The Growth of Constitutionalism

Question 1

Throughout the 1500s, Europe suffered from a “Price Revolution,” a period of inflation in which the cost of goods skyrocketed. Why did the Price Revolution take place?

Answer 1

The Price Revolution was brought about by the mass influx of silver from the New World. As silver became more common, its value relative to certain goods fell, a process known as inflation. The mass influx of silver had a positive effect, however, in that it replaced barter as a form of commerce, and provided a more convenient tool to measure and store wealth.

Question 2

How did increases in population affect commerce in the 1500s?

Answer 2

Between 1500 and 1600, Europe’s population increased from 70 million to 90 million, despite wars and disease, and in part because of the increase in foodstuffs introduced from the New World.

An increased population led to increased demand for goods, both agricultural and material.

Question 3

Define:

guild

Answer 3

Predominant from the 11th through the 16th centuries, guilds were associations of artisans who governed the practice a given craft in a particular town. For instance, London had guilds of weavers, locksmiths, and nail-makers.

Guilds artificially restricted the output of various goods by limiting who could engage in the process of production in a given town, and thus limiting competition.

Question 4

What caused the breakdown of the guilds beginning in the 1500s?

Answer 4

As demand for manufactured goods increased in the 1500s, the artificially restricted membership of the cloth guilds couldn’t keep up.

To circumvent town-level restrictions, entrepreneurs supplied equipment to rural families, such as raw cloth and looms, a process known as the “putting out system.”

Question 5

Define:

joint stock company

Answer 5

In a joint stock company, funds are contributed into a common pool by investors who share in the company’s profits and losses. Joint stock companies proved an effective way to meet the large upfront costs of trading missions and colonial settlements.

Question 6

Define:

mercantilism

Answer 6

Mercantilism is an economic theory which posits that because the world’s wealth is limited, trade is a “zero-sum” game, i.e. that the balance of trade in one nation’s favor is another nation’s loss.

Mercantilism dominated European economic thought from the Renaissance until the late 1700s, and was practiced by all the major European powers.

Question 7

During the 16th and 17th centuries, which city was Europe’s wealthiest?

Answer 7

Amsterdam

With few natural resources, Amsterdam was built almost entirely as a trading hub. It housed numerous banks, shipyards, warehouses, and manufacturing concerns.

Question 8

During the 16th century, which group exercised the most power in Dutch society?

Answer 8

In the 16th century, the most powerful group in the Dutch Republic was the merchants, who dominated the legislative actions of the Republic’s seven independent states.

Question 9

What was the dominant religion of the Dutch Republic during the 16th and 17th centuries?

Answer 9

The dominant religion of the Dutch Republic was Calvinism, but the Dutch were tolerant of almost every religion. Amsterdam even had a sizable community of Portuguese Jews who’d fled the Inquisition.

Question 10

What was the Dutch East India Company?

Answer 10

In 1602, the Dutch government granted a charter to the Dutch East India Company, allowing it unfettered power to establish colonies, engage in trade, and even wage war.

Financed by sales of its stock, the Dutch East India Company established outposts throughout Asia, making massive profits by sending spices, tea, and silk to be sold in the marketplaces of the Dutch Republic and throughout Europe.

Question 11

The rising volume of Atlantic trade during the 1600s led to the increased predominance of _____ as a part of Dutch commerce.

Answer 11

shipbuilding

By the mid-1600s, the Dutch had 10,000 vessels at sea. Ship construction gave rise to other forms of commerce. Dutch banks financed construction, and merchants arose to sell sails, ropes, and the like.

Question 12

The actions of what monarch brought about the decline of the Dutch Republic?

Answer 12

Louis XIV, the King of France, wanted to control the Spanish Netherlands on the Dutch Republic’s southern border, while the Dutch saw them as a necessary buffer. He engineered a series of wars with the Dutch Republic, which nearly went bankrupt hiring soldiers to defend itself.

The war also took a larger toll; to prevent Louis XIV from subjugating the country, the Dutch broke open their levees, flooding the available farmland.

