Act of Settlement Flashcards
Act of Settlement:
Date
1701
Act of Settlement:
Summary
Provisions:
- Succession would be vested in the House of Hanover, a German royal dynasty, after the reign of Queen Anne (the Protestant daughter of J), who became Queen after William’s death.
- Linked through the granddaughter of James I who married Elector of Hanover. Their son to be next monarch in 1714.
- Catholics, and those married to Catholics were barred from the succession.
- All future monarchs were required to be members of the Church of England.
- Religion of the monarch reflected concerns over William’s Calvinism as much as a fear of Catholicism.
- Prevented the monarch from leaving Britain w/o permission of parliament.
- Directed at William. Clause repealed in 1716, when it was no longer seen as necessary as William no longer king.
- No future foreign monarch was allowed to enter England into a war in order to defend the monarch’s home country w/o the consent of parliament.
- Serves as a clear response to the potential threat of William- entered England into the expensive Nine Years’ War.
- Royal pardons to be declared irrelevant in cases of impeachment
- Only included in the Act as Tories hoped to impeach William’s Whig advisors.
- Enabled a no. of legislative proposals first put forward in 1689 to finally reach the statute book.
- Judges could no longer be dismissed w/o the consent of parliament > reaction to James’ removal of disloyal members of the judiciary.
- All matters regarding the governing of Britain had to be discussed with the full Privy Council and not decided by the monarch alone.
- No foreign-born man allowed to join Privy Council, sit in either House of Parliament, have a military command, or be granted lands or titles. > directed at William very clearly
The fear of absolutism and a desire to rein in the king is clear throughout the Act.
Watershed moment in the reduction of the Crown’s prerogative powers- damaged claim to divine right.
Act of Settlement:
Revisionist view
Revolutionary events changed virtually nothing except the line of succession- Morrill
- A constitutional monarchy was not fully established, even if the concept of divine right was effectively destroyed.
- Parliament was still officially an advisory body.
- Office of PM did not emerge until Robert Walpole informally took the title in 1721.
- Monarch still pre-eminent within the political system.
- The ‘crown estate’ was created and most of the monarch’s property was placed under the control of parliament all the way into 1760.
- Parliament still represented only the richest 2% of the population and the electorate was still small.
What was created through the political system can best be described as a monarchy of parliament’s choosing:
- Parliament effectively decided who the next monarch would be
- Parliament could suspend the Mutiny Act at any time in order to restrict the king’s control of the army.
Bill of Rights and Act of Settlement as the further foundations of a constitutional monarchy, rather than the end product.
- Framework for a constitutional monarchy had initially been established with the Magna Carta in 1215, as the monarch was compelled to consult a ‘great council’ over at least some issues.
- Now, royal interreference with the law was now restricted, elections were to be regular and free from the interreference of the monarch, and taxation by royal prerogative was theoretically no longer possible.
Act of Settlement:
Marxist view
Settlement + BofR as one that created a constitutional monarchy in the interests of the existing ruling elites- Hill and Morton
- Similar to Whig view
