Chapter 24

Question 1

Why did William agree on a cabinet style of government?

Answer 1

It allowed for the effective coordination of military, diplomatic, and financial policies that enabled him to fight the Nine Years War.

Question 2

What did the rise in the influence of the cabinet lead to?

Answer 2

A diminution of the importance of the court as a political forum.

Question 3

What convention was established in the 1690s?

Answer 3

Appropriation - parliament specifying the purpose for which their grants will be used for.

Question 4

When was the Triennial Act passed under William and Mary?

Answer 4

1694

Question 5

What did the Triennial Act state?

Answer 5

That parliament will meet annually and hold general elections every three years; the monarchs were therefore prevented from ruling without parliament.

Question 6

When was William’s first parliament?

Answer 6

1690-95

Question 7

When was the Act of Grace passed?

Answer 7

May 1690

Question 8

What did the Act of Grace do?

Answer 8

Pardoned those who had deposed James II.

Question 9

When was the Commission of Public Accounts set up?

Answer 9

December 1690

Question 10

What did the Commission of Public Accounts do?

Answer 10

Their job was to review state finances.

Question 11

What did the Commission of Public Accounts do in their first report in November 1691?

Answer 11

Criticised the government for wasting money and recommended cuts in the army and navy.

Question 12

Who chose the members of the Commission of Public Accounts?

Answer 12

Parliament, not the monarch, therefore limiting the power of the Crown.

Question 13

How much did parliament grant William in 1690-91?

Answer 13

£4,600,000

Question 14

Why did parliament make William such a large grant of money at the start of his reign?

Answer 14

Because of the fear that Louis XIV and James II posed a serious threat to national safety, and they needed defeating.

Question 15

Why were the Junto Whigs able to fund William’s war effort?

Answer 15

They had links to the City of London.

Question 16

What did the Million Loan Act do?

Answer 16

Provided William with a loan of £1 million that would be repaid from new parliamentary taxes.

Question 17

What was the function of the Bank of England?

Answer 17

To loan money to the Crown at interest.

Question 18

When did Mary die?

Answer 18

December 1694

Question 19

Why did Mary’s death prompt criticism from some Tories?

Answer 19

Because they had been willing to accept William’s rule because of the presence of Mary; with her gone their support for William faded.

Question 20

What did William do in response to criticism of his government following Mary’s death?

Answer 20

He dissolved Parliament in 1695.

Question 21

Why did the ‘country’, represented by the Tories, oppose the war?

Answer 21

Because their taxes were increasing to fund it.

Question 22

What gave the Junto Whigs an advantage over the Tories in the second parliament?

Answer 22

The assassination attempt on William and the subsequent oath of allegiance which many Tories refused to agree to led to the promotion of many Whigs in government.

Question 23

What undermined the influence of the Junto Whigs?

Answer 23

The signing of the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697.

Question 24

Why did the Treaty of Ryswick undermine the influence of the Junto Whigs?

Answer 24

Because their financing of William’s war effort was what gave them influence over him; with the war gone so was their influence.

Question 25

When was William’s third parliament?

Answer 25

1698-1700

Question 26

What did most MPs favour at the start of the William’s third parliament?

Answer 26

A reduction of the standing army since they were now in a time of peace.

Question 27

When was the Disbanding Bill passed?

Answer 27

January 1699

Question 28

What did the Disbanding Bill do?

Answer 28

Reduce the army to 7000 soldiers.

Question 29

What did Parliament vote to give the Crown every year in 1698?

Answer 29

£700,000

Question 30

What was the Civil List?

Answer 30

The granting of £700,000 a year to the Crown to cover government costs.

Question 31

What did the establishment of the Civil List in 1698 end?

Answer 31

It ended the idea that the Crown should ‘live off its own’.

Question 32

What did the Act of Settlement do?

Answer 32

Excluded 57 Catholic heirs to the throne in favour of the Protestant Sophia of Hanover.

Question 33

What prompted the passing of the Act of Settlement in 1701?

Answer 33

Mary’s sister Anne had one surviving son, but after he died parliament wanted to ensure the line of succession would be Protestant.

Question 34

When was the Abjuration Act passed?

Answer 34

1702

Question 35

What did the Abjuration Act require?

Answer 35

That all MPs and government officials deny allegiance to James II and his descendants.

Question 36

When did William of Orange die and Anne become Queen?

Answer 36

March 1702

Question 37

Why was William willing to allow the development of parliamentary power?

Answer 37

Because it would win him support from Parliament who would therefore fund his war with France.

Question 38

What led to the development of cabinet government?

Answer 38

The need for a more coherent relationship between the direction of war and its administration.

Question 39

When was the Bill of Rights passed?

Answer 39

December 1689