The French weren’t the Dutch’s only opponent; England fought three wars with the country in the 1600s.

Question 13

As the Dutch economy declined in the wake of near-constant warfare in the 17th and 18th centuries, what nation became the dominant trading empire in the Atlantic?

Answer 13

Although the Dutch continued to have a large number of ships, the expense of wars with England and France allowed England to surmount the Dutch lead by the 1700s.

Question 14

In 1651, Thomas Hobbes published his book Leviathan, endorsing absolute monarchy. Why did Hobbes consider absolute monarchy the ideal form of government?

Answer 14

Published in the aftermath of the English Civil War, Hobbes’s Leviathan contended that humans were selfish and prone to violence, and if left to their own devices in a “state of nature,” a “war of all against all” would be the result.

To prevent chaos, Hobbes contended that the people must give up liberty to a strong central government in exchange for security. Hobbes’s Leviathan endorsed an absolute monarch as the best protection of life and civilization.

Question 15

How did the English higher social classes differ from their French counterparts in the 16th and 17th centuries with regard to taxation?

Answer 15

Unlike their French counterparts, the English higher social classes (known as the “gentry”) had agreed to pay taxes.

As taxpayers, however, they demanded a corresponding say in how England was governed, a demand which was not popular with English monarchs of the period.

Question 16

How did the Stuart monarchs believe that the Anglican Church should be governed?

Answer 16

The Stuart monarchs favored a church organization dominated by the King, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Church’s bishops.

The Stuart monarchs’ desire to dominate the Church led to conflict with the Presbyterians and Puritans, many of whom were in Parliament. These opponents believed that the Church should be governed by its members.

Question 17

What do historians mean when they describe King James I of England ruling in “personal union”?

Answer 17

Ruling in “personal union” means that the crown of two different countries resides in the same monarch. In James I’s case, he was the monarch of Scotland where he ruled as James VI, and of England where he ruled as James I. Under James and later Stuart monarchs, England and Scotland had separate governments, Parliaments, and legal systems.

Question 18

In 1604, King James I sponsored the creation of a standardized copy of what book?

Answer 18

In 1604, King James sponsored scholars to work on the creation of a standardized Bible, which when finished would be known as the King James Bible. The work was completed in 1611, and was designed to eliminate differences between various translations of the Bible.

The King James Version of the Bible is widely considered a masterpiece of Stuart literature.

Question 19

Both James I and his son, Charles I, believed the monarchy’s authority derived from the _____ _____ _____ _____.

Answer 19

Divine Right of Kings

The Divine Right of Kings held that the monarch is responsible to no earthly authority, but only to God. The policy brought both James I and Charles I into conflict with Parliament, which sought to restrain the King.

Louis XIV of France was also a proponent of the theory.

Question 20

In 1626, Charles I reluctantly signed the Petition of Right, which stated that the King could not raise taxes without Parliamentary consent, and no person could be imprisoned without due process. Why did the King sign the Petition?

Answer 20

Like his father James I, Charles I was a firm believer in the Divine Right of Kings, but he was also broke from two expensive wars.

When Parliament conditioned new taxes on Charles I’s signature on the Petition of Right, he agreed. Once he’d gotten his money, Charles I dismissed Parliament and went back on his word.

During the 1630s, Charles I would rule without a Parliament (sometimes known as the “Eleven Years of Tyranny”) and raise funds through reliance on old tax laws.

Question 21

Who was William of Laud?

Answer 21

During the reign of Charles I, William of Laud served as Archbishop of Canterbury. He sought to strengthen the Anglican Church and establish its dominance over both Scotland and England.

In 1637, he attempted to impose the Church of England on Scotland (who were mainly Calvinist). The Scots revolted, and invaded northern England in 1640.

Question 22

Desperate for funds to fight the Scots who’d invaded northern England in 1640, Charles I called Parliament and requested funds. How did Parliament respond?

Answer 22

Parliament refused to grant funds unless Charles I agreed to change his policies regarding the relationship between Parliament and the King.

