Acts, Statutes and Laws - England History (2nd part)

British History

Hampton Court Conference - 1604

Hampton Court Conference - 1604

Religious reasons: Monarch’s (James I) adherence to the Elizabethan Church settlement: Church of England. This led to clashes with the Puritans. The monarch was not willing to introduce changes to the Church of England because he did not want to lose power given by him by the hierarchical structure of the Anglican church (he was the head).

The monarch heard the Puritans’ demands and desire for changes. The meeting came to an end in confusion, as the king left. After the conference, the Puritans were exiled and went to Holland, but they didn’t want their sons to be Dutch. In 1620, they sailed into the Mayflower and went to America. This is the first wave of Puritan migration to America.

Petition of Rights - 1628

Third Parliament of Charles I - The members of Parliament presented the Petition of Rights to the Monarch because they wanted to voice their grievances before voting supplies. There had been illegal imprisonments and taxations. The subjects of the crown had been wronged and in future the law should be observed.

There were 4 main principles stated in this document:

1. it established that loans and taxes without the consent of Parliament were illegal;

2. arbitrary imprisonment without cause shown was also illegal;

3. they forbid the billeting of soldiers in private houses against the will of the owners; and

4. forbid the exercise of the martial law in time of peace.

they were a re-statement of the principles of Magna Carta. Charles accepted it and gave his assent but then did not abide by it.

Eliot’s Resolutions - 1629

the members of Parliament presented three resolutions to Charles I. Parliament presented this document because they were annoyed that the Petition of Rights had not been respected.

1. Whosoever brought in innovations of religion or favoured Popery and Arminianism should be considered capital enemies to the kingdom.

2. Whosoever should advise the taking and levying of tonnage and poundage without parliamentary consent should likewise be considered capital enemies.

3. Any merchant who paid tonnage and poundage thus levied should be deemed a traitor to the liberties of England.

The two core issues were taxation and religion. Members of Parliament were trying to protect the Church of England from the Armenian ideas of the monarch (against Laud) and to stop illegal taxation.

In response to these demands, Charles dissolved parliament

Dissolution of Parliament - 1640 (after 11 years of Tyranny)

by Act of Parliament, it was stipulated that Parliament could be dissolved only with agreement of the members;

Those members did not agree to its dissolution until 16 March 1660, after the English Civil War and near the close of the Interregnum

Triennal Act - 1640

After the Commons charged and executed many of Charles I’s ministers, he was left powerless and the Commons enacted every measure they wanted.

A “triennial act” was passed laying it down that a parliament must be summoned at least once every 3 years and another act stated that Parliament was not to be dissolved without its consent. Other measures were:

• nearly all the prerogative courts under the king’s control (such as the Star Chamber) were abolished,

• all taxes levied without parliamentary consent were declared illegal;

• a Scottish treaty was signed;

• and two Acts of Attainders were passed (Strafford and Laud were executed)

The purpose was to secure their permanency in politics, since the king would no longer be able to dissolve Parliament and had to consult before imposing his taxation methods.

Acts of Attainders - 1640 to Laud and Strafford

legislature declaring a person guilty of some crime, and providing for a punishment, often without a trial.

“An Act for the Attainder of Thomas Earl of Strafford for High Treason”

Fearing for his own security Charles I gave his assent to the Bill of attainder and Strafford was beheaded on Tower Hill on 12 May 1641.

And the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, was impeached and the 'Root and Branch' Bill was introduced

Root and Branch Bill - December 1640

RELIGION. proposed by the Puritan sector of parliament to reform the Church of England and make it more Protestant and less Catholic: The document proposed a more protestant Church.

This bill passed the House of Commons by a small majority. This shows that the lower house (House of Common) was divided on religious matters. Some Members of Parliament supported the monarch’s ideas and others were extreme Puritans. It was a very close vote.

Grand Remonstrance - November 1641

POLITICS. When a rebellion broke out in Ireland, the Grand Remonstrance was created to show that the monarch could not be trusted with the army because he would turn it against the people; this document included a list of the king’s malpractices. (It was also proposed that only Ministers should be appointed of whom the House of Commons should approve and that the bishops should be deprived of their vote in Parliament.)

In response, the king returned a non-committal answer and issued a proclamation upholding the Church of England.

The Grand Remonstrance was approved by a significantly small majority, 159 to 148. Moderate men had been convinced that reform had gone far enough and was turning into revolution. This shows that there was no unity as regards politics, since many Members of Parliament believed that the monarch could be entrusted with the army.

