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What was the Glorious Revolution?

When did the glorious revolution occur, what caused the glorious revolution, why is the glorious revolution significant.

Glorious Revolution

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The Glorious Revolution refers to the events of 1688–89 that saw King James II of England deposed and succeeded by one of his daughters and her husband. James’s overt Roman Catholicism , his suspension of the legal rights of Dissenters, and the birth of a Catholic heir to the throne raised discontent among many, particularly non-Catholics. Opposition leaders invited William of Orange , a Protestant who was married to James’s daughter Mary (also Protestant), to, in effect, invade England. James’s support dwindled, and he fled to France. William and Mary were then crowned joint rulers.

The Glorious Revolution took place during 1688–89. In 1688 King James II of England , a Roman Catholic king who was already at odds with non-Catholics in England, took actions that further alienated that group. The birth of his son in June raised the likelihood of a Catholic heir to the throne and helped bring discontent to a head. Several leading Englishmen invited William of Orange , a Protestant who was married to James’s eldest daughter, Mary (also Protestant), to lead an army to England. He arrived in November, and James fled the next month. In April 1689 William and Mary were crowned joint rulers of the kingdom of England.

The Glorious Revolution (1688–89) in England stemmed from religious and political conflicts. King James II was Catholic . His religion, and his actions rooted in it, put him at odds with the non-Catholic population and others. Many tolerated him, thinking that the throne would eventually pass to his eldest child, Mary , who was Protestant. This view changed with the birth of James’s son in June 1688, as the king now had a Catholic heir. Alarmed, several prominent Englishmen invited Mary’s husband, William of Orange , to invade England. He did so in November. James soon fled England, and William and Mary were crowned joint rulers in April 1689.

The Glorious Revolution (1688–89) permanently established Parliament as the ruling power of England —and, later, the United Kingdom —representing a shift from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. When William III and Mary II were crowned, they swore to govern according to the laws of Parliament, not the laws of the monarchy. A Bill of Rights promulgated later that year, based on a Declaration of Rights accepted by William and Mary when they were crowned, prohibited Catholics or those married to Catholics from claiming the throne.  

Glorious Revolution , in English history, the events of 1688–89 that resulted in the deposition of James II and the accession of his daughter Mary II and her husband, William III , prince of Orange and stadholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands .

After the accession of James II in 1685, his overt Roman Catholicism alienated the majority of the population. In 1687 he issued a Declaration of Indulgence , suspending the penal laws against Nonconformists and recusants, and in April 1688 ordered that a second Declaration of Indulgence be read from every pulpit on two successive Sundays. William Sancroft , the archbishop of Canterbury , and six other bishops petitioned him against this and were prosecuted for seditious libel. Their acquittal almost coincided with the birth of a son to James’s Roman Catholic queen, Mary of Modena (June). This event promised an indefinite continuance of his policy and brought discontent to a head. Seven eminent Englishmen, including one bishop and six prominent politicians of both Whig and Tory persuasions, wrote to William of Orange, inviting him to come over with an army to redress the nation’s grievances.

William was both James’s nephew and his son-in-law, and, until the birth of James’s son, William’s wife, Mary, was heir apparent . William’s chief concern was to check the overgrowth of French power in Europe. Between 1679 and 1684, England’s impotence and the emperor Leopold I ’s preoccupation with a Turkish advance to Vienna had allowed Louis XIV to seize Luxembourg , Strasbourg , Casale Monferrato , and other places vital to the defense of the Spanish Netherlands , the German Rhineland , and northern Italy. By 1688, however, a great European coalition had begun to form to call for a halt to aggressions. Its prospects depended partly upon England. Thus, having been in close touch with the leading English malcontents for more than a year, William accepted their invitation. Landing at Brixham on Tor Bay (November 5), he advanced slowly on London as support fell away from James II. James’s daughter Anne and his best general, John Churchill , were among the deserters to William’s camp. Thereupon, James fled to France.

William was now asked to carry on the government and summon a Parliament. When this Convention Parliament met (January 22, 1689), it agreed, after some debate, to treat James’s flight as an abdication and to offer the crown, with an accompanying Declaration of Rights , to William and Mary jointly. Both gift and conditions were accepted. Thereupon, the convention turned itself into a proper Parliament and large parts of the Declaration into a Bill of Rights . This bill gave the succession to Mary’s sister, Anne, in default of issue from Mary, barred Roman Catholics from the throne, abolished the crown’s power to suspend laws, condemned the power of dispensing with laws “as it hath been exercised and used of late,” and declared a standing army illegal in time of peace.

The settlement marked a considerable triumph for Whig views. If no Roman Catholic could be king, then no kingship could be unconditional. The adoption of the exclusionist solution lent support to John Locke ’s contention that government was in the nature of a social contract between the king and his people represented in Parliament. The revolution permanently established Parliament as the ruling power of England.

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Glorious Revolution

By: History.com Editors

Updated: September 6, 2019 | Original: February 20, 2018

The Glorious Revolution, also called “The Revolution of 1688” and “The Bloodless Revolution,” took place from 1688 to 1689 in England. It involved the overthrow of the Catholic King James II, who was replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband, William of Orange. Motives for the revolution were complex and included both political and religious concerns. The event ultimately changed how England was governed, giving Parliament more power over the monarchy and planting seeds for the beginnings of a political democracy.

