the branches of government were independent of one another. The executive branch, headed by monarch, was subject to the authority of the legislative branch – the Parliament, which was dependent of the executive power of the monarch. The judiciary functioned independently of both Parliament and the king. After a century of uncertainty and violence, the English solution was to limit the powers of all branches of government to prevent any branch from exerting excessive influence.

In 1701, the Parliament passed the Act of Settlement that secured Protestant succession to the throne of England and Ireland, outlawing any Catholic Pretenders. The Act of Settlement was passed to amend the English Bill of Rights. In addition, it specifies that it is for Parliament to determine who should succeed to the throne, not the monarch. This Act was, in many ways, the major cause of the union of Scotland and the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The seventeenth century was the age of the Stuarts – their rise in 1603, their tragedy and defeat from 1648 – 1660, their restoration in 1660, their constant struggle against the Parliament, which resulted in their forced compromise and the victory of the Parliament, the victory of the new ruling classes.

 

THE 18^TH CENTURY

The Acts of Union (1707)

 

The end of the 17^th century and the start of the new century were the periods of wars in Europe. In foreign affairs, the grand strategy of Britain was to stop the French expansionist policies: to struggle against the French competition in trade, and also to interfere in the affairs of the Spanish Empire. In the British Parliament the Whigs were actively preparing the Union with Scotland.

 

The Acts of Union were twin Acts of Parliament passed in 1707 in the Scottish and the English Parliaments. The effect was twofold:

· to create a new Kingdom of Great Britain, though the name had been used on occasion since 1604 when speaking on the Kingdoms of England and Scotland together. Up to this time, England and Scotland had been separate Kingdoms, although since 1603 had shared the same monarch. Wales was also part of this Great Britain since it had been absorbed by England by the Acts of Union 1536 – 1543.

· to dissolve both parliaments and replace them with a new Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Although the new parliament was to be based in the former home of the English parliament.

 

The Act incorporated provisions for Scotland to send representative peers from the Peerage of Scotland to sit in the House of Lords. It guaranteed that the Church of Scotland would remain the established church in Scotland. Other provisions included to restate the Act of Settlement 1701 and the ban on Roman Catholics from taking the throne. It created a customs union and monetary union. The treaty provided that if any "laws and statutes" were contrary to or inconsistent with the terms of the Treaty, that they would be null and void.

 

Whigs and Tories

The most significant development in political life over that century had been the growth of clearly defined and opposing parties, which had taken the opprobrious titles Whigs (Scottish horse thieves) and Tories (Irish cattle rustlers). Parties had first formed during the exclusion crisis of 1679-81, but it was the Triennial Act (1694) that unintentionally gave life to party conflict. (The Triennial Act 1694 – закон о проведении всеобщих выборов в Англии каждые три года).

Nine general elections were held between 1695 and 1713, and these provided the structure whereby party issues and party leaders were pushed to the fore. Though party discipline was still in its infancy, the ideology was a novel aspect of politics. Clearly recognizable political parties had emerged by the end of the reign of William III. In general, the Tories stood for the Anglican Church, the land, and the principle of passive obedience. They remained divided over the impending Hanoverian succession, wistfully dreaming that James III might convert to Protestantism so that the sanctity of the legitimate succession could be reaffirmed. From their country houses the Tories opposed an expensive land war and favored the “blue sea” strategy of domination the Atlantic and Mediterranean shipping lanes. Their leaders had a self- destructive streak. Only Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, was a politician of the first rank, and he always shrank from being labeled a Tory. The Tories generally had a majority in the Commons and a friend on the throne, but they rarely attained power.

The Whigs were blessed with brilliant leadership and an inexhaustible supply of good luck. John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, was the outstanding military figure of his day. His victories at Blenheim (1704) and Ramillies (1706) rank among the greatest in British history. During the first part of Anne’s reign his wife, Sarah, was the queen’s confidante, and together they were able to push Anne to support an aggressive and expensive foreign policy. Continental warfare was costing 4 million a year, paid for by a tax on land, and after the early years successes were few and far between. Sidney Godolphin kept Marlborough supplied and financed to manage the Whigs interest by disciplining government officeholders to vote for Whig policies in Parliament. Among these policies were support for dissenters who, to avoid the rigors of the Test Acts, would take Anglican Communion. Both the Queen and the Tories were opposed to these occasional conformists, and three bills to outlaw the practice were passed through the Commons but defeated in the Lords. When the Tories attempted to attach one of these to the military appropriations bill, even the Queen condemned the maneuver.    

For the first half of Ann’s reign Whig policies were dominant. Marlborough’s victories set off a wave of nationalistic pride and forced even Tories to concede the wisdom of a land war. Unfortunately, military success built overconfidence, prompting the Whigs to adopt the fruitless policy of “no peace without Spain,” which committed them to an increasingly unattainable conquest of Iberia. Yet the capture of both Gibraltar (1704) and Minorca (1708) made England the dominant sea power in the western Mediterranean and paid handsome commercial dividends. So too did the unexpected union with Scotland (1707). Here again, Godolphin was the dominant figure, calling the Scottish bluff when they announced they would not accept the Hanoverian succession. Godolphin passed an Aliens Act (1705) that would have prohibited all trade between England and Scotland – no mere scare tactic in light of the commercial policy that was crippling the Irish economy. Rather than risk economic strangulation, Scottish leaders negotiated for a permanent union, a compact the English monarchy had sought for more than a century. The union was a well-balanced bargain: free trade was established, Scottish Presbyterianism was protected, and provisions were made to include 45 Scottish members in the House of Lords. England gained security on its northern border, and the Whigs gained the promise of a peaceful Hanoverian succession. 

The consequences were that the Whigs surrounding the king were handed over many of the royal prerogatives and their leader became the Chairman of the King's council. That was the beginning of the Cabinet system of Government in Great Britain, with a Prime Minister presiding over the Cabinet.