be relied upon for a majority. They came to be called "tories" by their
opponents. "Tory" had been a term of abuse for Irish Catholic bandits.
The tory and whig groups were known by their disagreement over the
authoritarianism of the Crown. The tories were sympathetic to the
doctrine of divine right and favored a doctrinally high church. The
tories represented landed property and the established church, and
usually wore blue in contrast to the purple of royalty. Many royalists
became tories. The whigs refused to accept the sacrosanct character of
the monarchy. The whigs opined that government depended upon consent of
the people and that the people had a right of resistance. They
subordinated the Crown to Parliament. The whigs represented the
dissenters and the mercantile classes, and often wore red. Many former
Puritans became whigs. "Whig" had been a term of abuse for Scots
Presbyterian rebels and horse thieves.
The gout and venereal disease were common among political leaders. A
primitive condom just introduced to the aristocracy from France helped
deter syphilis, but was uncomfortable and unreliable.
Under Charles II, the Treasury as a supreme financial body separated
from the Exchequer as a depository of revenue. A gold guinea coin was
issued. From 1690, government policy was controlled by specific
appropriations. Money bills had to originate in the Commons, and could
not be amended by the House of Lords.
Boards became independent of the king's Privy Council and answerable to
the secretary of state.
In the 1680s, Charles compelled some of the livery companies in London
to give up their charters to him and he called in many corporation
charters of boroughs whenever some light excuse could be found to
justify it. This was done by the use of the writ of quo warranto [by
what authority] before a court. In London he had the tory mayor revive
an ancient custom of selecting a sheriff by drinking to him at the
annual feast. Two tory sheriffs were installed into office. All these
actions gave the king a voice in selection of the officers of London and
boroughs, since Royal commissioners would then determine who the
officers would be. This was to assure London's representation in
Parliament by Crown loyalists as London had been whig. It also allowed
influenced selection of sympathetic jurors.
Criminal seditious libel was brought into the common law courts in
1664, when Benjamin Keach was tried for writing a book containing
contradictions of the doctrine of the established church. He wrote
against infant baptism and asserted that laymen might preach the gospel.
The justice intimidated the jury to find him guilty. He was sentenced to
be fined, to spend two hours in the pillory in two successive weeks, and
his book to be burned before his face. He was to be imprisoned until he
found sureties for his good behavior and renunciation of his doctrine
and for his future appearance in court. Juries were loath to find anyone
guilty of seditious libel.
James II succeeded Charles II to the throne and fostered Roman
Catholicism by appointments and by attempting to suspend laws
unfavorable to Catholics. He commanded all bishops to read in the
churches his Declaration of Indulgence exempting both Catholic and
Protestant dissenters from all penal statutes based on religion. Seven
bishops refused to obey and jointly petitioned him, stating that his
action was illegal according to Parliament. He prosecuted them for
seditious libel in the petition. The jury found them not guilty. James
discharged the two justices of the five who had rejected the seditious
libel doctrine which had been created by the Star Chamber Court. This
roused the whigs and tories in turn to discharge him by joining in
inviting Protestants William of Orange and Mary to take the throne in
his place. James was effectively chased out of England by William's
advancing army in the Glorious Revolution of 1688-9, which took away the
powers of final authority from the king, but without transferring them
to any other body. A "Bill of Rights" stated that
1. The king may not suspend laws or dispense with them without consent
of Parliament.
2. The establishment of a Court of Commissioners and like bodies for
ecclesiastical causes is illegal.
3. The king may not levy money or extend an authorized levy without
consent of Parliament.
4. Subjects have a right to petition the king without prosecution.
5. The king may not raise or keep a standing army within the country in
time of peace without the consent of Parliament.
6. Protestants may have arms for their defense as allowed by law.
7. The elections of members of Parliament should be free.
8. The freedom of speech or debates or proceedings in Parliament should
not be impeached or questioned in any court or place outside of
Parliament.
9. Excessive bail should not be required, nor excessive fines imposed,
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted (so no more men were whipped
to death).
