English Civil War - Part Three
Part 5- End of Republic, Restoration and Hobbes
Cromwell's Rule
Cromwell ordered the invasion of the Spanish controlled Caribbean island of Hispaniola. When the invasion failed Cromwell believed that God was punishing them. He set about redeeming the country by closing all pubs and ale makers. Sports and entertainment was banned. People who did work on the lord's day were placed in stocks. Public morals were improved by the fear of punishment. However, support for Cromwell was falling. People didn't like being governed or corrected by a military officials informed by a network of spies.
After being attacked, Spain declared war on Great Britain. So Cromwell agreed a treaty with France, who also disliked Spain. Charles II fled from France to the Spanish controlled Netherlands. Cromwell needed help paying for an army so he called for new elections for a new parliament. Votes were counted but about a hundred nominees were thrown out because of various "immoralities". The public were upset. How could such a system be called free and fair?
Cromwell's advisors sought a way to bring the country together and ease some of the tension. They wanted to compromise. So some suggested Cromwell assume 'the name, title, style and dignity of the king.' They sought to make Cromwell king in name. However, many of Cromwell's supporters swore an oath to kill Cromwell the second he decides to accept the title. Top P345
However, his long time friends within the military shared their strong disapproval and Cromwell declined the titles. He would go on to dress the part and act the part only without the title of king and instead protectorate.
He again became frustrated with the bickering and differences of opinions within parliament. He got so mad that he announced they be dissolved.
With the continued threat of invasion by the Spanish and revolt from within, Cromwell became stricter and stricter on the British people. Again, an assassination plot was foiled and several royalist conspirators were hanged, shot and imprisoned.
Desperately trying to consolidate power over the country under his control, Cromwell grew ill. P352
Oliver Cromwell was the only high ruler of England that wasn't of noble birth within the last thousand years. For all he accomplished, he was just as much a bully maybe more so than King Charles I.
https://youtu.be/MlV7XVNH2Vw
Richard Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell's son took his role as protectorate. However, he wasn't as confident and domineering as his father. He allowed a new parliament to be elected. The new parliament attempted to strip the military of it's political power. The military refused to disband its political involvement. Richard Cromwell, fearing another war, decided to side with the military and disbanded parliament. A rebellion against the military was organized but subdued. People were unhappy to be ruled by the military. Even many in the military protested. They organized a group swearing alliance to a new parliament. Together they had enough support to force a new parliament into place.
People were increasingly getting frustrated by the flip flopping. Many wished to go back to the days of stable rule under a king. Many were eager for Charles II to come back. People now openly and without shame, drank to the health of the king.
General Monck
In 1660, a general named Monck supported the idea of returning the King to power. Charles II and General Monck sent secret letters back and forth. The King offered Monck a promotion, forgiveness to all those who supported him except those members of parliament who voted for his father's execution, he promised to let parliament make laws and promised not to interfere with peaceful Christians in his land.
Elections were held for a new parliament. Many royalist supporters won. The British people had grown tired of the experiment. General Monck declared 'according to the ancient and fundamental laws of this kingdom, the government is, and ought to be, by King, House of Lords and the House of Commons."
On May Day, the once prohibited maypoles were set up all over the country. Police tried to saw down a maypole in oxford they were attacked and chased by a large crowd.
1660 - Restoration of the Monarchy
Members of the government went to the Netherlands and offered Charles II 60,000 pounds to come back to England and be king once again. He took a ship to Dover, England where he was met with much jubilation everywhere he went.
"You might wonder why someone who saw his dad killed for being Charles I would want to become Charles II but humans are like moths to the flame of power."
364 and top of 365
Charles II had 10 men hanged for participating in the execution of his father. He forgave another 19. Charles then held public hearings where he would invite sick people to a banqueting house and heal people by touching them. It was meant to demonstrate his divine support.
Bottom of 368
Bottom of 369
1651 - Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
Imagine a world with no rules! You don't have to do homework. You don't have to do chores. You can have all the candy you want.