Unconstitutionality of Charles I

The Commons marched the streets after the King’s noncommittal answer and impeached 13 bishops and were thought to be prepared to impeach the Queen. This was too much for the King and he was determined to charge 5 members of the Commons. According to Ashley, this action on the part of the monarch was unconstitutional: since article 39 in Magna Carta stated that no free man could be imprisoned or punished “unless by the lawful judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land.” This event cemented the divide between Charles and Parliament and contributed to the start of the Civil War as it once more stomped on the people’s rights

Nineteen Propositions - June 1642

A set of proposals for a settlement. The “Nineteen Propositions” set out a new English constitution under which Parliament would become the supreme power in the land:

• no Privy Councillors or Ministers of State or even guardians of the royal children were to be appointed except with Parliament’s approval;

• Judges were to hold office during good behaviour;

• the army was to be put under parliamentary control;

• Parliament was to determine the future of the Church.

Parliament issued them as an ultimatum of men who were ready for war. In response, the Monarch rejected them. As a consequence, Parliament declared that he was an aggressor and the Civil War started.

Abolishment of the Monarchy - 1649

End of the Civil War - Charles I was accused of wicked design to erect and uphold in himself an unlimited and tyrannical power to rule according to his will and to overthrow the rights and liberties of the people of England. He was held personally responsible for the death and destruction caused by the Civil War (6% percent of the entire population had lost their lives).

Charles refused to defend himself against the charges put forward by Parliament. He refused to recognize the authority of the court because he believed in the Divine Right of Kings.

The sentence was passed. He was found guilty of committing high treason and was sentenced to death by beheading (three days later, on the 30th ofJanuary 1649). Parliament abolished the Monarchy .

Death Warrant of King Charles I

A flat parchment (document) containing seals and signatures. It is handwritten in iron gall ink and led to the execution of Charles I and subsequent rule of Oliver Cromwell, one of the 59 signatories

Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the Death Warrant was used to identify the commissioners who had signed it (the 'regicides') and prosecute them for treason. Even the signatories who had died, including Cromwell, were dug up and their bodies hanged. The House of Lords ordered the return of the Death Warrant from Charles’ executioner who was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It was returned on 31 July 1660 and it has been in the custody of Parliament ever since.

Restoration of the Monarchy 1660

General Election, Parliament was “Cavalier Parliament“ as most members were royalists, which meant that the Roundheads’ project had failed and that the country was moving back to conservative lines.

The restoration involved not only the King but also institutions that had been abolished and that remained central to British life: Parliament (with the survivor members of the Long Parliament) and the Church of England.

Declaration of Breda - 1660

Document issued in Breda, the Netherlands. It stipulated the conditions upon Charles II was offered the English Crown. He made certain promises in return for his restoration to the throne: desire for a general amnesty, liberty of conscience, an equitable settlement of land disputes and full payment of arrears to the army.

All the specific details were left to Parliament, but the main statement was that no one would be held to account for their part in the English Civil War (to avoid revenge). It also promised religious tolereation in areas where it did not disturb the peace of the kingdom.

One provision was especially significant for CONSTITUTIONAL and RELIGIOUS purposes: the monarch relied on the advice and assistance of Parliament and no man should be molested on account of religious beliefs.

Restoration of Parliament 1660

Parliament made privisions for restoring its prerogatives in the machinery of government:

1. Parliament was to be freely elected

2. Parliament limited the regular royal revenue to half the cost of the Government. Purpose: to be regularly summoned. (The monarch depended on Parliament for money and they gave him half)

3. The Monarch was not allowed to have a standing army; he needed to summon Parliament

4. Passing the Clarendon Code

Parliament wanted to establish its permanent position in the machinery of government.

Clarendon Code - 1661-1665

It was a series of 4 legal statutes enacted by the old royalists which effectively re-established the supremacy and privileges of the Anglican Church, and provided for a set of measures against dissenting religions. End of religious toleration.

The code meant the re-establishment of a harshly repressive Anglican order:

1. The Corporation Act (1661) – It required all individuals working within the government to embrace the Anglican Church and formally reject the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643. This act intended to exclude all non-conformists from public offices. Combined with the Test Acts, the Corporation Act excluded all

   non-conformists from having civil or military duties, and from receiving awards from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. This legislation was abolished in 1828.