10. Jury selection should not be tampered with, and jurors who try men
for high treason should be freeholders.
11. All grants and promises of fines and forfeiture of particular
persons, before conviction, are illegal and void.
12. Parliament should be held frequently for redress of grievances and
for the amending, strengthening, and preserving of the laws.
13. All Protestants may freely exercise their religion and the king will
maintain the Protestant religion and the law and liberty of the realm.
The right of the peoples' representatives to select and depose the king
and to change the order of succession was established. There was no
divine right or hereditary right to the Crown. An English monarch was
created by an act of Parliament. The king still called and dissolved
Parliaments, except that Parliament continued for six months after the
death of a king. From 1689, Parliament sat every year. Freedom of speech
for members of Parliament was established by a resolution overturning a
King's Bench felony conviction of Sir John Elliot.
By the act of settlement of 1701, no officer or pensioner of the king
could be a member of Parliament. All resolutions by the Privy Council
had to be signed by the members consenting to them. No one born outside
the realm could be a member of the Privy Council or of Parliament, or
could have any civil or military office or place of trust, or any grants
of land or tenements from the king. Justices served during good behavior
instead of at the pleasure of the king.
After the Glorious Revolution, Tories tended to accept of the Whig
principles of limited constitutional monarchy instead of rule by divine
right.
Under William and Mary, the ministers were first chosen by them but
could be impeached by the Commons and then removed by the Parliament.
The Commons removed anyone who disagreed with them as soon as he made a
mistake. But the king could pardon anyone convicted by Parliamentary
bill of attainder. This was inconsistent, so no one was allowed to plead
pardon by the king in an impeachment by the Commons. Thus Parliament
gained control of who would be ministers.
The Glorious Revolution favored the capitalists and the commercial
magnates even though it had been started by the landed families, with
whom they now intermarried. There were companies in the fishing, silk,
baize [a coarse wool], sugar, rope, paper, iron, hardware, cutlery,
gunpowder, saw milling, and pottery trades. These industries for
manufacturing were organized on capitalist lines rather than being
subject to guilds. That is, production was controlled by men with money
and the means of manufacture. The largest pottery workshops employed
about six men. One man shaped the pots, another made the handles and put
them on, while the others did the decoration, the glazing, and the
firing. New companies could be formed without royal or Parliamentary
consent. Regulated companies declined. There were no more commercial
monopolies. The Merchant Adventurers lost their last monopoly privileges
and their entrance fees were abolished. Their method of limiting the
volume of their exports of English cloth to Germany to keep up prices
was obsolete. Now they tried to capture the market by selling cheap.
There were more joint-stock companies and on a larger scale. They also
no longer restricted output to keep prices high, but geared to export
many inexpensive goods.
Drinking of gin, which had first been made by a Flemish physician,
became popular under King William, who was Dutch. The year of his
accession, the gin monopoly ended.
From the mid-1500s to 1700, coal production increased fourteen times.
Sir Ambrose Crowley, an iron maker with coal works, established
disability and medical benefits and pensions for his workers.
The capitalist organization of the mining, glass manufacture, salt,
soap, wire and other monopolized industries was made possible only by
government support. Salt and glass manufacture expanded. Glass drinking
vessels were in common use. Mirrors of blown plate glass were
manufactured in England. In 1670, Vauxhall glass works were opened with
workmen brought from Venice to blow their fine glass and make mirrors.
Some plate glass by casting was imported. Plate glass was a large and
strong glass piece, which was formed by the liquid glass being poured on
a table. This glass was not distorted, so mirrors could be made
perfectly reflective. Then plate glass for coaches, mirrors, and windows
became manufactured in England; this new industry was organized on
capitalist lines.
The domestic or "putting out" system came into use. In this system, the
worker usually owned his own machinery and the capitalist owned the
material, which he put out to the worker at home. The merchant
manufacturer bought raw wool and had it carded, spun, woven, fulled, and
dressed at his own expense. Some farmers became spinners in the winter
when outside work was impossible. The manufacture of nails was also done
by this system. Accordingly, the guilds and municipal corporations in
towns ceased to control the recruiting, conditions of work, and pay of
industries. Only a quarter of 200 towns had any organized guilds at all.
