chapter sixteen Flashcards
Lambert removed the nominated assembly and established the protectorate which was inguarated
through his instrument of government
the instrument of government was Britains first
written constitution
and last xxx
Lambert hoped through the IoG to make the relationship between
head os state (cromwell) and the council of state (Cromwells advisors) and parliament clearer
Lambert organised and carried out a successful
military coup
lamberts military coup was the context for Cromwells
establishment as protector
the protector role was constructed deliberately because of Lamberts fears of
the potential unrestricted nature of parliamentary power
parliament and protector were to be balance by a powerful
council of state
lambert through the IoG dealt with the political reality that there would have to be
minority rule and that the army had to become apart of government and legislature through the council
the IoG and the protectorate gave power
to Cromwell
while the coup to remove the nominated assembly and establish the IoG were done by Lambert it was accepted by
Cromwell as a means of bringing settlement to the nation
Cromwell had two key aims as lord protector
- “healing and settling” the nation , forming a stable form of gov
- religious and social reformation , establishing godly rule , society dominated by puritan ideas
in the months up to the first protectorate parliament who ran the state ?
cromwelll , Lambert and a small group of councillors
this group were most active in producing
the protectorate ordinances
by the terms of the IoG Cromwell and the council of state could legislate
by ordinances between parliament sittings
between 24 December 1653 and 2 September 1654 Cromwell and the council
brought in 83 ordinances
most of the 83 ordinances dealt with
finance
making the tax collecting system more efficient
both the protectorate and parliament had limits on their powers , but Cromwell was
the most dominant force in governance
during the first protectorate parliament republicans attacked Cromwells position seeing him as
an alternative monarch and believing that parliament should be the sole authority
parliament republicans opposition was problematic because Cromwell did not want to manage parliament because
he hoped that parliament would lead the nation to settlement
republicans were concerned with
- Cromwells authority to enact ordinances w/out p
- control of the army giving to C
- NEED to reduce armed forces
Cromwells response was to state what he regarded as the fundamentals of government
- g by a single person and p
- religious tolerance or freedom
- militia controlled by C , P and council of state
- no perpetuation of parliaments by ensuring regular elections
the opposition of hardened civilian republicans led Cromwell and the council of state to introduce
the recognition
the recognition required
MPs to take an oath recognising the first of the fundamentals , that the governancne was by a single person and parliament
how many MPs refused to pledge to the recognition and thus removed from parliament
100
Cromwell wanted the agreement of parliament , the problem was that
the political nation would not support Cromwells other aim of a godly reformation
Cromwells aims can be seen as contradictory , his aim of a godly reformation alienated pn but
reinforced his reliance on the army which in turn hampered his search for settlement with the political nation
biddles case 1654
Biddle denied the trinity and divinity of Christ , accused of blasphemy , MPs decided he should be imprisoned
through this parliament was reinforcing its right to control religion
biddles case and MPs attacks on IoG and parliaments failure to fund the army = Cromwell decided to dissolve protectorate 22 jan 1655
the introduction of major generals was a result of
Cromwells and lamberts overreaction to the failure of the first protectorate parliament , the western design and the renewed royalist threat
Cromwell made clear that his frustration was now heightened by
rumours of royalist plotting
four reasons can be isolated in the decision to resort the rule of the major generals
- religious transformation , MG used to enforce godly reformation
- failure of western design , needed reformation used MG to enforce
- finance , decimation tax introduced with MG to reduce cost of army by shifting border to ex royalists
- royalism , Penndocks rising in march 1655 indicated continuing threat of royalism
to establish the rule of major generals Lambert split England into 11 areas with
11 major generals assigned to each
major generals were selected as leading officers in NMA
Lambert was prominent in the introduction of both the original IoG and addition of MG’s of
August and October 1655
and june 1656
the instructions Lambert held write to the MG’s showed the concern to
prevent further rebellion
the first instruction stated that they were to
“endeavour the surpassing of all insurrections rebellions or other unlawful assemblies”
later instructions indicate the role of the major generals in promoting
reformation by suppressing gaming houses , taverns and brothels
in the subsequent parliamentary debates surrounding the major generals lamberts support and military thinking was a clear way of
self preservation against the royalists
what the major generals actually did depended on the attitude of the major general ie
- Edward Whalley made huge efforts in his area to improve the bottom of society
- John berry focused on the idea of further reformation
the major generals main focus was the security of the regime but some through personal inclination sought to