Can you think of downsides of not having any rules? Driving any speed? Taking things that aren't yours?
How would you feel living in a world where everyone can do what they want?
Why should we follow the rules? Should we expect others to follow the rules we don't? Should you be able to take what you want when you want? Why do you think people don't try to take your stuff?
https://youtu.be/2Co6pNvd9mc
Interrogation analogy
What are benefits of a social agreement to treat people how we would like to be treated?
It's long been an important agreement within every society.
"What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others." - Confucious is believed to have said it as early as 500 BC.
"Do to no one what you yourself dislike." - Tobit, OT- written about 400 BC
In 1651, 62 year old Thomas Hobbes wrote a famous work of political philosophy. Many people had grown tired of the changing alliances during the English civil war. Was it truly worth the fighting? Had the 10 years of fighting improved anything? Had Cromwell been better than King Charles I? Hobbes believed that staging a revolution was never the better action than tolerating a bad king. The only exception he held was if that king was systematically killing his subjects. Otherwise, was paying high taxes and a few people getting locked up worse than national bloodshed, Massacres and war across England?
In addition, if one king could be deposed for being unpopular, so could the person who took his place, and again and again until that ruler imposed strict laws against doing so. Which is exactly what happened with Cromwell after the civil war. When different people of different backgrounds, cultures or religions live together, someone is going dislike the one person in charge. One Revolution encourages further Revolution and many countries even today struggle to put an end to the domino effect. You're never going to make everyone perfectly happy. Hobbes believed that it was always better to tolerate a bad leader than to use force to remove them.
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - MLK
Thomas Hobbes believed that obeying the leader was always the most beneficial option. Obeying brought stability, consistency and held everyone accountable to one powerful figure. When England was getting less religious, possibly due to the violence and squabbling that went with it at that time, Hobbes recognized that the divine right of kings was going to be less and less convincing. He believed it was the better of two evils and sensible to obey a bad king than try to remove them entirely.
Part 6 - Orange Invasion, Great Fire and John Loche
In 1661, they passed the Corporation Act to reconfirm that it was not lawful to take up arms against the king. A year later they passed the Uniformity Act where they passed a law about what could and couldn't be taught in church. It was meant to punish and restrict the influence of the puritans who had been heavily anti-monarchy during the republic. A couple of thousand puritan leaders lost their jobs. Talks of rebellion arose again. People made secret plots. The king expressed regret with the law and suggested making provisions for Catholics to exercise their religion freely. Parliament refused to enact the King's suggestion.
P390
Fear spread through parliament. Rumours of conspiracies ran rampant. Catholics, Quakers, the French and Dutch were blamed. French fashion was outlawed.
Great Fire of London - 1666
A devastating fire ravaged through London for 4 whole days in September, 1666. Houses were close together which meant the fire easily spread from one house to another. There was no firemen or fire trucks. Instead, soldiers and brave civilians had a wooden fire cart. They didn't have enough water. Partially because they hadn't invented hosepipes and instead only used buckets. Another reason was that the city water pipes were wooden. The best thing the people fighting the fires could do was tear down houses in the fires path so that the flames couldn't spread further.
The fires destroyed 80% of buildings and London needed completely rebuilding. What would you do to ensure a great fire would never destroy London again?
https://youtu.be/n4wp4Ite-uA
1670 - Charleston, SC named in honor of King Charles II.
Charles formed an alliance with Netherlands and Sweden, two protestant countries. Then, when the French saw this as a challenge king Charles left the alliance, expressing a want to be closer to France. Charles also expressed a desire to convert to Catholicism. The French king said he'd only be allies with Charles when he publicly announced his switch to Catholicism. Charles made excuses and said it wasn't the right time to convert.
