The Main Strengths and Weaknesses of the Protectorate, 1653-1658

During the 17th and early 18th centuries, many American colonists took it upon themselves to unify the English colonies. As Puritans and other settlers began to establish villages across the eastern coast of North America, they found that the only way for them to function properly was through peace and order. Unity was attained through agreements and constitutions laying down the first steps to self-government and democracy, and to a lesser extent a call to action between the colonists and the English crown.

During the years of 1547-1553 England experienced a handful of serious rebellions during the six-year reign of

The seventeenth century saw the evolution of two new types of government mainly because of the instability that was caused by religious wars. One type of government was a constitutional monarchy in which rulers were confined to the laws of the state, giving the people some liberties, best exemplified by William and Mary during the Stuart monarchial rule. Constitutional monarchy was successful in mainly in England because of the Magna Carta, which kept the king’s power in check. The other type was absolute monarchy, in which the king has power over everything, shown by the French under Louis XIV. Although these two

Tudor governments were relatively successful in dealing with the problem of rebellion, although this was more effective towards the end of the period than at the beginning shown through the decline in rebellion after 1549: only 5 English rebellions occurred as opposed to 10 before 1549. Over the course of the Tudor period the main aims of rebellions were only fully achieved in the rebellions of 1525, the Amicable Grant and 1553. In addition to this the reforms made to local government, policies directly implemented by central government and the effects of trials and retribution, such as Henry VII’s concessions made to the late 15th century pretenders, Lambert

The King in his right mind has total control and power of the colonies and can do whatever he deems necessary to control them. With that said, The king of that time, not thinking about the peoples feelings went ahead and instead of making the people happy did whatever he could to make the government better. Which in the long run was to make money. Well every time the king mad a law to make up for another law that the people didn’t like, it

For example, the military wanted a radical religious reform, led by John Lambert, whereas the civilians (or parliament) wanted a more moderate, parliament endorsed regime, led by figures such as Lord Broghill. Therefore, Cromwell was a major source of division and was said to be an "ideological schizophrenic" (Worden). Furthermore "division was made worse by Oliver Cromwell" (Worden) which is seen with the fluctuation of Cromwell's views between 1649-58, beginning with the dissolution of the Rump Parliament, because he favoured the Nominated Assembly, devised by fifth-monarchist Thomas Harrison, however the Assembly was named the Barebones Parliament. Despite Cromwell initially siding with a "Godly rule" (Smith), he reverted back to the regime to protect tradition, helped by Lambert who ended the Barebones Parliament due to the fear of the increasing power of religious radicals. Therefore, it was the indecisive nature of Oliver Cromwell that led to the failure in attempting to create an acceptable settlement in politics and religion.

Just when affairs reached a crisis, the English government changed again. Lord North headed a new ministry and repealed all of the Townshend taxes except for the duty on tea, which North retained to demonstrate Parliament's supremacy.

1. The main contours of English Colonization in the 17th century were Protestant motives to strike Catholicism, along with solving England’s social crisis. With the rumors of the Spanish Empire’s atrocities reaching England, one motive to colonize the America’s was to strike the Catholics, and save the natives from captivity (Foner 51). This shows an interesting aspect of the English Colonization: the English allowed their people to go colonize just to strike the opposing religious country. Along with this, England sending emigrants over solved their social crisis. Because of England’s growing population and economy, the amount of peasants in cities grew. This is because of landlords using land for sheep, which kicked out peasants from their land (Foner 51-52). England hoped that some people of the lower classes would then go to America: to be out of the big cities where important people were, while still helping England in it’s economy.

There were many forms of government through the 17th and 18th century. Two forms of government that were used a lot were democracy and absolutism. The form of government during these centuries that was most effective was democracy.

In England, from about 1400 to 1700 there was a constant struggle between Parliament and the ruling monarch. During that time, there were six documents that tried to weaken or challenge the power of the monarch. One of these documents was the Petition of Right. The Petition of Right, although it did not last, challenged Charles I by stating that he could not levy taxes without Parliament’s approval, not declare martial law, not to quarter soldiers in private homes while during peacetime, and could not imprison someone without a valid charge. Another document is the Grand Remonstrance. The Grand Remonstrance was a list of grievances against Charles I. This lead to Parliament asking for control of the army. Although it was brutally denied, it

Furthermore, England was in a civil war and migration to the New World decreased. Some settlers returned to England and joined the impeachment of King Charles.The king ended up getting executed in 1649. After the execution, England became Puritan. England was now

In 1559, Queen Elizabeth attempted to reunite her country, by passing the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity (Pitchard 105). The Act of Supremacy stated that Queen Elizabeth I was the most powerful ruler of England; this acts also made her the Supreme Governor of the Church (Elizabeth I). The Act of Uniformity was a set of rules regarding the new Elizabethan Church (Elizabeth R). Rules of the Church were basic and simple. All people of England had to attend church on Sundays and holidays. A fine was issued to those who did not attend church, the money collected was then used to help the poor (Elizabeth R).

The authors Tindall and Shi express how the new king was to be quite a challenge for the people of england, "Charles I, who succeeded his father, James, in 1625, proved to be an even more stubborn defender of absolute royal power. Like the French and Spanish monarchs, King Charles I preferred a highly centralized kingdom specializing in oppression and hierarchy." (Page 34) Further on in the chapter King Charles disbands parliment and raises taxes for defense. "In 1642...a prolonged civil war erupted." (Page 34) With a militant ruler taking over after Charles, England was dealing with some heavy issues concerning their monarchy. After the madness, England was brought some peace "Under the Bill of Rights, drafted in 1689, William and

It was turbulent times for England during the 17th and 18th century. England was in an unquenchable thirst for more power. “During the 17th and 18th century, England was determined to subdue all lesser countries, especially Ireland” (Stevenson, 28). At the time, England was the dominating country, looking to expand their influence across the world. War broke out constantly as the conquest for more land continued. Moreover, war was constant with the three kingdoms, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Revolts in each kingdom also affected the country’s ability to participate in the war. As

By trying to arrest the 5 MP’s in January 1642 in the House of Common with an army of 400 soldiers, the King rose suspicion that he was trying to dismiss the Parliament once again. As the Parliament feared that it will happen, they tried to limit the King’s power by taking the control over the royal army and by voting to throw the bishops out of the House of Lords. Some moderate MP’s were beginning to become worried about the fact and went to support Charles with the belief of possible chaos if they do not do this. The Parliament took over the army to fight against the Irish without consulting Charles as they feared he would turn against