enforce godliness in their areas by trying to shut down alehouses brothels or gambling
the PN was concerned about
the role of the military in the state exemplified by the IoG and personalities of men ie Cromwell and Lambert
the major generals also posed a threat to the PN’s control of
localities
while local governors were not purged and replaced the gentry still felt
threaten by the greater role the lesser gentry , soldiers and merchants played as a result of the revolution
in the provinces , gentry concerns seemed to be confirmed when many of the major generals removed
conservative men from local gov so that their rule could be more effective
there was concern that the high levels of taxation raised to
support the army was going to be a permanent measure
concerns at high taxation levels was also an issue for protectorate MPs and the failure to achieve a parliamentary financial settlement became a central problem in the years
1656-9 and continued to be so after the ‘ rule’ of major generals
the decimation tax under the major generals hundred the acceptance of
the regime by the defeated royalists
although those subjected to the decimation tax were a relatively small number (under 2000)
the process if examining their records did little for reconciliation
the decimation tax also failed financially in its main task to raise
enough money to allow the regime to reduce the army and transfer military security to a militia
the new model arm was invariably linked with religious radicalism in that many radicals
had been or was soldiers
army also prevented the persecution of radicals
the threat of religious radicals raised fears among the
conservative PN of a broader breakdown of order
the apparent explosion of quaker numbers in the
1650’s further heightened this fear
the most important reaction to the rule of major generals was Cromwells , Cromwell shifted positions again to
” healing and settling “ the nation having never lost his desire for securing a parliamentary settlement
as a result he called the second protectorate parliament in
1656
near the beginning of the 2nd protectorate an attempt was made to enforce the decimation tax legally through the milita bill , this bill
would make tax permanent which would strengthen the position of the major generals
however most MPs reacted negatively to
the militia bill
the milita bill debates were part of a power struggle at the heart of the protectorate between
the military and the civilians
the MPs unease led Cromwell to
abandon the generals
Cromwell foresaw that the decimation tax as an extra parliamentary tax on royalists to help fund the gerbils would not
lead to long term stability
through his opposition to the tax and militia bill Cromwell showed that he was
willing to sacrifice the gerbils and Lambert to get a conservative parliamentary based settlement
the defeat of the milita bill meant the end of the
decimation tax and the generals
given the scope of tasks assigned to gerbils and the very real limits of central and local government it is no wonder that
the major generals failed to transform society
in the debated on the decimation and militia bill Cromwell was positioning himself to accept a
revising of the IoG through the adoption of the humble petition
the humble petition was a new constitution designed to
” heal and settle “ the nation by establishing a new more traditional government with Cromwell as its head , thereby move to reconcile the PN to the regime
the centrepiece of the civilian cromwellians’ proposed constitutional changes was the offer of the crown to Cromwell through
the humble petition and advice
the fact that Cromwell was even willing to consider kingship was part of his reaction agsint
major generals
Cromwell saw the advantages of kingship
- more recognised form of gov for gentry
- could establish a line of succession
- could achieve settlement with parliament
Cromwell also saw the disadvantages of kingship
- cromwell=usurper provoke vigorous opposition from royalists
- opposition from republicans
- opposition from some NMA
- opposition from leading military cromwellians’
the most significant opposition to kingship came from the
NMA
the NMA were against the idea of kingship not only because the chief political power would lie solely with the monarch but also for
religious reasons
the NMA opposition therefore was not just a political threat to Cromwell but also a reminder of
their perspective of the ‘ saints ‘ he respected .
Cromwell deliberated and decided not to accept kingship however he
alienated Lambert while making a decision because in considering the humble petitions Cromwell was contemplating a new system of gov
- Lambert resigned
there was several reasons behind Cromwells rejection
- army opposed idea of kingship and had the potential to remove him
- army opposition to Cromwell signified that god had judged agsint kingship
Cromwell accepted the humble petitions on the
25th May 1657
what changes were made for Cromwell to accept it ?
removed kingship and Cromwell would be able to choose the next protector
the humble petition did not bring about
fundamental change to the nature of the protectorate
republicans had naturally opposed the plan to make Cromwell king even through Cromwell refused to accept the crown , republicans felt that the
acceptance of the rest of the humble petition meant Cromwell affirmed as ‘ king in all but name ‘ even from the start of the protectorate
Oliver Cromwell well died on the
3rd September 1658
Cromwell nominated his son
Richard Cromwell as the next protector