People already held great distrust for Catholics. Firstly, because they were answerable to a foreign power, the Pope in the Vatican, they were believed to be less patriotic than others. The Catholic French king was paying Charles II an annual salary. Catholic plotters wanted to kill the king. Their plot was discovered and they were hanged. People believed they weren't alone and there were many catholic plots coming for them. Many believed the country to be full of fake protestant waiting for a signal. Protestant protesters made scarecrow Popes to burn and beat through the streets. The king's brother was made to forfeit his right to the thrown and permanently moved to Netherlands.
Charles II was as indecisive and impulsive as his father had been. He extended freedoms when it suited him and he disbanded parliament and passed illegal laws when things weren't going his way. "There is not a person in the world, man or woman, that dares rely upon him or put any confidence in his word or friendship."
Rumblings of discontent and rebellion began again. The King had one spy placed in every coffee shop in London which is where the people would plot against him.
The king continued to take advantage of his power and test the patience of his subjects. He reminded them that, "During the late troubles of the civil wars, remember that religion, liberty and property were all lost and gone when monarchy was shaken off, and could never be restored until the monarchy was restored."
This didn't stop people from trying to assassinate him. One plot was set to ambush him and his brother as they returned from watching the horseracing. However, the plot was
In 1679, the Habeas Corpus Act was passed by parliament. It declared it unlawful for someone to be arrested without sighting a law. Anyone charged with a crime has a right to a speedy trial or discharge from prison. The king continued to lock people up for treason but this time they had a speedy trial and were often released when no evidence could be found.
1685 - James VII and II
When King Charles II died his brother took the throne. He was hugely unpopular because he was Catholic. The Catholics were a minority in the country and all of a sudden were all getting chosen for high positions in government. He passed laws favoring the catholic church.
1688 - Glorious Rebellion
His daughter, Mary had married the King William of Netherlands from the family of Nassau-Orange who were protestant.
The people of England disliked having a catholic king. They believed he was taking orders from the pope in the Vatican. So they invited William and Mary to rule them. So in 1688, the Dutch put together an army and landed in Devon. There they met no resistance and only encouragement. So King James, invaded by his own daughter and son-in-law, fled to France. William and Mary then ruled.
https://youtu.be/HFHU1aT4nqg
1689- John Locke
The same year William and Mary took the throne a philosopher by the name of John Locke released a book on toleration of religions. He had lived through the civil war only to see one denomination gain the upper hand and oppress the other denominations and vice versa. He had also lived in France and seen the persecution there too. What would one day become Germany had gone through a long and bloody 30 years war often framed as a religious war.
In his writings he promoted freedom of religion. To him, more damage came from religious conflict than to tolerate those you disagree with.
John Locke built off the philosophy of Hobbes. He believed that in a natural state, all people were equal and independent, and everyone had a natural right to defend his "life, health, liberty, or possessions". Most scholars trace the phrase "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" written by Jefferson in the American Declaration of Independence to Locke's theory of rights. Locke was also the person who popularized "inalienable" natural rights."
1689- Bill of Rights
When William and Mary were invited to rule, one of the conditions was that they agree to rights for their people.
The Bill of Rights lays down limits on the powers of the monarch and sets out the rights of Parliament, including the requirement for regular parliaments, free elections, and freedom of speech in Parliament. It sets out certain rights of individuals including the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment and confirmed that "Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law". It also includes no right of taxation without Parliament's agreement. Having a standing army patrol the nation in times of peace was illegal. The king getting involved in opinions of church were illegal. In return it ensured the rights of succession to the English throne ensuring it would always be their decedents.
The American Bill of Rights would come to be written 77 years later and was directly influenced by the English one.
A college in Virginia was named William & Mary college in their honor.
In 1776, one of the first ships commissioned to serve in the American Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War was named Oliver Cromwell.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adam's once visited the old battlegrounds of Worcester. During the visit with his friend Thomas Jefferson, John Adams made his famous speech on Fort Royal Hill: "Do Englishmen so soon forget the Ground where Liberty was fought for? All England should come in Pilgrimage to this Hill once a year."
Was the Republic of Cromwell's reign inspirational? Was it something to be admired? When do you believe liberty was fought for or how it was achieved?