King James II

King James II took the throne in England in 1685, during a time when relations between Catholics and Protestants were tense. There was also considerable friction between the monarchy and the British Parliament .

James, who was Catholic, supported the freedom of worship for Catholics and appointed Catholic officers to the army. He also had close ties with France—a relationship that concerned many of the English people.

In 1687, King James II issued a Declaration of Indulgence, which suspended penal laws against Catholics and granted acceptance of some Protestant dissenters. Later that year, the king formally dissolved his Parliament and attempted to create a new Parliament that would support him unconditionally.

James’s daughter Mary, a Protestant, was the rightful heir to the throne until 1688 when James had a son, James Francis Edward Stuart, whom he announced would be raised Catholic.

The birth of James’s son changed the line of succession, and many feared a Catholic dynasty in England was imminent. The Whigs, the main group that opposed Catholic succession, were especially outraged.

The king’s elevation of Catholicism, his close relationship with France, his conflict with Parliament and uncertainty over who would succeed James on the English throne led to whispers of a revolt—and ultimately the fall of James II.

William of Orange

In 1688, seven of King James’s peers wrote to the Dutch leader, William of Orange, pledging their allegiance to the prince if he invaded England.

William was already in the process of taking military action against England, and the letter served as an additional propaganda motive.

William of Orange assembled an impressive armada for the invasion and landed in Torbay, Devon, in November 1688.

King James, however, had prepared for military attacks and left London to bring his forces to meet the invading army. But several of James’s own men, including his family members, deserted him and defected to William’s side. In addition to this setback, James’s health was deteriorating.

James decided to retreat back to London on November 23. He soon announced that he was willing to agree to a “free” Parliament but was making plans to flee the country due to concerns for his own safety.

In December 1688, King James made an attempt to escape but was captured. Later that month, he made another attempt and successfully fled to France, where his Catholic cousin Louis XIV held the throne and where James eventually died in exile in 1701.

Bill of Rights

In January 1689, the now-famous Convention Parliament met. After significant pressure from William, Parliament agreed to a joint monarchy , with William as king and James’s daughter, Mary, as queen.

The two new rulers accepted more restrictions from Parliament than any previous monarchs, causing an unprecedented shift in the distribution of power throughout the British realm.

The king and queen both signed the Declaration of Rights, which became known as the Bill of Rights. This document acknowledged several constitutional principles, including the right for regular Parliaments, free elections and freedom of speech in Parliament. Additionally, it forbade the monarchy from being Catholic.

Many historians believe the Bill of Rights was the first step toward a constitutional monarchy.

Bloodless Revolution

The Glorious Revolution is sometimes dubbed the Bloodless Revolution, although this description isn’t entirely accurate.

While there was little bloodshed and violence in England, the revolution led to significant loss of life in Ireland and Scotland.

Catholic historians typically refer to the Glorious Revolution as the “Revolution of 1688,” while Whig historians prefer the phrase “Bloodless Revolution.” The term “Glorious Revolution” was first coined by John Hampden in 1689.

Legacy of the Glorious Revolution

Many historians believe the Glorious Revolution was one of the most important events leading to Britain’s transformation from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. After this event, the monarchy in England would never hold absolute power again.

With the Bill of Rights, the regent’s power was defined, written down and limited for the first time. Parliament’s function and influence changed dramatically in the years following the revolution.

The event also had an impact on the 13 colonies in North America. The colonists were temporarily freed of strict, anti- Puritan laws after King James was overthrown.

When news of the revolution reached the Americans, several uprisings followed, including the Boston Revolt, Leisler’s Rebellion in New York and the Protestant Revolution in Maryland .

Since the Glorious Revolution, Parliament’s power in Britain has continued to increase, while the monarchy’s influence has waned. There’s no doubt this important event helped set the stage for the United Kingdom’s present-day political system and government.

The Glorious Revolution, BBC . The Glorious Revolution of 1688, Economic History Association . The Glorious Revolution, Parliament.uk . The 1688 Revolution, The History Learning Site . How did the Glorious Revolution in England Affect the Colonies? History of Massachusetts Blog .

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The Glorious Revolution

The Glorious Revolution (1688–1690) was a sequence of events that culminated in the ascension of William and Mary to the throne of England, contributing to uprisings in the colonies of Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland. The English Bill of Rights was also enacted, establishing the power of Parliament in several areas, including taxation.

King William III and Queen Mary II.

Glorious Revolution Summary

The Glorious Revolution was the culmination of decades of unrest in England and led to the abdication of the throne by King James II, who was Catholic. James was replaced on the throne by his Protestant daughter Mary and her Dutch husband, William of Orange.

As part of the agreement for William and Mary to become King and Queen, they agreed to the English Bill of Rights . The document eliminated the idea of the Divine Right of Kings and automatic hereditary succession while affirming Parliament’s supremacy over the Crown. The English Bill of Rights also restricted the Crown’s authority regarding law, taxation, and the military. 

The English Colonies in America welcomed news of the Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Rights and there were several uprisings against Catholics and government officials who were associated with King James II.

Ultimately, the Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Rights influenced American arguments for independence, along with the establishment of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights .

Glorious Revolution Facts

• Date — The Glorious Revolution took place in 1688 and 1689.
• Also Known As — The Glorious Revolution is also called the “Bloodless Revolution.”
• Outcome — King William III and Queen Mary II replaced King James II.
• Interesting Fact — King James II was the last Catholic monarch of England.
• Interesting Fact — James Francis Edward Stuart, the son of King James II, became known as the “Old Pretender.” due to rumors he was not truly the son of James.
• Interesting Fact — James Stuart’s son, Charles Edward Stuart, was known as the “Young Pretender” and “Bonnie Prince Charlie.”
• Interesting Fact — Bonnie Prince Charlie tried to take the throne in 1745 in the Jacobite Rising of 1745, however, his army was defeated at the Battle of Culloden.
• Interesting Fact — Queen Mary died in 1694, leaving William III to rule England by himself.
• Interesting Fact — William III died in 1702 and was replaced by Mary’s sister, Anne.
• Interesting Fact — The impact of the Glorious Revolution was felt in America through several rebellions, including the overthrow of the Dominion of New England .

Glorious Revolution in England

The Glorious Revolution was the culmination of decades of conflict in England that included the English Civil Wars, the era known as the Interregnum, and the Stuart Restoration.

Death of Charles and the Ascension of James

On February 2, 1685, King Charles II died. Four days later, his brother, James, the Duke of York, was crowned as James II of England and James VI of Scotland. 

Conflict Between Protestants and Catholics

As had been the case since the English Reformation, relations between Protestants and Catholics in England and its territories were tense. Charles II publicly supported the Church of England and religious tolerance. However, James was Catholic, which was revealed to the people of the kingdom and led to the Exclusion Crisis. From 1679 to 1681, England, Scotland, and Ireland tried to enact laws to keep James from succeeding his brother but ultimately failed.

Conflict Between the Crown and Parliament

The Crown and Parliament were also at odds with each other and James made matters worse. He appointed Catholics to key political positions, suspended laws that persecuted Catholics, and pardoned Protestant religious dissenters. Following the Monmouth Rebellion (1685), he retained a standing army, which he believed would help him gain more control over Parliament.

Catholic Threat

The effort James made to promote his faith increased concerns among Protestants who feared there would be a wave of conversions to Catholicism among English subjects. James intended to establish Catholic churches, convert colleges to Catholic seminaries, and exempt Catholics from Anglican churches and courts.

A Catholic Heir to the Throne

Although James was Catholic, the heir, his daughter Mary, was a Protestant. Mary was married to William of Orange, the ruler of most of the Netherlands, who was also a Protestant. This created an issue for James and was an obstacle to gaining the approval of Parliament for his pro-Catholic initiatives.

James was 51 years old at the time and most people believed he was incapable of producing a male heir. However, on June 10, 1688, James and his wife, Mary of Modena, had a son, James Francis Edward Stuart, who was baptized Catholic. 

As a male, James moved in front of Mary as heir to the throne. The idea of a Catholic heir to the throne of England raised concerns about the possibility of a Catholic dynasty and the spread of Catholicism in Europe and North America.

Rumors spread through the country that the Prince was an imposter. The true son of James and Mary was stillborn and replaced by another baby. This led to James Francis Edward Stuart being given the nickname “The Old Pretender.”

Trial of the Seven Bishops

Later in June, a trial was held for seven Anglican bishops who refused to read the Declaration of Indulgence in their churches. The bishops were arrested, charged with seditious libel, and imprisoned in the Tower of London. The arrests were viewed as an attack on the Church of England.

The bishops were acquitted of the charges, leading to anti-Catholic riots in England and Scotland. 

Opponents of James Take Action

Opponents of James responded to the birth of the Prince and the Trial of the Seven Bishops by reaching out to William of Orange and essentially inviting him to invade England and dethrone James.

William’s army landed on Tor Bay on November 5, 1688, and slowly made his way to London. James responded by fleeing the country as his supporters abandoned him.

Convention Parliament of 1689

William took control of the government in December and elections for Parliament were held in January 1689. 

The “Convention Parliament” met on January 22 and eventually determined James had abdicated the throne, which was formally offered to William and Mary, provided they agreed to a Declaration of Rights.

William and Mary agreed to the Bill of Rights, which included the following:

• Identified Mary’s sister Anne as the heir to the throne.
• Barred Catholics from being King or Queen.
• Eliminated the Crown’s ability to suspend laws.
• Declared a standing army during peacetime illegal.

The Bill of Rights firmly entrenched Parliament’s supremacy over the Crown. This would become an important point in the argument Americans would make during the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War. 

When Americans argued against “no taxation without representation,” they insisted on their loyalty to the Crown and were critical of Parliament, which they pointed at as the source of the trouble between Britain and the 13 Original Colonies .

Effects of the Glorious Revolution in Colonial America

During the reign of Charles, several incidents in North America drew the attention of the Crown, including:

• The Dutch recapture of New York in 1673.
• King Philip’s War (1675–1678) .
• Bacon’s Rebellion (1676–1677) .

Charles responded by strengthening the Crown’s oversight of the colonies. He implemented new Navigation Acts and established the Lords of Trade and Plantations to keep watch over the colonies and ensure the collection of customs duties.

In 1686, James, the Privy Council, and the Lords of Trade decided to merge the colonies in New England together under a single government. Under the new arrangement, the colonies were known as the “Dominion of New England.” The purpose of the Dominion was to streamline English oversight of the colonies and give England more control over trade, land titles, and coordination of colonial defenses.