2. The Uniformity Act (1662) – This rule made the use of the Book of Common Prayer mandatory during church services. About 1700 ecclesiastics refused to comply (NON CONFORMISTS) with this act and were forced to resign and lose their livelihoods.

3. The Conventicle Act (1664) – This act prohibited conventicles (unauthorised worshipping meetings) of more than five people who were not members of the same household. The aim was to prevent dissenting religious groups from coming together.

4. The Five Mile Act (1665) – It intended to forbid nonconformist ministers from living within 5 miles of the parishes from which they had been expelled. In fact, the promulgators of this act believed that such ministers could easily spread their religious beliefs and attract more people into their cults. They were also prevented from teaching in schools. This act was abolished in 1812.

Habeas Corpus Act — 1679

POLITICAL(democracy)/LEGAL DEVELOPMENT. It was an instrument to safeguard and guarantee individual liberty passed in the Reign of Charles II. It ensured that no person can be imprisoned indefinitely unless with the decision taken by a judge, unless they have been brought up before a court

Although this principle was in the Great Charter, in the case of political prisoners there had been evasions and it now included more people; thus, this act put an end to such anomalies.

Navigation Act — 1651 - 1763

It was aimed at barring the Duch from involvement in English sea trade. —> Conflict resulted in the defeat of the Dutch force and the war was ended by the Treaty of Westminster (1654)

(First Anglo-Dutch War 1652-54)

They also set up a closed economy between Britain and its colonies; that is to say, they regulated economic activity. All the colonial exports had to be shipped on English ships to the British market, and all colonial imports had to come by way of England.

These acts were usually salutary neglected (whenever a ship went from colony to colony, it was supposed to pass through the mother country first. But, since this was a long and tiring journey, the ships started to disobey this rule.)

Treaty of Westminster (1654)

It was a treaty that concluded the First Anglo-Dutch War, between the Lord Protector of the English Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell, and the States General of the United Netherlands —> It was a mild treaty, since Cromwell was anxious to bring to an end this damaging quarrel between two protestant nations. The English Navigation Act of 1651 remained on the statute book and the Estates of Holland agreed to exclude the house of Orange from public life, thus removing a potential source of assistance to the Stuarts in exile.

THEN: SECOND TREATY OF WESTMINSTER 1674 —> concluded the Third Anglo-Dutch War and led to the eventual marriage of Charles II’s niece, Mary, to William of Orange. —> Alliance with the Dutch.

The CABAL (67-74)

After the second Anglo-Dutch War, Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, was charged with treason and his place as Lord Chancellor was replaced with a group of advisers, a senior group of privy councillors. The CABAL ministry served as the acronym for the names of the Privy Councillors (Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley and Lauderdale).

The Cabal Ministry led an unpopular policy of royal absolutism and attached the House of Commons. (However, never really unified in members’ aims and sympathies)

Triple Alliance - 1668 & Treaties of Dover - 1670

The Triple Alliance (England + Sweden + Holland) was formed to check the French advance on the Rhine and in the Spanish Netherlands. However, England betrayed this alliance in 1670 because the King adopted pro-French policies.

Charles II signed the Treaties of Dover with the king of France.

1. One treaty was a military alliance against the Netherlands. ENG and FR were to attack and partition the Dutch Republic. And a residue would be left to be governed by William of Orange.

2. Secret treaty by which Louis XIV undertook to provide Charles II with French soldiers and money to enable him to restore the English Catholic religion.

This was a single plan for the subjugation of Europe and England by the French Catholic monarchy.

As a direct consequence of this, England became engaged in the third Anglo-Dutch War.

The Declaration of Indulgence — 1672

It was the first step taken by Charles II in compliance with the secret treaty with Louis XIV. The declaration:

• granted freedom of worship (to Catholics, Puritans and Dissenters),

• suspended the Clarendon code against dissenters and the Elizabethan penal laws against Catholics,

• allowed public worship in licensed chapels to Nonconformists, and

• allowed private worship in their homes to Roman Catholics

Not successful because the Cavalier Commons were fiercely anti-Catholic and anti-Dissenter and they wouldn’t provide a parliamentary grand with which to fight the Dutch War unless the king withdrew his declaration and signed the Test Act (1673) baring all Catholics and Dissenters from civil and military offices. Charles II did it to avoid bankruptcy. —> Therefore, not successful as the King gave up his main schemes in foreign affairs and religion.