Cromwell's Rule
Cromwell ordered the invasion of the Spanish controlled Caribbean island of Hispaniola. When the invasion failed Cromwell believed that God was punishing them. He set about redeeming the country by closing all pubs and ale makers. Sports and entertainment was banned. People who did work on the lord's day were placed in stocks. Public morals were improved by the fear of punishment. However, support for Cromwell was falling. People didn't like being governed or corrected by a military officials informed by a network of spies.
After being attacked, Spain declared war on Great Britain. So Cromwell agreed a treaty with France, who also disliked Spain. Charles II fled from France to the Spanish controlled Netherlands. Cromwell needed help paying for an army so he called for new elections for a new parliament. Votes were counted but about a hundred nominees were thrown out because of various "immoralities". The public were upset. How could such a system be called free and fair?
Cromwell's advisors sought a way to bring the country together and ease some of the tension. They wanted to compromise. So some suggested Cromwell assume 'the name, title, style and dignity of the king.' They sought to make Cromwell king in name. However, many of Cromwell's supporters swore an oath to kill Cromwell the second he decides to accept the title. Top P345
However, his long time friends within the military shared their strong disapproval and Cromwell declined the titles. He would go on to dress the part and act the part only without the title of king and instead protectorate.
He again became frustrated with the bickering and differences of opinions within parliament. He got so mad that he announced they be dissolved.
With the continued threat of invasion by the Spanish and revolt from within, Cromwell became stricter and stricter on the British people. Again, an assassination plot was foiled and several royalist conspirators were hanged, shot and imprisoned.
Desperately trying to consolidate power over the country under his control, Cromwell grew ill. P352
Oliver Cromwell was the only high ruler of England that wasn't of noble birth within the last thousand years. For all he accomplished, he was just as much a bully maybe more so than King Charles I.
https://youtu.be/MlV7XVNH2Vw
Richard Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell's son took his role as protectorate. However, he wasn't as confident and domineering as his father. He allowed a new parliament to be elected. The new parliament attempted to strip the military of it's political power. The military refused to disband its political involvement. Richard Cromwell, fearing another war, decided to side with the military and disbanded parliament. A rebellion against the military was organized but subdued. People were unhappy to be ruled by the military. Even many in the military protested. They organized a group swearing alliance to a new parliament. Together they had enough support to force a new parliament into place.
People were increasingly getting frustrated by the flip flopping. Many wished to go back to the days of stable rule under a king. Many were eager for Charles II to come back. People now openly and without shame, drank to the health of the king.
General Monck
In 1660, a general named Monck supported the idea of returning the King to power. Charles II and General Monck sent secret letters back and forth. The King offered Monck a promotion, forgiveness to all those who supported him except those members of parliament who voted for his father's execution, he promised to let parliament make laws and promised not to interfere with peaceful Christians in his land.
Elections were held for a new parliament. Many royalist supporters won. The British people had grown tired of the experiment. General Monck declared 'according to the ancient and fundamental laws of this kingdom, the government is, and ought to be, by King, House of Lords and the House of Commons."
On May Day, the once prohibited maypoles were set up all over the country. Police tried to saw down a maypole in oxford they were attacked and chased by a large crowd.
1660 - Restoration of the Monarchy
Members of the government went to the Netherlands and offered Charles II 60,000 pounds to come back to England and be king once again. He took a ship to Dover, England where he was met with much jubilation everywhere he went.
"You might wonder why someone who saw his dad killed for being Charles I would want to become Charles II but humans are like moths to the flame of power."
364 and top of 365
Charles II had 10 men hanged for participating in the execution of his father. He forgave another 19. Charles then held public hearings where he would invite sick people to a banqueting house and heal people by touching them. It was meant to demonstrate his divine support.
Bottom of 368
Bottom of 369
1651 - Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
Imagine a world with no rules! You don't have to do homework. You don't have to do chores. You can have all the candy you want.
