Western World Monarchy

Dictating that Massachusetts produce a certain annual allowance of cotton for the crown would be ridiculous. Due to distance, the Crown was unable to directly regulate economic policy and trade within the colonies so the colonists were forced to devise a regulatory system. This system allowed “a young business man [to] borrow money and move into trade, challenging the commercial position of older, more experienced merchants” (Text, 51).

Rulers of European countries during the 17th century had almost unlimited autonomy over their respective countries. They were the head of government in all respects, and all decisions were eventually made by them. However, along with this autonomy came responsibility in the form of the people. If the decisions of these rulers did not improve the country, the possibility existed that their power would be either curbed or taken away by the people. As ruler of England in the early 17th century, Charles Stuart believed strongly in absolute power and a king’s divine right to rule. He believed that a king was given his power by God and therefore had no reason to answer to the people. The Parliament in England at the time

The new King attempted to create the Dominion of New England, which was planned to organize the northern colonies into a one large province and then to be ruled by a “royal appointee”. Yet, it had failed to be put into action. This, and the events happening in England, would lead to the Glorious Revolution following a few years later. The Glorious Revolution had rejected James II’s authority and after the overthrow of his authority the northern colonies were free from the Dominion of New England. The new King (William) seemed to have no interest in the colonies and left them to fend for themselves, which allowed the colonies to self-govern. The Bill of Rights, which Parliament had passed in 1689, would later on be a model of how the colonies would rule

In “Social Order and Absolute Monarchy, written by Jean Domat, Domat argues that the absolute monarchy portrayed by King Louis XIV of France was created in the best interest of France. Domat’s audience in this document seems to be the middle class as well as the lower classes of France since Domat’s main goal of this paper is to justify the actions and amount of power held by the upper class and the king in an absolute monarchy.

The British Empire continued to gain power. They also wanted to make sure that what they did control ran perfectly. They began getting up taxes and acts (Old 46-47). The British created a navigation act which worked to stop smuggling goods. In 1765, they introduced the Stamp act which put a tax on things like cards, dice, and stamps (Old 47). The British did not stop there, they also passed another act called the Townshend act. This act put a tax on everyday items like tea, lead, and paper (Alden 97). The taxes were an outrage to the American colonies. Patrick Henry suggested to the House of Burgesses that they should fight these taxes. The House of Burgesses created the Declaration of Rights and Liberties and sent it to England (Old 47). The

Evaluating the Argument that Powers and Privileges of Parliament Increased Steadily at the Expense of Royal Power

The first way England showed their power over the colonies was through heavy taxation. A way this could be derived as England having had excessive power over the colonies is that if a country did not have legal authority of other lands, they would not be able impose such taxes. In relation to the right to taxation, a question asked of Ben Franklin shows that parliament has the right of the lands and to tax residents of said lands. The question was if he knew that parliament was able to tax the Americas (Franklin Testifies) and he responded by saying, “Yes, I have heard of such resolutions...They will

James tried to undermine the constitution and declared the throne of England empty. The English Bill of Rights declared Parliament’s right to make laws, levy taxes, and made it impossible for kings to oppose or do without the consent of Parliament. However, the English Bill of Rights did not settle the religious problem that played a large role in England’s troubles in the seventeenth century. Over the next century, Parliament gradually proved to be the real authority in the English constitutional monarchy. The English revolutions of the seventeenth century, however, prompted very different responses from the English society.

In 17th century France, Louis XIV ruled as an absolutist monarch with few checks to his dominion. Louis ignored the French Parliament, taxing French people as a source of income. This weakened the Parliament’s power and it was no longer a powerful entity in the French political system. At a certain point, Louis removed Parliament’s power to create laws further weakening it and strengthening his rule. England had a different government at this time. William and Mary were rulers of the country and their power was limited by Parliament which was considerably stronger than them at this point. Documents including the English Bill of Rights along with other legislation weakened their control and

The parliament passed laws taking care of England’s interest, and not the colonies’ interest. The British wanted control over the colonies, and would not allow them government representation, for the British believed the colonies were sufficiently represented. The colonies did not want the British in control; therefore, they

The Magna Carta started the idea of limiting the power that just one person had over a country. The monarch, ruling over England, doesn’t have ultimate power; instead, it is divided out to the Parliament, as well as the monarch, which thus planted the seed of the “checks and balances” system.

1.The rights called for include, enacting the laws, altering the laws are not in concurrent with the will of the citizens. Also, the Repealing of laws. In the administration sector, abolishing of offices, put up new posts, the appointment of magistrates and the right to remove them from office if they fail to adhere to the prescribed laws. Also, the people wanted the protection of labor, the exercise of their liberties. The people owned work and protecting it would help them all. There were also universal rights such as freedom of expression, speech and having a say in the government of the day. The right to peace was also needed by calming the war between the Parliament and the Stuart Monarchs. Furthermore, they wanted to avoid slavery that

Until then the Monarchy was represented only by those wealthy enough to buy a seat at the Parliament of England to defend their interests leaving large majority of working class out of vote. Moreover from then onwards the English king will require Parliamentary approval to be able to make decisions, this evolution of the parliament, led to the formation of the Liberal Party or Wigh.With the Liberal Party in control, the cities and municipalities were for the first time being represented and their interest addressed. The Parliament was no longer restricted to feudal interests, but to the new middle class that was in formation as a result of new laws that protected small owners. The representation of the interests of the cities and municipalities helped the formation of a bourgeoisie where you do not need to feudal to have influence in how to rule the country. This will eventually lead to the later expansion of an imperialist and colonialist England to a great degree.

There were several complicated political, economical, and social reasons that all lead to the unrest of the American colonies, and the eventual American Revolution in the 1700’s. However, liberalism played a part by leading the colonists to believe that they had the same rights and liberties as the English. The colonists believed that people were given these rights and freedoms naturally by their creator, and drawing further inspiration from John Locke, they also believed that the purpose of a government was to protect those rights.Instead, the monarchy in England was becoming more and more intent on stripping these rights from the American colonists in order to ensure their dependence on their mother country. After the expenditures of the French and Indian War, England found herself deeply in debt. The English Parliament decided that the best solution to this problem was to force the new American colonies to shoulder more of the financial burden since they were doing so well in the New World. Additionally, while they were being taxed to pay for the expenditures of the crown, they had no say in the legislature. The outcry from the colonists is a motto that is still well known today- “No taxation without representation”.

No king of England but Charles I was legally tried for treason and publicly executed. His execution, as a result of influentially social changes, marked the coming end of the English Civil War and the prelude of the Commonwealth. Since then, the English capitalist classes held the real power, as the feudalistic Kingdom gradually progressed to a capitalist nation. Resistance to the tyrannical rule of King Charles I was considered ‘the disenchantment of the English political classes.’ The once popular interpretation is that the religious inclination of Charles I ignited anger of the English political classes. However, the dissatisfaction of religious policies was just camouflage of political and economic conflicts between the King and English political classes. The tyrannically economic, political and religious policies made English political