Test Act — 1673

Due to financial problems and the suspension of French King’s subsidy, Charles II was forced to call parliament to ask for parliamentary grants. In retaliation for the Declaration of Indulgence, parliament passed the Test Act.

Under the Test Act only communicant Anglicans could hold any civil or military office under the Crown. —> Thomas Danby wished to extend this to peers and Members of Parliament so it would be 100% Anglican but the opposition mustered enough support to defeat this.

This led to the collapse of the CABAL (1674) as Catholic influence was eliminated; thus, Clifford and other members of government had to leave their position.

General elections of 1679

Contending factions (Country and Courty parties) had been formed around an ideological platform of opposition, by the general elections after Lord Danby’s impeachment the factions began to be identified as political parties and the pejorative labels “Whigs“ and “Tories“ were to be known.

The General Elections were the first to be fought on party lines. And it returned an anti-royal majority of Members of Parliament. (Majority Whigs)

To a greater or lesser extent, both parties, the Whigs/Country/Liberal and the Tories/Court/Conservative of that time, adopted organizational and propaganda techniques. Each had a recognizable leader and certain ideological coherence, evinced a degree of political organization, had political tactics and strategies, employed electoral agents, established their political forums, and organized propaganda campaigns and political rallies to mobilize the population nationwide to support their platforms.

Antecedents: Court party —> Royalists and Country party —> Parlamentarians

The Exclusion Crisis — between 1679 - 81

Series of bills introduced by the Whigs (under Lord Shaftesbury’s leadership) with the intention of excluding James from succession to the throne.

1. The First Exclusion Bill (1679): It proposed bypassing James and offering the crown instead to his Protestant daughter, Mary, who was married to the Protestant William of Orange. Despite passing in the Commons, this bill was blocked by King Charles II, who dissolved Parliament to prevent it from progressing to the House of Lords.

2. The Second Exclusion Bill (1680): This bill was introduced after the election of a new Parliament. It aimed to exclude James from the throne. It passed in the Commons, reflecting the strong anti-Catholic sentiment and fear of absolutism. However, it was ultimately defeated in the House of Lords, largely due to the influence of King Charles II and his supporters.

3. The Third Exclusion Bill (1681): A final attempt came when a new Parliament convened in Oxford. This bill was seeking to exclude James from the succession. However, King Charles II dissolved this Parliament after only a few days, ensuring that the bill never progressed further.

The fact that the exclusion bills were not passed meant the defeat of the Whig party. The Tories supported James II as he promised he would preserve the Church of England while the Whigs proposed another candidate. They were not successful in achieving the desired goal.

Glorious Revolution // Revolution of 1688 // Bloodless Revolution

It is the civil outbreak that resulted in the desposition of James II and the accession of his daughter Mary II and her husband, William III prince of Orange. What led to the Revolution was:

• James II’s attempt to go over Parliament to re-catholicize England, and

• The birth of his son (the more immediate cause given that protestant Mary would no longer be the heir)

James II came to the throne and insisted on making army officers out of Catholics, and appointing them to local government positions —> which violated the Test Act. Therefore, the feeling that the king was trying to impose Catholicism was spread and there was a lot of unrest, as a consequence James dissolved Parliament when it wouldn’t go along with the Catholic officers and he attempted to rule without Parliament.

Declaration of Rights — 1688 - Bill of Rights — 1689

After some negotiations with William of Orange, after the civil outbreak to James II, the Parliament adopts a Declaration of Right and also decides to make William King and his wife Mary as Queen.

It was the first time that a social contract was established with a ruler. William came to the throne under the conditions included in the Declaration of Rights (which then became a Bill and an Act). It established a framework of government by and for the governed.

1. It declared that the succession to the throne was to be exclusively Protestant.

2. Parliament had to be freely elected, to have freedom of speech and to meet frequently, and there was to be no taxation without its consent.

3. the crown could neither interfere in the execution of law nor suspend the law.

4. there was to be no standing army in time of peace except by consent of Parliament.

5. also set out some of the main grievances against James’ government.

It lays the foundation of the constitutional monarchy (establishes the supremacy of parliament over the monarch, and the permanency of parliament in government). Finally the liberal aim of Constitutional Monarchy was achieved.

Bill of Rights, subsequents Acts — 1689 - 94

Parliament passed these further pieces of legislation to safeguard the principles of the Bill of Rights

1. The Financial Control Act (1689): Every year the monarch had to present before Parliament an estimate of the spending of the next year (what is now called the budget).