The first territories that were part of the Dominion were Massachusetts Bay Colony , Plymouth Colony , Province of New Hampshire , and part of Rhode Island . The Dominion was placed under the control of the Council of New England. The first President — or Governor — was Joseph Dudley, a native of Massachusetts.

In June 1688, Dudley was replaced with Sir Edmund Andros, and on September 9, 1686, the Board of Trade added the rest of Rhode Island and Connecticut to the Dominion. Andros proved to be unpopular, especially with the Puritans in Massachusetts. He arrived in Boston on December 20, 1687, and from then on he created controversy over local government, taxes, land titles, and religion. He had been ordered by the King to force the Puritans to allow the Church of England to operate freely, which he did. New York and New Jersey were added to the Dominion in 1688. 

In early 1689, when the news arrived regarding the Glorious Revolution, colonists rebelled against Catholics and other political leaders associated with James.

Boston Revolt and the Collapse of the Dominion of New England

In Massachusetts, 2,000 militiamen captured Governor Sir Edmund Andros, effectively ending the Dominion of New England. Massachusetts leaders established a temporary government based on the 1629 charter. 

William and Mary eventually issued a new charter for Massachusetts in 1691. The new Governor of Massachusetts, Sir William Phips, arrived in Boston on May 24, 1692. In the interim, Massachusetts was caught up in the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials .

Coode’s Rebellion

Maryland had been established by Lord Baltimore as a haven for Catholics, but the colony practiced religious tolerance and there was a significant Protestant population. 

Upon the ascension of William and Mary to the throne, Baltimore issued a proclamation, announcing the new monarchs. However, anti-Catholic factions led by John Coode formed the Protestant Association, took control of St. Mary’s City, and formed a Protestant government.

Leisler’s Rebellion

Following the imprisonment of Sir Edmund Andros, the New York Militia expelled the Lieutenant Governor, Francis Nicholson , who refused to acknowledge William and Mary as monarchs. Nicholson fled from the colony.

Jacob Leisler, a prominent merchant, declared himself Lieutenant Governor in the name of William and Mary. Leisler was quick to abuse his power and in December 1689, William and Mary appointed Henry Sloughter as Governor of New York

However, Leisler tried to maintain control and nearly started a civil war in New York. Leisler was eventually arrested and tried on charges of treason. He was found guilty and executed in 1691.

Glorious Revolution APUSH Review

Use the following links and videos to study the Glorious Revolution, Colonial America, and the Colonial Era for the AP US History Exam. Also, be sure to look at our Guide to the AP US History Exam .

APUSH Definition and Significance

The Glorious Revolution for APUSH is defined as the bloodless revolution that took place in England in 1688–89, resulting in the abdication of King James II and the ascension of King William III and Queen Mary II. The Glorious Revolution also led to the implementation of the English Bill of Rights, which established Parliament’s authority over the Crown. In the American Colonies, the Glorious Revolution led to the overthrow of several governors and the collapse of the Dominion of New England. In many ways, the Glorious Revolution contributed to events that led to the American Revolution, especially by establishing Parliament’s right to levy taxes.

APUSH Video

This video from Heimler’s History discusses the Glorious Revolution and other events, including the English Civil War.

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Study Guide by Swansea University Historians

The story of the Glorious Revolution really begins with the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-83. This was the period of a series of attempts by Whigs—the original Whigs—to prevent James Duke of York from inheriting the throne from his brother, King Charles II, the merry monarch who had perhaps as many as 20 children with his numerous mistresses, but no legitimate children with his wife.  The Duke, who was known to be Catholic and to believe in the divine right of kings and absolute monarchy, was mistrusted by many Englishmen at this time because of these factors. During the seventeenth century (indeed since the Protestant Reformations of the sixteenth century and the creation of the Church of England by Henry VIII), there had existed a national loathing of Catholicism, so much so that there had even been attempts made to exclude James from the throne. These plots had not been successful, however, and following Charles II’s death on 6 February 1685 the Catholic James became King James II. Perhaps because of the fear that England would return to tumult and bloodshed of the Civil Wars (1642-49) and the oppression of Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate, when James's Parliament met on 19 May, it was overwhelmingly loyalist in composition. This seeming tranquillity was not, however, to last.

Indeed, when the House was recalled after the summer, James asked the Commons for more money for the maintenance of his standing army. It was a move that would have concerned many Englishmen because professional, permanent armies were feared to be the would-be shock troops of an ambitious tyrant. Large standing armies were associated with the autocratic monarchies of France and Spain, while many Englishmen would also have remembered with trepidation the imposition of Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army and the hated rule of the Major-Generals.

James himself would further antagonise the Commons by asking for the repeal of the Test Acts of 1673. The Test Acts required office holders to prove that they were not Catholics by making a declaration against transubstantiation—the Roman Catholic belief that the change of substance (or essence) by which the bread and wine offered in the sacrifice of the sacrament of the Eucharist during the Mass, become, in reality, the body and blood of Christ. Between 12 and 19 November 1685, Parliament declined to repeal the Acts and refused the King extra money, fearing its misuse. Replying to the King's speech, Parliament made it clear that the King's employment of Catholic officers was ‘of the greatest concern’ to them, and begged him to reconsider his request. Frustrated by the House’s intransigence, on 20 November, James prorogued his Parliament.