Can you think of downsides of not having any rules? Driving any speed? Taking things that aren't yours?
How would you feel living in a world where everyone can do what they want?
Why should we follow the rules? Should we expect others to follow the rules we don't? Should you be able to take what you want when you want? Why do you think people don't try to take your stuff?
https://youtu.be/2Co6pNvd9mc
Interrogation analogy
What are benefits of a social agreement to treat people how we would like to be treated?
It's long been an important agreement within every society.
"What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others." - Confucious is believed to have said it as early as 500 BC.
"Do to no one what you yourself dislike." - Tobit, OT- written about 400 BC
In 1651, 62 year old Thomas Hobbes wrote a famous work of political philosophy. Many people had grown tired of the changing alliances during the English civil war. Was it truly worth the fighting? Had the 10 years of fighting improved anything? Had Cromwell been better than King Charles I? Hobbes believed that staging a revolution was never the better action than tolerating a bad king. The only exception he held was if that king was systematically killing his subjects. Otherwise, was paying high taxes and a few people getting locked up worse than national bloodshed, Massacres and war across England?
In addition, if one king could be deposed for being unpopular, so could the person who took his place, and again and again until that ruler imposed strict laws against doing so. Which is exactly what happened with Cromwell after the civil war. When different people of different backgrounds, cultures or religions live together, someone is going dislike the one person in charge. One Revolution encourages further Revolution and many countries even today struggle to put an end to the domino effect. You're never going to make everyone perfectly happy. Hobbes believed that it was always better to tolerate a bad leader than to use force to remove them.
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - MLK
Thomas Hobbes believed that obeying the leader was always the most beneficial option. Obeying brought stability, consistency and held everyone accountable to one powerful figure. When England was getting less religious, possibly due to the violence and squabbling that went with it at that time, Hobbes recognized that the divine right of kings was going to be less and less convincing. He believed it was the better of two evils and sensible to obey a bad king than try to remove them entirely.
Part 6 - Orange Invasion, Great Fire and John Loche
In 1661, they passed the Corporation Act to reconfirm that it was not lawful to take up arms against the king. A year later they passed the Uniformity Act where they passed a law about what could and couldn't be taught in church. It was meant to punish and restrict the influence of the puritans who had been heavily anti-monarchy during the republic. A couple of thousand puritan leaders lost their jobs. Talks of rebellion arose again. People made secret plots. The king expressed regret with the law and suggested making provisions for Catholics to exercise their religion freely. Parliament refused to enact the King's suggestion.
P390
Fear spread through parliament. Rumours of conspiracies ran rampant. Catholics, Quakers, the French and Dutch were blamed. French fashion was outlawed.
Great Fire of London - 1666
A devastating fire ravaged through London for 4 whole days in September, 1666. Houses were close together which meant the fire easily spread from one house to another. There was no firemen or fire trucks. Instead, soldiers and brave civilians had a wooden fire cart. They didn't have enough water. Partially because they hadn't invented hosepipes and instead only used buckets. Another reason was that the city water pipes were wooden. The best thing the people fighting the fires could do was tear down houses in the fires path so that the flames couldn't spread further.
The fires destroyed 80% of buildings and London needed completely rebuilding. What would you do to ensure a great fire would never destroy London again?
https://youtu.be/n4wp4Ite-uA
1670 - Charleston, SC named in honor of King Charles II.
Charles formed an alliance with Netherlands and Sweden, two protestant countries. Then, when the French saw this as a challenge king Charles left the alliance, expressing a want to be closer to France. Charles also expressed a desire to convert to Catholicism. The French king said he'd only be allies with Charles when he publicly announced his switch to Catholicism. Charles made excuses and said it wasn't the right time to convert.