2. The Army Control Act (1689): The army is only made legal by an Act passed every year, the Army Annual Act.

3. The Mutiny Act (1689): It gave the control of the army to the monarch only for one year. If he wanted to renew that right, he had to summon parliament.

4. The Triennial Act (1694): it stated not only that a parliament should meet, but that there should be a general election for a new one every 3 years

The greater length, frequency and regularity of parliamentary sittings, marks its assumption of the central place in the government of the country. By these Acts, Parliament assumed a power superior to the Crown, because it established the principle of government by King and Parliament: an executive in harmony with a sovereign legislative.

Toleration Act — 1689

The issuance of the Act ensured a minimum measure of freedom for actual religious worship to Trinitarian protestants. —> “The Toleration Act was a triumph (...) for liberal, progressive principles. It was a recognition that different religions could co-exist within the framework of a single political unit or state without disrupting it.”

Catholics were still deliberately excluded, as well as Unitarians, Quakers and non-Christians. *Catholics were not penalized/persecuted as they had been before, but religious toleration was greater for Protestant groups.

In response to William’s insistence on the passing of this Act, the majority of parliament upheld the liberal ideas and thus supported religious toleration (but not religious equality).

fundamental principles of the Cabinet Government (William III)

• A cabinet/ministry should be composed of members identified with each other and holding the same political principles.

• the ministry should stand upon a parliamentary basis, that is, it's members are drawn from the party or political faction that holds a majority in the House of Commons. (For a cabinet to maintain itself in power, it should have the support of a majority in the Commons and unity in a political party proved the best way to organise support for a cabinet within the House of Commons

Charity Schools — laws and acts related to it

The Charity School movement began at the end of the 17th cent and continued to develop in the 18th cent.

- The Elizabethan Poor Law was not enforced —> Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601 established a system of poor relief in England, placing the responsibility for the care of the poor on local parishes. Consequently, it was not enforced as effectively during the emergence of Charity Schools in the late 17th century because of changing economic conditions, a preference for private philanthropy over state intervention, reluctance to fund poor relief through taxation, shifting moral views on poverty, and the growing influence of religious charitable efforts. Therefore, a societal preference for charitable institutions like Charity Schools were the means of addressing poverty.

- Charity Schools played a key role during the Industrial Revolution and contributed to the growing recognition of the importance of education for all social classes. They laid early groundwork for later educational reforms as the following acts:

• Factory Act (1833): it aimed at improving conditions for children working in factories. It required factory owners to provide some form of education to child workers,

• Ragged Schools Union (1844): it was built on the concept of Charity Schools, Ragged Schools extended education to even poorer and more marginalized groups in urban areas,

• Public Schools Act (1868): it reformed some of England's most prestigious public (elite) schools, like Eton and Harrow. The existence of Charity Schools contributed to the broader discourse on educational reform and the need for a more structured education system,

• Foster's Act (1870): it established the framework for elementary education in England and Wales, marking the beginning of state involvement in providing education for all children, and

• Education Act (1880): made elementary education compulsory for children up to the age of 10.

The Royal Society — 1660 & the Charter of Incorporation — 1662

It was a scientific association (Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge).

Its origins can be traced back to 1645, when certain philosophers formed an ‘Invisible College’ and meetings took place at Oxford during the Interregnum. In November 1660 the Society was founded, aiming at founding a permanent institution to promote experiments in physics and mathematics.

The Charter of Incorporation, granted by Charles II in 1662 and revised in 1663, provided an institutional structure for the society, with president, treasurer, secretaries and council.

Though it had royal patronage almost from the start, the society has always remained a voluntary organization, independent of the British state.

Act of Settlement - 1701

It was and act of Parliament that regulated the succession to the throne of Great Britain, reinforcing the Bill of Rights agreed by William and Mary in 1689. The main aim of this legislation was to secure a Protestant succession to the English throne and to strengthen the guarantees for ensuring a parliamentary system of government.

• Reinforced the Bill of Rights —> strengthen the principle that government was undertaken by the Sovereign and the constitutional advisers (Ministers) not by the Sovereign and personal advisers of their choice.

• Laid down the conditions under which the Crown could be held —> No Roman Catholic, nor anyone married to a Roman Catholic

• The Sovereign now had to swear to maintain the Church of England

In 1707, as a result of the Act of Union, this Act was extended to Scotland.