Specifically, the Parliament desired greater control over taxation, by which they could control the King. At an impasse, the King dissolved Parliament. It had only sat for three weeks, hence its nickname the “Short Parliament.”

Question 23

What was the Grand Remonstrance?

Answer 23

After dissolving the Short Parliament, Charles I called another Parliament a few months later in November 1640. Under the direction of John Pym, the Parliament compiled a list of 150 grievances against Charles I, known as the Grand Remonstrance.

Charles I ignored the Remonstrance, but the Parliament called in November 1640 would become known as the Long Parliament, as it sat until 1648.

Question 24

In 1641, Charles I asked Parliament for funds to support an army to defend England against the Scots, as well as to put down an Irish rebellion. How did Parliament respond?

Answer 24

Parliament refused out of concern that Charles I would use the created army against them. Exasperated, Charles I marched into Parliament with his supporters in January 1642 and attempted to arrest five members who he felt were treasonous.

The members were absent, but the King’s actions gave rise to strong discontent in London, and the King fled to the north of England. By the summer, civil war had broken out between forces loyal to the King and those who supported Parliament.

Question 25

Who were the Roundheads?

Answer 25

The Roundheads were supporters of Parliament during the English Civil War. Much of Roundheads’ political support came from Puritans and Presbyterians, and in the early years of the Civil War many were not opposed to a constitutional monarchy. By 1649 however, a large majority favored the establishment of a republican commonwealth.

Question 26

What nickname was given to those who opposed the Parliamentary predominance preached by the Roundheads?

Answer 26

The Cavaliers, comprising much of England’s aristocrats, church officials, and nobility, opposed the Roundheads in the English Civil War. Most of the Cavaliers favored an Anglican Church under the control of King and his bishops, and an absolute monarchy.

Question 27

What country gentleman rose to become the leader of the Parliamentary forces in the English Civil War?

Answer 27

Oliver Cromwell, a member of Parliament from England’s minor gentry, rose from the position of commander of a small force of cavalry in the New Model Army to the leader of the Parliamentary forces.

Cromwell was a devout Puritan, although he was generally tolerant to the members of other Christian sects.

Question 28

Define:

New Model Army

Answer 28

Formed in 1645 to serve as the military arm of the Parliament, the New Model Army contained a professional officer corps and a well-disciplined rank and file.

The New Model Army was egalitarian, believing that promotion should be earned through service and bravery, rather than distributed to the rich and well-born. Cromwell became the New Model Army’s most successful leader, using it to handily defeat the Cavalier forces. Charles I was captured in 1647.

Question 29

What was the fate of King Charles I?

Answer 29

In January 1647, Charles I was captured in Scotland by Roundheads. In captivity, he provoked a second English Civil War by promising the Scots a series of reforms if they would invade England.

The invasion failed, and Parliament put the King on trial for treason, claiming that the bloodshed from both wars was his responsibility. Finding him guilty, the King was executed on January 30, 1649.

Question 30

Following the execution of King Charles I, how was England governed?

Answer 30

After Charles I’s execution for treason, the House of Commons voted to abolish the monarchy and the House of Lords. Declaring themselves a commonwealth, Parliament ruled the country as a Republic.

Question 31

In 1649, Parliament authorized Oliver Cromwell to invade _____ to quash royalist sentiment.

Answer 31

Ireland

Cromwell easily brushed aside any Irish resistance, dispossessed Catholics, and replaced them with Protestant landowners. By 1652, the English conquest of Ireland was complete.

Question 32

Parliament passed the Navigation Ordinance of 1651 to sieze control of the English trade from what other country?

Answer 32

Parliament passed the Navigation Ordinance to curtail trade with the Dutch, who dominated trade England’s coastal trade, as well as commerce with England’s American colonies. The Navigation Ordinance required that all trade in England and her colonies be conducted in English ships.

Question 33

What was the underlying reason behind the three Anglo-Dutch Wars of 1652-1674?