People already held great distrust for Catholics. Firstly, because they were answerable to a foreign power, the Pope in the Vatican, they were believed to be less patriotic than others. The Catholic French king was paying Charles II an annual salary. Catholic plotters wanted to kill the king. Their plot was discovered and they were hanged. People believed they weren't alone and there were many catholic plots coming for them. Many believed the country to be full of fake protestant waiting for a signal. Protestant protesters made scarecrow Popes to burn and beat through the streets. The king's brother was made to forfeit his right to the thrown and permanently moved to Netherlands.
Charles II was as indecisive and impulsive as his father had been. He extended freedoms when it suited him and he disbanded parliament and passed illegal laws when things weren't going his way. "There is not a person in the world, man or woman, that dares rely upon him or put any confidence in his word or friendship."
Rumblings of discontent and rebellion began again. The King had one spy placed in every coffee shop in London which is where the people would plot against him.
The king continued to take advantage of his power and test the patience of his subjects. He reminded them that, "During the late troubles of the civil wars, remember that religion, liberty and property were all lost and gone when monarchy was shaken off, and could never be restored until the monarchy was restored."
This didn't stop people from trying to assassinate him. One plot was set to ambush him and his brother as they returned from watching the horseracing. However, the plot was
In 1679, the Habeas Corpus Act was passed by parliament. It declared it unlawful for someone to be arrested without sighting a law. Anyone charged with a crime has a right to a speedy trial or discharge from prison. The king continued to lock people up for treason but this time they had a speedy trial and were often released when no evidence could be found.
1685 - James VII and II
When King Charles II died his brother took the throne. He was hugely unpopular because he was Catholic. The Catholics were a minority in the country and all of a sudden were all getting chosen for high positions in government. He passed laws favoring the catholic church.
1688 - Glorious Rebellion
His daughter, Mary had married the King William of Netherlands from the family of Nassau-Orange who were protestant.
The people of England disliked having a catholic king. They believed he was taking orders from the pope in the Vatican. So they invited William and Mary to rule them. So in 1688, the Dutch put together an army and landed in Devon. There they met no resistance and only encouragement. So King James, invaded by his own daughter and son-in-law, fled to France. William and Mary then ruled.
https://youtu.be/HFHU1aT4nqg
1689- John Locke
The same year William and Mary took the throne a philosopher by the name of John Locke released a book on toleration of religions. He had lived through the civil war only to see one denomination gain the upper hand and oppress the other denominations and vice versa. He had also lived in France and seen the persecution there too. What would one day become Germany had gone through a long and bloody 30 years war often framed as a religious war.
In his writings he promoted freedom of religion. To him, more damage came from religious conflict than to tolerate those you disagree with.
John Locke built off the philosophy of Hobbes. He believed that in a natural state, all people were equal and independent, and everyone had a natural right to defend his "life, health, liberty, or possessions". Most scholars trace the phrase "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" written by Jefferson in the American Declaration of Independence to Locke's theory of rights. Locke was also the person who popularized "inalienable" natural rights."
1689- Bill of Rights
When William and Mary were invited to rule, one of the conditions was that they agree to rights for their people.
The Bill of Rights lays down limits on the powers of the monarch and sets out the rights of Parliament, including the requirement for regular parliaments, free elections, and freedom of speech in Parliament. It sets out certain rights of individuals including the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment and confirmed that "Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law". It also includes no right of taxation without Parliament's agreement. Having a standing army patrol the nation in times of peace was illegal. The king getting involved in opinions of church were illegal. In return it ensured the rights of succession to the English throne ensuring it would always be their decedents.
The American Bill of Rights would come to be written 77 years later and was directly influenced by the English one.
A college in Virginia was named William & Mary college in their honor.
In 1776, one of the first ships commissioned to serve in the American Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War was named Oliver Cromwell.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adam's once visited the old battlegrounds of Worcester. During the visit with his friend Thomas Jefferson, John Adams made his famous speech on Fort Royal Hill: "Do Englishmen so soon forget the Ground where Liberty was fought for? All England should come in Pilgrimage to this Hill once a year."
Was the Republic of Cromwell's reign inspirational? Was it something to be admired? When do you believe liberty was fought for or how it was achieved?
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