English Constitutionalism

The review bandwagon grew to double digits as eleven smarties joined me in S109 this morning to review English constitutionalism.  Check out the review brainstorm doc, and feel free to add ideas and examples. The main idea is that constitutional government emerged in England in the seventeenth-century.  Parliamentary powers over the Crown (i.e. King/Queen) grew with victory in the English Civil War (1642-1649), and Parliament's authority was confirmed when William and Mary deposed James II in the Glorious Revolution (1688-1689) and accepted limits on their authority through the English Bill of Rights.  While knowing the order of Stuart Monarchs in the 1600s is useful, it is not as important as the main idea.  Here's a quick summary:

1. James I: absolutist ideas, but cooperated with Parliament
2. Charles I: absolutist ideas, and quarreled with Parliament=>Civil War, executed
3. Oliver Cromwell: Parliamentary political and military leader, Puritan, ruled as dictator after execution of Charles I; banned Christmas
4. Charles II: restored to throne after death of Cromwell; King and Christmas returned
5. James II: Charles II's brother, suspected Catholic, deposed by Parliament
6. William (of Orange) and Mary: invited by Parliament to invade England, they did; accepted Bill of Rights

A few students remembered that John Locke wrote his explanation of the social contract between rulers and the ruled to justify the Glorious Revolution.  Thomas Jefferson, and others, would famously recycle Locke's reasoning in the American Declaration of Independence, which declared that men can "alter or abolish" a government that restricts their rights.

The glib, short, and very fast video below recounts the English Civil War in more detail than you need, but the main ideas should shine through.

The review train steams forward on Wednesday with a look at early modern central Europe: Prussia, and stuff...