Act of Union - 1707

passed by the English and Scottish Parliaments in 1707, led to the creation of a united kingdom to be called “Great Britain” on 1 May of that year.

The Cabinet (1721-1742)

Sir Robert Walpole developed the idea that government ministers should would together in a small group and any minister who disagreed deeply with other Cabinet ministers was expected to resign. Thus, an important rule grew in British politics: that all members of Cabinet were together responsible for policy decisions.

The tendency in the 18th cent was toward a single individual as the head of a parliamentary government. The leader of the dominant party within Parliament's House of Commons gradually displaced the King to become the real head of Britain's government, the one to actually shape the national policies.

(Walpole remained the most powerful man in Britain as the head of the kings government from 1721-42. --> Successful domination of politics, control over the treasury, management of government and the confidence he enjoyed under George I and II revealed the kind of leadership that was demanded for stability and order.

The Industrial Revolution — 1750 - 1850

It was the outcome of a movement begun centuries earlier with the discoveries of new lands in the 15th and 16th centuries and the increased trade and commerce. In the 18th century this movement gathered speed, until, between about 1760 and 1830, change was so rapid as to deserve the term ‘revolutionary’. There was an expansion of markets, of production, of population. —> certain industries progressed from small-scale production, even some domestic surroundings, to large-scale production in factories, foundries and the like.

CAUSES:

• An increase in population (thus, more demand for more goods)

• Scientific development and inventions (which demanded for a peaceful and tolerant environment that wasn’t driven by extreme political or religious issues)

• Well-developed comercial system (consolidation of trading as economy and establishment of a commercial system capable of dealing with the expanding industry)

• Internal free trade (the free-trade unit constituted by Eng, Scot, and Wales was the largest, and British merchants had developed reserves of capital for investment)

• Resources of coal and iron (that led to the steam engine)

• Improved internal communications (canals and roads)

• The British Empire (British colonies were source of cheap raw material and the markets for manufactured products)

• The Agrarian Revolution (people from the countryside had to move to towns, speeding the Industries)

• Others —> climate of opinion was favourable to change, protestantism encouraged an outlook favourable to the development of wealth, commerce and industry.

The Agrarian Revolution — before Tudors to Industrial Revolution

It was an enclosure movement. Its direct results were to make ownership of land more unequal, to drive important rural elements to towns (thereby speeding the Industrial Revolution), and in general to make the rich richer and the poor poorer

By the 18th century, a good deal of land had already been enclosed. It had begun in medieval times, and with the growth of the cloth trade under the Tudors there had been much enclosure for sheep-farming. The land was enclosed in the 18th century to:

1. apply machinery and fertilizers to yield more crops in order to feed the growing population.

2. graze cattle and avoid disease among animals.

Although the main result of the enclosure movement was an increase in the food supply because of the vital agricultural improvements that were applied by enterprising individuals, it also had negative consequences: The lord’s legal right to the common was enforced. → The strip holders were given a little extra land but this was not nearly equal in value to the old extensive privileges. (From the redistribution the richer owners usually came off better than they should have done, and the poorer not so well.) A further source of hardship was the cost of enclosure. → Even the smallest holder had to pay not only the cost of hedging and ditching his own land but also a share towards the surveying, the redistribution and the map-making. Small men in many cases were forced to dispose of their property because the costs proved too much for them.

ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES: (animals and land)

• animals grew bigger with better meat,

• animals were now valuable for their meat and not only

  the skin.

• Also, the land now yielded more crops.

SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES:

• The yeomen disappeared → fencing lands was an obligation under acts of Parliament but also very expensive. Therefore, many small landholders could not afford it and had to sell their lands to big landholders. Thus, as a social class they disappeared.

• The fencing of the land and the migration of the yeomen led to the consolidation of a working class.

Reform Bill — 1832 (First Great Year of Reform)

POLITICAL DEVELOP. New social classes demanded representation in Parliament given the new conditions of the Industrial Revolution. The first Reform Bill primarily served to transfer voting privileges from small boroughs controlled by the nobility and gentry to the heavily populated industrial towns. It reformed the antiquated electoral system of Britain by redistributing seats and changing the conditions of the franchise (the total electorate was increased because electoral qualifications were lowered to permit many smaller property holders to vote for the first time). → IT BROKE DOWN THE MONOPOLY OF POWER AND THE GOVERNMENT BECAME MORE WIDELY REPRESENTATIVE as the industrialists got representation. → The working classes and large sections of the lower middle classes were left without the vote

• Working class of the cities (men) were enfranchised in the Reform Bill of 1867;

• rural working classes in the Reform Bill of 1884;

• the Redistribution Act of 1885 equalized representation with the redistribution of seats in favour of larger towns.