Determined to assert his authority, the King pressed on. In April 1686 James won an apparent victory in the Test Act controversy when, following the Godden v Hales case, the judges ruled that James II, in individual cases, could dispense with the Test Acts without the consent of Parliament. Worryingly for many Parliamentarians, the King then began to introduce Roman Catholics and some dissenters into the army, universities, and even posts within the Anglican Church. It seemed that those fears emergent from the earlier Exclusion Crisis concerning James’s high-handedness, authoritarian inclinations and disregard for the rights of Parliament were truly well-founded.

Further controversy came on 15 July when an Ecclesiastical Commission was set up, and to which the King's powers as Governor of the Church of England were delegated. This Commission was permitted to deprive the clergy of their roles and soon used this authority to remove Henry Compton from his position as Bishop of London. Compton had fallen afoul of the Commission because he had refused to suspend a London clergyman who had spoken out against Roman Catholicism. When a papal envoy was cordially received in Whitehall, alarm was further spread among English Protestants. It is therefore unsurprising that, throughout 1686, fears grew that James was plotting to impose his own (very much hated) Catholic religious views on the country. Anger would have been further stoked when James began a campaign to appoint sympathetic electors to create a House of Commons that would support his policies.

To further his goals, on 5 April, 1687 the King published a Declaration of Indulgence (also known as the Declaration for Liberty of Conscience ), which suspended all religious penal laws. At the same time, James provided partial toleration in Scotland, using his dispensing power to grant relief to Catholics and partial relief to Presbyterians. Coined by the King as a way of curbing intolerance on the basis of religious faith, James's seeming ignorance England’s of long-standing fear of a Catholic insurrection, sponsored by hostile powers such as Catholic France and Spain, in addition to his willingness to use the Royal Prerogative without Parliamentary approval, caused great unease in a country already shaken by his previous actions.

Subsequent efforts did little to abate these concerns. As 1687 progressed, the Lord Lieutenants (the monarch's personal representative in each county) were instructed to call together prominent local people and ask them, if they were to be chosen as Members of Parliament, whether they would approve the repeal of the penal laws, and other questions designed of the same kind. The majority of the Lord Lieutenants refused to advance these questions because they objected so strongly to them. Consequently, in August James dismissed nine of them. Tellingly, surviving answers to the King's questions and documented at the time they were given attest to the unpopularity of the King’s policies. Indeed, there was almost wholesale opposition among the prominent and influential local men who had been canvassed by the Lord Lieutenants.

On April 27 1688 James reissued the Declaration of Indulgence . However, by commanding that Anglican clergy to read to their congregations from the pulpit, he had made a grave error. On 18 May the Archbishop of Canterbury and six other bishops refused to read it and petitioned against the King’s order (history books sometimes refer to these men as the Seven Bishops). In this petition, the James was asked to withdraw his demand, citing the argument that the Declaration of Indulgence was illegal. It was claimed that it was based the king’s suspending power—something that went against the will of Parliament

On June 8 the Seven Bishops were arrested and sent to the Tower of London to await trial. Virtually at the same time--in fact, two days later--the Queen (James’s second wife, Mary of Modena) gave birth to a son, James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales. The new heir was baptised a Roman Catholic, causing consternation within much of the nation.

Certainly, before this, James’s rule could, at least to a degree, have been dismissed as a passing aberration (an albeit highly worrying one) by many of his bewildered subjects. However, the birth of a son gave the Catholic James an heir, opening the possibility of a perpetual Catholic succession and a tyrannical dynasty.  This prospect actually gave rise to ugly rumours that the baby was no true prince but a substitute smuggled into the Queen's bed in a warming pan. Perhaps unsurprisingly, when the so-called Seven Bishops were acquitted by a jury (June 30), huge crowds celebrated in the streets, burning effigies of the Pope, and attacking Catholic establishments. It was also on this very same day that a ‘letter of invitation’ was signed by seven prominent politicians (The Earl of Shrewsbury; The Earl of Devonshire; The Earl of Danby; The Viscount Lumley; The Bishop of London (Henry Compton); Edward Russell; Henry Sydney (who wrote the Invitation)) which invited William of Orange, Protestant son-in-law to James, to intervene to save both Church and State.

William, who had himself been watching developments in England with increasing alarm, had actually already made his decision to intervene. The Dutch Republic, of which William was Stadtholder, had an intense rivalry with Louis XIV’s France (the two rulers themselves were bitter enemies) and a possible Anglo-French alliance would have jeopardised the sovereignty and independence of the Dutch Republic—itself a Protestant power. Therefore, on October 1 William issued his manifesto from The Hague, listing at length the allegedly illegal actions of the last three years. He proclaimed that, ‘we have thought fit to go over to England, and to carry with us a force sufficient, by the blessing of God, to defend us from the violence of those evil councillors; and we, being desirous that our intention in this way may be rightly understood, have prepared this Declaration...’

William landed at Torbay in Devon with about 15,000 (largely Dutch) troops on November 5. The timing of this would not have been lost on the contemporary English populous who revered November 5 as the date on which another so-called Catholic insurgent, Guy Fawkes, had been caught in the act of blowing up the House of Lords, along with then-monarch James I. William’s landing was, furthermore, the only successful large-scale landing in England since 1485. That said, James still, in theory at least, had his large standing army and thus remained a threat to William and his mainly Dutch army. However, the enthusiasm with which William was welcomed and the defections from James's army that ensued strengthened William's hand. On December 19 William entered London. Previously, on 11 December, James tried to flee to France, first throwing the Great Seal of the Realm into the River Thames. He was captured in Kent but later was released and placed under a Dutch protective guard. Having no desire to create a martyr out of James, William allowed the soon-to-be former king to make his escape to France on 23 December. Some have also suggested that James was allowed to flee to legitimatise his overthrow—his flight would appear more like an ‘abdication’ rather than the legally complex seizure of a crown by a foreign monarch.