The growing town of Birmingham was not a chartered borough, so never was
encumbered with guild regulations. Overall, the guild and apprentice
regulations were effectively enforced only in agriculture work. Artisans
became known as tradesmen. Work was usually irregular, some seasonal. In
bad years, when a worker had to borrow money, he used work tools, such
as his loom, as security. In this way, one's work tools often became the
property of a merchant. Some merchant clothiers also owned a fulling
mill and a shop where the cloth was sold. The capitalists first became
owners of the materials, then of the implements, and then of the work
places. But production was still confined to the known wants of its
habitual market. Men used to working at home were generally not inclined
to go to work in a factory. So there was an assortment of unskilled
factory labor, such as country people driven from their villages by the
growth of large estates, disbanded soldiers, and paupers. They had to be
taught, trained, and above all disciplined.
Smiths used trip hammers powered by watermills which turned axles with
cams on them. They made iron gates, fences, balconies, and staircases
with hammer, anvil, and chisel. Cast iron was made by running liquefied
metal into molds. This was harder but more brittle than the tough but
malleable wrought iron. Tinkers went from house to house to repair metal
items such as pots and pans.
The East India Company had about half the trade of the nation. Its
shares were frequently bought and sold. It responded to anger over its
semi-monopoly status by granting liberty to all English subjects below
the age of forty to live in its Indian settlements and to trade
practically everywhere. Bombay, India became subject to the East India
Company. Charters gave the East India Company the right to coin money,
to exercise jurisdiction over English subjects, to levy taxes, to build
and command fortresses, to command English and Indian troops, to make
peace and war, and to enter into alliances with Indian rulers. The
Company always paid high dividends and the market price of its shares
generally rose. 100 pound stock was worth 130 pounds in 1669, 245 pounds
in 1677, 280 pounds in 1681, 360 and even up to 500 pounds in 1683, and
then fell to 190 pounds in 1692. In 1693 a new charter for the Company
included loss of monopoly status by resolution of the Commons. With this
resolution, Parliament assumed the right of regulating commerce, now no
longer the king's province. Thereafter the Commons regulated trade with
India and determined who could participate in trade there. Political
issues developed, which initiated corruption at elections by
entertainment and bribes to candidates, which were later proscribed. The
trade opened up to many more traders and investors. Ordinary investors
came to include women and Quakers. The Stock Exchange was incorporated
about 1694.
Exports included grain, silk, metal wares, foodstuffs, lead, and tin.
Cloth and manufactures were exported to America. Dyeing and dressing of
cloth became the norm and undressed cloth exports fell sharply. Imports
included linen; flax; hemp; timber; iron; raw, thrown, and woven silk;
wine; brandy; fruit; coffee; chocolate, served as a drink or used in
cooking; cauliflower; and oil. From America came molasses, sugar,
tobacco, and dyes. Sugar was in great demand for tea, coffee, and
chocolate. The East India Company imported calico, silk, pepper, spices,
China tea, potions, and saltpeter. Tonnage of English shipping doubled
by 1688 Exports and imports increased 50% by 1700.
When there was a surplus of grain, it was exported. About 1696, the
king set up a board of trade of eight paid members and great officers of
state, who nominally belonged to it, and a staff. This was to achieve a
favorable balance of trade. For instance, it imposed tariffs to protect
internal markets and put restraints on imports of goods producible in
the country, e.g. live cattle, dairy products, and woolen goods. It also
restricted the export of raw wool. England led the way in protectionist
measures.
Parliament required an oath of allegiance to the new sovereigns William
and Mary from all those in public functions, including the clergy. By
extending this rule to the clergy, Parliament asserted a supremacy of
Parliament over the church. It also asserted a supremacy over the king
by requiring all monarchs to take a coronation oath promising to govern
according to the statutes, laws, and customs of Parliament, to make
judgments with law and justice in mercy, and to maintain the Protestant
religion established by law.