Answer 33

The primary reason behind the three Anglo-Dutch Wars was trade, as England was dedicated to curtailing Dutch dominance of Atlantic trade. The wars confirmed Dutch naval dominance for the remainder of the 1600s.

Question 34

In 1653, the leaders of the New Model Army, dissatisfied by the perceived ineffectiveness of Parliament, forcibly dissolved it and declared _____ _____ as Lord Protector, with authority over the entirety of the British Isles.

Answer 34

Oliver Cromwell

Cromwell would rule Britain with the assistance of Protectorate Parliaments under his control until his death in 1658. Although he allowed other religions to worship privately, Cromwell publicly enlisted the state in establishing Puritan moral reforms.

Question 35

In both the Commonwealth and Protectorate, Puritans proved to be the dominant political and religious force in England. What reforms did the Puritans attempt to enact?

Answer 35

The Puritans sought to institute a strict moral code on England. They banned theaters, cracked down on the free press, and barred sporting events.

Question 36

After the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658, who became Lord Protector?

Answer 36

After his death, Oliver Cromwell’s son Richard Cromwell became Lord Protector, but proved to be an ineffectual ruler, and Parliament began looking for alternatives.

At the prompting of General George Monk, Charles I’s son, Charles II, issued the Declaration of Breda in 1660, a general pardon for all crimes committed during the English Civil War. Parliament promptly proclaimed Charles II as King, restoring the Stuart monarchy.

Question 37

Although Parliament had named Charles II as King, it had misgivings about the line of royal succession. Why?

Answer 37

Charles II’s brother James, Duke of York, was heir to the English throne. James was a Catholic which provoked enmity from the country’s Anglican gentry.

Parliament divided into two groups. The Tories supported James’s right to the throne despite his Catholicism, and the Whigs were inexorably opposed. From this humble beginning, the Tories and the Whigs formed the first permanent political parties of the modern world.

Question 38

In 1685, Charles II died, and the Catholic James, Duke of York became James II of England and James VII of Scotland. He quickly managed to alienate both Whigs and Tories by performing what acts?

Answer 38

James II attempted to establish religious freedom for Catholics, an action opposed by Parliament. He also attempted to persecute Scottish Presbyterians and insisted that based on the Divine Right of Kings, he could rule as he wished. By 1688, Parliament was seething with discontent.

Question 39

In 1688, Parliament was already seething with discontent at the rule of James II. What proved to be the final straw in Parliament’s discontent with the King?

Answer 39

Before June of 1688, Parliament had taken some comfort that the heir to the throne was James’s daughter by a previous marriage, Mary, who was a Protestant and married to William of Orange.

In June, however, James’s current wife gave birth to a son, who would be raised Catholic. Protestants in Parliament began searching for alternatives.

Question 40

What was the Glorious Revolution?

Answer 40

In 1688, James II’s son was born, which ensured a Catholic line of succession to the English throne. Parliament, dominated by Protestants, sought a Protestant alternative.

In a “Glorious Revolution,” Parliament invited Protestant William of Orange, married to James’s daughter Mary, to take the throne. William landed his Dutch army in 1688, and James II fled to France. Parliament crowned William and Mary as King and Queen of England.

Question 41

William and Mary signed the Bill of Rights in 1689. What did the Bill establish?

Answer 41

The English Bill of Rights confirmed the existence of an English constitutional monarchy. The Bill required the regular meetings of Parliament, limited the power of the Crown, and guaranteed freedom of speech in Parliament, without fear of retribution.

Question 42

In the wake of the Glorious Revolution, John Locke published his Second Treatise of Government, endorsing a limited government. Why did Locke view a limited government as ideal?

Answer 42

Unlike Hobbes, Locke contended that mankind was not selfish nor violence-prone, but rather that mankind was a product of reason and his environment.

Holding that man was born with natural rights, such as a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, Locke contended the rights were superior to the laws of man. The protection of these natural rights was the primary role of government, and any government who abridged these rights deserved to be replaced.