Aftermath and Legacy:

What made in the eyes of many contemporary (and indeed, subsequent) Englishmen the Glorious Revolution just that—a ‘glorious’ or ‘bloodless’ revolution—was the manner in which the situation unfolded after William’s landing and the ‘abdication’ of James II. William did not take the crown on his own authority, like his namesake William the Conqueror had done in 1066.  Instead, Parliament dissolved itself and then reformed itself as a Convention—ostensibly a convention of the people.  It was that convention that offered the crown to William in February 1689, and set the terms on which William would rule.  The Convention also published a Declaration of Rights, later passed by Parliament as the Bill of Rights, that listed the unacceptable misdeeds of James II, and asserted the necessity of free elections, frequent Parliaments, and various other liberties. 

It should be added here that there are limitations on the degree to which we (today) should view the Glorious Revolution as ‘revolutionary’.  Despite the fact that the Convention was supposedly a meeting of the people, it was still the case that very few English people at this time—the late seventeenth century—would have explicitly supported the notion of the sovereignty of the people.  William III certainly did not believe that he owned his authority to the Convention, or to Parliament, and certainly not to the people.  Furthermore, High Tories would continue to believe in the idea of the Divine Right of Kings for another generation. 

For this reason, many feared that too strong an assertion of the idea of popular sovereignty, the sovereignty of the people, might result in a reversion to the civil wars that occurred between 1642 and 1651, in which some 10% of the English population lost their lives.  So it was that moderate Whigs subsequently advanced a rather less revolutionary theory of what happened in 1688-89, one that rested on Parliamentary sovereignty rather than popular sovereignty. According to this view, the Convention and Declaration of Rights did not promote natural rights or a right to revolution, but argued that James’s abuses of the people’s liberties, property, and religion absolved them of a duty of loyalty to him, so that when he ‘abdicated’ and moderately Whigs stressed that he abdicated and was not overthrown - Parliament, not the people, but Parliament, was entitled to restore ancient customs and laws by offering the crown to William. 

In practical terms, what this meant was the creation of the ‘Crown-in-Parliament’; or, as it was more commonly called, the ‘King in Parliament’.  That idea was based upon what was called the ‘Principle of Co-ordination’: the idea and the practice that the king, or at least his Prime Minister, exercised control of Parliament by virtue of controlling a majority of MPs.  And that is how the British constitution still works.  The Prime Minister holds their position by virtue of controlling a majority of MPs.

There were critics of this idea.  One of them was the philosopher John Locke, whose Two Treatises on Government was published in 1691, though written earlier, made the case for popular sovereignty.  Later on, ‘Real’ Whigs or ‘True’ or ‘Country’ Whigs, as they variously called themselves, in opposition to the ‘Court’ Whigs aligned with Prime Minister Robert Walpole from 1721, condemned the use of patronage as a means of achieving ‘co-ordination’ as conspiratorial and corrupt.  Among the most strident critics were John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, in their pseudonymous Cato’s Letters (1724). 

Nevertheless, most people accepted that some means of achieving governmental stability was essential, or at least acknowledged that the accommodation of crown and Parliament was vastly preferable to the struggles and bloody strife that had afflicted the country throughout most of the seventeenth century, during the reigns of James I and Charles I and of course during the civil wars of 1642 to 1651;  and then, in turn, the Interregnum of 1649-1660, the Restoration of 1660, the Exclusion Crisis of 1679-81, and finally yet another revolution in 1688.   Also, in many people’s minds, the post-1688 constitution not only created stable and effective government, but simultaneously guaranteed the rights and liberties of freeborn Englishmen (from 1707, Britons). 

Study History for a Degree

Vallance’s “The Glorious Revolution: Britain’s Fight for Liberty” Essay

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Introduction

Bibliography

The Glorious Revolution: Britain’s Fight for Liberty by Edward Vallance is a book that presents an elaborate account of the 1688 Britain revolution that was characterized by a lack of violence. In his book, Edward Vallance dealt with different interpretations according to his understanding of the Glorious Revolution. The revolution was actually peaceful but Vallance instead argued that the overthrow of James II was characterized by several instances of conflict and even cases of people losing life especially in Scotland and Ireland. This paper will discuss the interpretation of the historian’s work as compared to the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

Background of the Glorious Revolution

King James III was involved in several political battles in England during his three years of tenure in office as the king of England. First, he was found involving himself in political battles between the Catholics and the protestants. Additionally, his direct involvement was noted when he participated in political battles that tried to define the divine rights of kings and those of the Parliament of England. The major problem that king James experienced was because his religion of Catholicism had made him isolate himself from the two major parties in England at that time. The low church Whigs attempted to remove King James from the throne. However, its failure to pass the exclusion bill of which would have removed the king from the throne led to fruitless efforts.