England competed with other nations for land in the New World.
Carolina, named for Charles II, was colonized for commerce in 1663. The
Episcopal Church, an analogue of the Church of England, was established
there by law. The whole coast became English after war with the
Netherlands gave New York, named for Charles II's brother the Duke of
York, and New Jersey to England in 1667. Presbyterians and Baptists fled
from religious tests and persecutions in England to colonize New Jersey.
For free passage to the English colonies, people became indentured
servants, agreeing to serve the master of the ship or his assigns with a
certain kind of labor for a term of a few years according to a written
contract made before departure. Also, various statutes made
transportation to any part of America available to any person who would
pay for his transportation, for a term of years, usually seven, as a new
possible penalty for offenses. In 1636, Harvard College was founded in
New England to advance literature, arts, and sciences, as well as to
train ministers. Some American colonists sent their sons to be educated
at the Inns of Court in London.
In 1682, Quaker William Penn, son of an Admiral, founded the colony of
Pennsylvania for Quakers in a "Holy Experiment" in political and
religious freedom. The king had granted proprietary rights to this land
to him to discharge a Crown debt to his father. When Penn refused to
take off his hat before King Charles and asked why Charles took off his
own, Charles, unruffled, replied that "It's the custom of this place
that only one man should remain uncovered at a time". The Pennsylvania
Charter of 1701 went beyond Magna Carta and England's law in
guaranteeing right to counsel and giving a right to defendants to summon
witnesses in all criminal cases. It gave Penn absolute authority and he
established liberty of conscience, i.e.freedom of religion, and freedom
from arbitrary arrest. In 1751, some Quakers founded a small hospital in
Pennsylvania as an asylum for the insane, where they would be treated
humanely.
Proprietary colonies, in which an individual or syndicate held under
the crown a sort of feudal overlordship, were founded in America:
namely, Virginia, Maryland, Carolina, New York and New Jersey in 1663,
and Pennsylvania and Delaware in 1682. New Hampshire was made a royal
province in 1680 to cut off the expansion of Massachusetts, which had
been avoiding the trade laws. These colonies were distinguished from the
corporate colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and Rhode
Island, which made their own arrangements for internal government
without a royal executive. Charles persuaded the Chancery Court to
declare the charter of Massachusetts void; it was given a new charter in
1691 which made it a royal province. New York was made a royal province
in 1691. Maryland's proprietor gave way to a royal governor in 1692.
Soon all colonies except Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania were
royal provinces, with governors nominated by the Crown. This bringing of
union to the colonies was done for maintenance of order, to coordinate
defense, and to enforce trade laws.
In 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company was incorporated to engage in fur
trade with Indian trappers in the Hudson Bay and to find a northwest
passage to China.
In 1701 the founding of the "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
in Foreign Parts" by the Church of England created many missionaries in
the colonies, where they called their churches "Episcopalian".
Increase Mather and his son Cotton Mather were Puritan ministers in
colonial Boston. Increase was for a time the President of Harvard
College and participated in obtaining the new charter of colonial
Massachusetts of 1691. He and his son tried to maintain the principles
of the Puritan founders of Massachusetts, which included the theories of
diabolical possession and witchcraft. But the thought of Presbyterians,
Anglicans, and Baptists became influential also. In 1692 in the small
town of Salem, Massachusetts, some hysterical girls showing strange
spasms and sounds charged they had been bewitched by certain other
residents. Victims were deceived, flogged, or tortured into forced
confessions and then excommunicated from the church. They were then
hanged and their property confiscated. One man endured being pressed to
death for refusal to plead so that his property would be inherited by
his family rather than confiscated due to being convicted. Eventually,
some prominent citizens including judges were accused. Then the more
thoughtful people began to doubt the whole phenomenon and admitted
error. The excommunications were revoked. Cotton Mather came to accept
Newton's science and advocated inoculation. He encouraged Puritanism
into a simpler piety and charity. This influenced American Protestantism
toward a generalized concern with good works, morality, and social
leadership.