• Eventually in 1928, universal suffrage was granted.

Land was no longer the qualification, it was capital, property in terms of money. → There is a direct correspondance between the landed interests losing the monopoly of power and being challenged by industrialists and the repeal of corn laws and navigation acts.

(CHATGPT explanation on the direct correspondance: the decline of the landed aristocracy's monopoly on power was linked to the growing influence of the industrialists. This shift was reflected in legislative changes, such as the repeal of the Corn Laws and Navigation Acts, which favored free trade and industrial growth over protectionism and agricultural interests. The repeal of these laws marked the waning influence of the landed aristocracy and the ascendancy of the industrial capitalist class in shaping Britain's economic and political future in the 19th century.)

Repeal of Corn Laws — 1846

Mercantilism would no longer rule international trade and free trade was achieved. It was not easy, but the repeal was passed in June 1846.

Corn Laws: Confronted with the problems in Ireland (extreme poverty and risk of starvation), Peel , the prime minister, had to act. His whole party was pledged to the retention of the Corn Laws because great landlords were the backbone of the Conservative party and they advocated protection for British agriculture against foreign competition. Meanwhile, there were many factors leading to the repeal:

• a growing popular clamour for the repeal of the Corn Law;

• the Anti-Corn Law League (organization founded in 1839);

• arguments that the repeal would cheapen food and increase the purchasing power of the workers’ wages (some say that manufacturers wanted to lower wages) and also avoid ill-feeling between nations;

• In 1845 there was a famine in Ireland.

Repeal of Navigation Act — 1849

Mercantilism would no longer rule international trade and free trade was achieved. Navigation Acts were repealed in 1849.

Navigation Acts: were a series of laws designed to restrict England’s carrying trade to English ships, effective chiefly in the 17th (beginning of the colonial era) and 18th centuries (form of trade protectionism during an era of mercantilism). They had the double purpose of protecting British shipping (and so in time of war to strengthen the British Navy) and restricting the expansion of Britain’s chief naval rivals.

They excluded all non-British shipping from carrying trade between England and her overseas possessions, and limited the import of foreign goods to ships of England or of the country from which the goods came (with higher import duties). Now that the Corn Laws had gone and that British shipping had been consolidated with a great superiority in the world, the Navigation Laws began to be questioned. The restrictions and duties were considered to be too many (limited commerce with certain regions- limited markets).

The Growth of the Empire

Great Britain made its first tentative efforts to establish overseas settlements in the 16th century (Henry VII held voyages of discovery to open new routes to Asia and widen overseas commerce but Elizabeth I fostered the first attempts to establish an Empire). Maritime expansion, driven by commercial ambitions and by competition with France, accelerated in the 17th century (James I and Charles I fostered colonization).

• In 1497, John Cabot claimed Newfoundland on behalf of King Henry VII

• In 1583, Sir H. Gilbert took possession of Newfoundland in Queen Elizabeth’s name.

• In 1584, Sir Walter Raleigh received a patent to colonize Virginia → Vigin Queen - Elizabeth’s reign

• In 1607, the first permament colony was founded, Jamestown in Virginia.

• In 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers fled to America to escape religious persecution, and landed on the Massachussetts coast. Then they settled in New England*. (*Where Puritans settled)

• By 1670 there were British American colonies in New England, Virginia, and Maryland* and settlements in the Bermudas, Honduras, Antigua, Barbados, and Nova Scotia. (*Area of religious toleration where Catholics also settled)

• In 1655 Jamaica was raided and conquered. Previously in control of Spain and legally annexed to Britain in 1670.

• From the 1670s on, Hudson's Bay Company established itself in what became north-western Canada.

• In 1600, the East India Company began establishing trading posts in India, and the Straits Settlements (Penang, Singapore, Malacca, and Labuan) became British through an extension of that company's activities.

• In 1661, the first permanent British settlement on the African continent was made at James Island in the Gambia River.

• In 1787, Sierra leone became a British possession (even though it had been a slave trading point for years before)

• In 1806, Britain acquired the Cape of Good Hope in (now) South Africa, and the South African interior was opened up by Boer and British pioneers under British control.