The supporters of James since he took over power were Anglican Tories. His Catholicism was an issue that led to concerns being raised by many people even though his daughters were protestants. However, problems arose while James tried to remove the penal laws. The Tories viewed this move as a way of breaking the establishment of the Church of England. As a result, James abandoned Tories, a move that seemed to show that he was trying to form his own party as a way to counter the influence of the Anglican Tories. Therefore, in 1687 James declared his support for a policy that referred to religious toleration. According to valance (2008), “he, therefore, allied himself with dissenters, Catholics, and nonconformists with an aim of advancing catholic emancipation”.

James further continued to make laws in his hands when he sought the common law of dispensing acts of parliament from the English courts 1 . The request was successful since eleven out of the twelve judges of the court made the rule in his favor. James’ political involvement in religion was a common behavior, for instance, he ordered the removal of John Sharp a catholic clergy who delivered a catholic sermon yet that had been banned by James. As noted by Valance (2008) “ James ordered the followers of Magdalene college in oxford to elect Anthony Farmer who was a catholic even though he was not eligible according to the statutes of the college”. The followers declined the order and instead decided to elect John Hough. James did not recognize the presidency of Hough and therefore sent some commissioners to install Farmer as the president and went on to convince the followers that they had made a wrong decision and they were therefore expected to apologize for that. Those followers who failed to apologize were ejected from the college and replaced with Catholics.

In 1687, James made efforts to repeal the penal laws and the Test Act by bringing many of his supporters to the parliament. James believed that the dissenters would give him support and as a result, he decided to ignore the support of the Tories and the Anglicans. James was annoyed since his plans were not successful and he, therefore, decide to instruct all the lord lieutenants in the provinces to issue messages to all peace commissions so that they consent to the Test Act. This was followed by the office of deputy lieutenants and those of the Justice for peace being reshuffled and as a result, those who had opposed James were all dismissed. James created an army that was huge and elevated the Catholics to senior positions in the army. In Ireland, the protestant armies were replaced with Catholics and this led him to have more than 34, 000 army officers in all the three kingdoms he ruled.

Major problems arose in 1688 when James fathered a son. This implied that the newborn son would be his successor. But before then, the reign of England would have been passed to James’ daughter Mary who was a protestant. Mary’s Husband was called William of Orange and they were both grandchildren of Charles one of England. William would therefore be third in the succession line. However, since the two had anti-catholic faith, there was a challenge to the English court that they would be both replaced by a catholic French heir.

According to Vallance (2008) William was also stadtholder of the main provinces of the Dutch Republic, then in the preliminary stages of joining the War of the Grand Alliance against France, in a context of international tensions caused by the revocation by Louis XIV of the Edict of Nantes and the disputed succession of Cologne and the Palatinate. This suited the desires of several English politicians who intended to depose James. 2 William’s intelligence threatened James and as a result, James tried to form a way that they would both work together.

The collapse of the reign of king James started when their relationship with William started not to be beneficial. James tried to win the support of the Tories but this could not be successful since he had failed to endorse the Test Act. On the other hand, anti-Catholics had continually demonstrate in London and it was clear that those troops were not on the streets to fight but instead it was clear that some of his army officer did not have loyalty. He had also been warned in earlier occasions about the conspiracy within his army but he did not take any move to address the issue. The first incidence of blood shed was reported during the skirmishes that occurred in Wincanton when the royalists soldiers retreated after coming into confrontation with scouts. Most of his soldiers deserted thereby leaving him in much fear. At that point, James realized that his army was not reliable and therefore order it to be disbanded and provided an opportunity for fair election. James had to surrender to William after realizing that his own chief commander had deserted to William and even his own daughter, Princess Ann supported William.

Valance interpretation

Valance view of the glorious revolution was considered by many historians as an indication of the true history of what happened in England during the reign of King James II. The revolution has always been termed as peaceful or bloodless. The historian, Edward Vallance presented the revolution as a bloody massacre for the people of specific religions especially the Catholics and the Irishmen. Additionally, Vallance indicated the way the populace in England participated in the affairs of the government since King James provided a favourable environment for the citizens. When William of Orange overthrew James, the kingdom was largely dominated by the catholic religion. James had introduced all his catholic supporters in all the governance organs including the army. James did this by sacking those protestants who did not abide by his orders and thus replaced them with his catholic men.

Vallance work in the Glorious Revolution presented the circumstances of the revolutionary contrary to the history of England. The historian work dealt indicated that the revolution was characterized with blood shed especially by Christians. During the reign of King James who was a catholic, protestants voice was not heard but instead he sacked all those who failed to follow his orders. Vallance presented William and his wife Mary as the hero and heroin respectively who brought the revolution after a period of blood massacre. The historian indicated that William helped to bring revolution in England even though the protestants in Ireland suffered in the course of liberating their lives. Since William and James’ daughter Mary were protestants, this group of worshippers was able to live in freedom, which was not a common characteristic in their lives during the time of James.

• Vallance, Edward. The Glorious Revolution : Britain’s Fight for Liberty. London: Pegasus Books, 2008.
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Britain’s Glorious Revolution, 1688-1715

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1 The Glorious Revolution and its Constitutional Legacy

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• Published: March 2011
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This chapter examines the ways in which the British and Irish viewed the constitution made between 1689 and 1701, not just during those years, but over the course of the following century. Abundant evidence exists that many of the British and the Protestant Irish saw the Glorious Revolution and associated constitutional developments as distinguishing their countries from the rest of Europe. Yet we can also see that many contemporaries were well aware of Britain's connections with continental politics, and that they envisaged Britain's own constitution as part of a European pattern, the origins of which lay in the Gothic past.

