William III and Parliament: 1689 -1701 Flashcards
Nine Years’ War
1688- 1697
Effects of War
War created new institutions, new relationships, new demands, new powers, new ambitions, new dangers and new priorities. Thus war transformed England and Britain
War provided the Whigs and Tories with an opportunity to limit powers of Crown
. They cooperated to pass Triennial Act (1694) - required general elections every 3 years - parliament had placed itself at the centre of the state.
. What maded these changes effective was parliament’s ancient control of taxation - pressing need created by war - to have parliament that would sanction ever-increasing taxation and debt changed it from periodic event, called when the king needed it, to a permanent institution, which has met every year since 1689.
What did the Public Accounts Commission do?
1690 - monitored government spending/investigating financial mismanagement - Taxation was extended and professionalised under Inspector-General (1696) to levy customs and excise duties, notably on beer. The revenue service became one of the largest and most efficient arms of the state.
Land Tax
1693 - high rate of tax which reached 20% of income - in itself a politcal revolution because for a century Parliament had resisted taxation, even to the point of open conflict with Crown
What was the ‘financial revolution”?
In 1698 Parliament voted the Crown tax revenues worth approximately £700,000 per annum
What was this known as?
Civil List - marked the final end of belief that monarchy should live off ordinary, non-parliamentary revenues - established the principle that the costs of civil government were paid from parliamentary revenue.
What did the government’s fiscal credit become dependent on?
Parliamentary guarantees
new ‘National Debt that grew from…
£16 million to 36 million b6 1713
What did this process also create
The foundation of the Bank of England in 1694
Public guarantees became the basis for public credit, what advantage did this have?
Enabled William (and Anne) to more extensively than any of their predecessors.
William needed to choose new ministers. Why and how did this show Parliament’s power?
William frequently absent fighting French so he had to rely on Mary to run the government while he was away (so again incessant warfare was the main driver of change) - concetration of power amongst a small efficient group of advisors was an important indication of the growth of Parliament’s power. With Mary’s death in 1694 - William relied on ‘Cabinet Council’ - emergence of Cabinet government.
Outline the main religious changes in this period. What were the religious differences between Whigs and Tories. Were these differences significant?
Whigs and Tories disagreed fundamentally on religious issues in this period.
Tories views?
. Tories retained a strong attachment to the established Church and were deeply mistrustful of any concessions to dissenters
Whigs views?
. Whigs sought greater religious toleration/were anxious support cause of international Protestantism. They welcomed William as a Calvinist hero and they were delighted when his episcopal appointments consistently favoured them.
