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Petition of Rights
When Parliament met in 1628, its members would grant new funds only if Charles recognized the Petition of Rights that required that henceforth there should be no forced loans or taxation without the consent of Parliament, that no freeman should be imprisoned without due cause, and that troops should not be billeted in private homes. Charles agreed to the petition and it would be recalled in 1640. -
The Long Parliament
The House of Commons impeached and executed both Strafford and Laud. Parliament abolished the course that had enforced royal policy and prohibited the levying of new taxes without its consent. Parliament also resolved that no more than three years should elapse between its meetings and that the king could not dissolve it without its own consent. Thus, significantly weakening the monarchy's power. -
Start of Civil War
In 1642, Charles invaded Parliament intending to arrest certain of his opponents, but they escaped.The king left London to raise an army, however the House of Commons passed the Militia Ordinance, which gave Parliament authority to raise an army of its. own. -
Defeat of Charles' Army
An alliance with Scotland in 1643 and the reorganization of the parliamentary army under Oliver Cromwell led to Parliament's victory. William and Mary recognized the Bill of Rights. For the next few years Charles tried to take advantage of divisions of Parliament before Cromwell executed him as a public criminal. Parliament then abolished the monarchy, the House of Lords, and the Anglican Church, and Cromwell became Lord Protector of a Puritan England as a dictator. -
Death of Cromwell
When Cromwell died in 1658 and the English who hated his harsh dictatorship were ready by 1660 to restore both the Anglican Church and the monarchy (bringing back the monarchy but not fully restoring its power). -
The Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution was the largely peaceful replacement of James II by William and Mary as English monarchs in 1688. It marked the beginning of constitutional monarchy in Britain, increasing the power of Parliament and limiting the power of the monarchy. -
Publishing of John Locke's Second Treatise of Civil Government
The work defended the idea that government resided in the consent of the governed. This view directly opposed support for absolutism and absolutist political thought.
