Sec 2 Constitutional Monarchy in England

** The Restoration is when the English monarchy was restored during the reign of

Charles II**Charles II did his best to Avoid any

disagreements with parliament**Charles II tried to establish an alliance

between England and France but parliament protested which caused a rivalry between

England & France for 150 years to win control of the seas & to gain overseas colonies

**He also looked to increase tolerance for the Catholic religion, but then he was forced by parliament to stop

this effort** Charles’s littlest brother, James (a Roman Catholic),

would succeed him—this caused the formation of 2 political parties

** Tories- those who believed James had a hereditary right to rule ; Tories normally supported the Anglican church but they would be open to accepting a Roman

Catholic King**Whigs- claimed the right to deny the throne to James

& did not want a Roman Catholic King

**When Charles II died in 1685, his brother James II accepted the throne & the people of England resisted his rule because he tried to

help the Catholics**Parliament invited James’s daughter Mary &

her husband, William of Orange, to take the throne in 1688—they were known as William

III & Mary II**Glorious Revolution- a bloodless transfer of

power in the English Monarchy which was brought about by James’ opponents

Changes in English Government** A famous philosopher, Thomas Hobbes’s, created the book called,

Leviathan—Hobbes’s believed that people acted on their own self rights & not the welfare of others

**John Locke, another English philosopher, had an opposite view & believed that people had given up some of their rights for the

welfare of their country**Parliament followed the ideas of Locke & in 1679, Parliament

passed the Habeas Corpus Act to protect people who had been arrested

**In 1689, Parliament created the English Bill of Rights--Parliament would choose who ruled the country & it also restricted what

rulers could and could not do**The Toleration Act was passed in 1689—this granted some

religious freedom to Dissenters & Protestants, but didn’t protect Roman Catholics or Jews

Parliamentary Rule**The Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement-which kept

Catholics from the English throne passed in 1701- the struggle between the monarch & parliament came to an

end---parliament won over the monarch**In the 1700s, England was a monarchy but Parliament

clearly held the power-- Parliament gained even more importance

**The cabinet were those who were the heads of government departments chosen by William III

**Parliament claimed the power to declare war **In 1707, the Parliaments of Scotland and England passed

the Act of Union—this united England & Scotland into one union-Great Britain

**This union encouraged trade even more & brought great wealth to both England and Scotland

**In 1727,King George I of Great Britain was the first ruler of the Hanoverian Dynasty & George II ruled until 1760--

the cabinet & prime minister was very important in helping them rule

**Walpole increased the importance of the of the cabinet & he is also viewed as Britain’s first effective prime minister, or first minister—he stabilized the British political scene

& improved the economy**The Whigs controlled the House of commons from 1721

to 1742 & were led by Walpole**The nation had become a limited constitutional monarchy