Nearly all these early settlements arose from the enterprise of particular companies and magnates rather than from any effort on the part of the English crown. To set up a company a charter or a grant was needed (or by force) → Two main instruments to transfer Britons and others across the seas and to found new states: chartered trading companies and propietary grants.

The crown exercised some rights of appointment and supervision, but the colonies were essentially self-managing enterprises. → An unorganized process based on piecemeal acquisition.

The British Empire is the relationship between England and its overseas colonies, which were under the economic and administrative control of the mother country. They were a source of supply and a market of consumption for British goods. This relationship was regulated by mercantilists policies

First Empire: end 16th C – beginnings of the 17th C – 1776 (Independence of American Colonies).

Second Empire: 19th C — WWI (Queen Victoria) → The Tudor Age groped uncertainty towards an oceanic empire, but the Stuarts founded and developed it.

Salutary Neglect

It was an unofficial policy, initiated by PM Robert Walpole, to relax the enforcement of strict regulations, particularly trade laws, imposed on the American colonies late in the 17th and early in the 18th C. Proponents of this approach hoped that Britain, by easing its grip on colonial trade, could focus its attention on European politics and further cement its role as a world power.

Indeed, salutary neglect enabled the American colonies to prosper by trading with non-British entities, and then to spend that wealth on British-made goods, while at the same time providing Britain with raw materials for manufacture. But the policy had an unintended side effect: it enabled the colonies to operate independently of Britain, both economically and politically, and to forge an American identity. Some historians argue that this loose hold on the colonies, which George III and his ministers tightened in 1760, gave them the freedom to pull away from Britain and start down the path to revolution.

Slave Trade — abolished in 1807

The slave trade acquired a peculiar importance to Britain's colonial economy in the Americas, and it became an economic necessity for the Caribbean colonies and for the southern parts of the future United States. Movements for the end of slavery came to fruition in British colonial possessions long before the similar movement in the United States; the trade was abolished in 1807 and slavery itself in Britain's dominions in 1833.

Seven Years War / the French Indian War — 1756 - 1763

It was an armed conflict that arose between the colonies and Canada regarding the possession of Ohio. At that moment, Canada belonged to France and eventually this conflict led the two mother countries to go on war.

What is today North America was mainly colonized by the French and the British. There were conflicts between the French and the English for the dominion of the territory in North America. The French wanted to expand downwards, while the British wanted to conquer the South part of Canada.

Eventually, the war came to an end, the British were victorious in territorial gains (financially they were in a heavy debt) and a Treaty was signed: the Treaty of Paris (1763). As a result:

• the French lost all the territories that are now Canada.

• All the French possessions in America went to the dominion of Britain.

• Moreover, Spain lost Florida to the British.

The Royal Proclamation — 1763

First measure of George III’s ministry that aimed at avoiding conflicts with Indians: it drew the lines for the western boundaries along the Appalachians and forbade settlement beyond the border, which crushed the expansionist dreams of many colonists. Also, it created three new British colonies: Quebec, East Florida and West Florida. The proclamation, which sprang in part from a respect for Indian rights, caused consternation among British colonists for two reasons: It meant that limits were being set to the prospects of settlement and speculation in western lands, and it took control of the west out of colonial hands. The most ambitious men in the colonies thus saw the proclamation as a loss of power to control their own fortunes.

Grenville’s measures → series of measures

A group of measures known as Grenville’s measures (the Prime Minister at the time). Grenville was soon looking to meet the costs of defence by raising revenue in the colonies. He issued stern orders to colonial officials and set the navy to patrol the coasts.

• He created a new Vice-Admiralty court in Halifax (1763) to judge smuggling and thus, keep a tight rein on colonists;

• he persuaded Parliament to pass the Currency and Sugar Acts (1764).

  • The Currency Act (1764) forbade colonists to issue paper money and

  • The Sugar or Revenue Act (1764) imposed duties on the importation of sugar, among other products

• A third act, the Stamp Act (1765) was then passed to levy a tax to register legal documents, newspapers and even playing cards). Americans felt Parliament was exceeding its prerogatives and even in Britain some people, like Pitt, thought “that the powers of the imperial Parliament over the colonists did not include `that of taking their money out of their pockets without their consent.´”

  ● However, Parliament put forward another measure, the Quartering Act (1765), requiring colonists to fund the British troops.