- The Law -
Treason to the king is to compass, imagine, or intend death or any
bodily harm tending to death, or maiming or wounding, or imprisonment,
or restraint as well as trying to depose him or levy war against him.
Also included is printing, writing, preaching, or malicious speaking.
Traitors shall suffer death and forfeiture as in high treason.
The fine for having, buying, or selling clipped coins is 500 pounds,
one-half going to the informer, and one-half going to the king. The
offender shall also be branded in the right cheek with the letter "R".
He shall be imprisoned until he pays the 500 pounds. No hammered coins
are lawful. Anyone except a smith in the king's mint making tools or
presses or other machines that can make counterfeit coins or having such
which were stolen from the mint shall be guilty of high treason.
Any malicious and willful burning or destroying of stacks of hay,
grain, or barns, or killing any horses, sheep, or cattle at nighttime
shall be felony and punished by transportation to the American colonies
for seven years.
Any person apprehending a thief or robber on the highway will be
rewarded 40 pounds from the local sheriff, to discourage the many
robberies and murders which have made travel dangerous. Also, executors
of persons murdered while trying to apprehend a robber shall have the
reward.
Anyone killing, hurting, or taking away deer from any forest or park or
other ground without consent of the owner or custodian shall pay a 20
pound fine. This was later increased to 20 pounds for hunting deer and
30 pounds for wounding or killing deer, with the pillory for one hour on
market day and gaol for a year without bail for those who couldn't pay.
Any person privately and feloniously stealing any goods, including
horses, by day or night, in any shop, warehouse, coach stable, or
stable, whether there is a break-in or not, and whether or not the owner
is present, or anyone assisting or hiring such person may not have
benefit of clergy. Any person who apprehends and prosecutes such person
is excused from having to serve in parish and ward offices. An offender
being out of prison who informs against two other offenders who are
convicted is to be pardoned. Any person convicted of theft or larceny
and having benefit of clergy is to be burnt in the cheek nearest the
nose instead of on the hand.
When a bill of exchange drawn to at least five pounds is not paid on
demand at the time it is made payable, the person who accepted it may
make a protest in writing before a notary public, which shall be served
on the maker of such bill, who must pay it and all interest and charges
from the date of the protest. But if a bill of exchange is lost or
miscarried, another shall be given in its place.
No one may take more than 6 pounds in interest for a 100 pound loan.
Persons seeking election to Parliament may not give or promise money,
meat, drink, entertainment, present or gift to any elector.
Because the gaols were full of people in debt due to the late unhappy
times such as the London fire, all prisoners for debt were released upon
taking an oath that they had no property over ten pounds nor had
disposed or conveyed property to defraud creditors. Creditors not
wanting them released had to contribute to their maintenance in gaol.
Any sale of land or lease or estate of freehold or copyhold shall be in
writing and signed. An interest in land given orally shall have only the
force of estates at will. All contracts for sale of goods or merchandise
for the price of at least 10 pounds shall be in writing and signed by
the parties or shall be accompanied by part payment or partial
acceptance of the goods. This is to deter fraud. This statute caused
many small freeholders, including yeomen, who paid rent by custom to be
dispossessed.
Mortgagees can hold the land of any mortgagor who borrows money upon
security of the land or obtains another mortgage without prior notice to
the initial mortgagee. The mortgagor has six months to pay off the
mortgage and all interest and charges or vacate the land and lose his
equity therein. But a widow's dower will not be affected if she did not
join with her husband in the mortgage.
If rent is not paid in a reasonable time, the renter's goods and grain
may not only be distrained, but sold.
One coparcener of a joint tenancy or tenancy in common may have a court
partition the property without the presence of other coparceners,
because such coparceners are often difficult to find. This is to avoid
wasting of land lying uncultivated and unmanured.
After the intestate death of a father of any sons or daughters without
wives or children of their own in the life time of their mothers, the
mother and every brother and sister shall share equally except the
customs of London and York shall not be affected. Administrators have to
make an inventory. They have to account on request by an interested
person. They must be bonded by two sureties.