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The Anglo-Dutch moment : essays on the glorious revolution and its world impact

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Glorious Revolution

By: Yan   •  Essay  •  257 Words  •  December 5, 2009  •  2,003 Views

Essay title: Glorious Revolution

Glouious Revolution

The Term Glorious Revolution refers to the generally popular overthrow of James II of England in 1688 by a conspiracy between some parliamentarians and the Dutch stadtholder, William III of Orange-Nassau. The event is sometimes referred to as the Bloodless Revolution, but this name is not accurate, nor were its consequences bloodless in Scotland and Ireland; some modern historians prefer the more neutral Revolution of 1688. During his three year reign, King James II fell victim to the political battles in the British Isles between Catholicism and Protestantism on the one hand, and on the other, between the divine right of the Crown and the political rights of Parliament. James's greatest political problem was his Catholicism, which left him alienated from both parties in Parliament. Any attempts at reform by James were thus viewed with great suspicion. James also pursued a number of untenable

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Home > Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects > ESSAYS > 2033

Master's Essays (1922 - )

Maximilien de robespierre and the french revolution.

Rose Eva Powers , Marquette University

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Master's Essay - Restricted

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Master of Arts (MA)

First Advisor

Leo J. Wearing

Any social revolution is marked by the emergence of some dominant personalities -- people who, having assumed the role of leadership:, channel the direction the revolution will take. Naturally then, the French Revolution, as one of the most extensive and lasting social revolutions, had its share of such I personalities attempting to guide its course once it got underway. In fact, histories of the French Revolution abound with character sketches and biographical accounts of men, and even of some women, who seemingly took the reins of leadership at that time. One person who found a place in history in this capacity was Maximilien de Robespierre (1758-179:4).

A Master's Essay submitted to the Faculty of 1ihe Graduate School of Marquette University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in History. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Recommended Citation

Powers, Rose Eva, "Maximilien de Robespierre and the French Revolution" (1969). Master's Essays (1922 - ) . 2033. https://epublications.marquette.edu/essays/2033

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Rebellion and Revolution in African American Literature

A special issue of Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787)

Website : https://www.mdpi.com/journal/humanities/special_issues/6L757WY6UC

Call For Papers

Rebellion and revolution have been a part of African American literature from its inception with the 19th century slave narratives that were used in the abolitionist movement to end chattel slavery and counter pro-slavery arguments.  These two themes were also prevalent during the Black Arts Movement of the 20th century when Black Arts Movement writers rebelled against the status quo and sought a revolution to center blackness by producing art for, by, and about Black people that complemented the Black Power Movement’s efforts to build economic, social, educational, and political independence for Black people.

While rebellion and revolution are distinct features of these two periods in African American literature where literature and politics melded together, the theme of rebellion and revolution are not exclusive to these periods. Works of literature by African American writers in the century between these two periods, as well as in the post -1970s and into the current millennium, have had rebellion and revolution as a major theme. The very presence of African American literature is an act of resistance especially against status quo, mainstream (i.e. white-authored) literary arts norms, canons and “classics”.  

In this special issue of  Humanities , we invite submissions on the theme of rebellion and revolution from any period and genre within the African American literary tradition.  Indeed, the central concepts of rebellion and revolution are expansive and complex theories, each multifaceted and often overlapping.  For our purposes here, rebellion implies a formidable, but temporary or reactive resistance, either individual or collective, against conditions of oppression, and revolutionentails an activity, movement, or shift in paradigm designed to effect long-standing changes to combat oppression and promote equality.  Revolution, then, often follows rebellion, but is more proactive.

             Some possible questions for consideration include the following:  

• How are contemporary Black American writers defining revolution and rebellion in their literary production, and how do these definitions reiterate, reject, or re-envision themes of rebellion/revolution at the onset of the Black American literary tradition?

• How does the trope of rebellion/revolution get interwoven into works by African American writers?

• In terms of our capitalist economy, what are some of the social paradoxes represented in rebellion/revolution literature, and what are some of the suggested ways writers encourage readers to unpack and resolve the paradoxes of liberation and empowerment?

• What seems to be the link between rebellion/revolution and collective African American cultural and socio-historical experience?  

• What are the ways in which Black American literature galvanizes and transforms theories of rebellion/revolution into a meaningful action? • What, according to African American literature have been the foremost struggles confronting Black people since their 17th Century forced arrival in the United States?

• What have been the most effective mechanisms/devices/tools (protest, …) implemented by Black Americans to combat those struggles?

• What are the ways in which literature reflects or represents the specific, on-going struggles confronting Black existence in the United States?

• Who have been the most prescient literary voices advocating for rebellion/revolution to ensure the well-being of African Americans?

• How might we talk about Black American literature as a form of activism?

Keywords:  

​African American, Literature, Rebellion, Revolution 

Manuscript Submission Information

 Manuscripts should be submitted online at  www.mdpi.com  by  registering  and  logging in to this website . Once you are registered,  click here to go to the submission form . Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the  Instructions for Authors  page.  Humanities  is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the  Instructions for Authors  page before submitting a manuscript. The  Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this  open access  journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's  English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

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