The ‘Glorious Revolution’ (1688)
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘The ‘Glorious Revolution’ (1688)’
In The Copybook
Posts in The Copybook tagged ‘The ‘Glorious Revolution’ (1688)’
In The Copybook
Politicians who demand that everyone in the country unite behind their vision of society are standing in the way of real progress.
In the 1680s, many feared that after Charles II died his brother James would take England and Scotland into a European league of Roman Catholic kingdoms, led by Louis XIV of France. Algernon Sidney could not see how countries and peoples so diverse could possibly require the same laws, or how anyone would think such hidebound uniformity could lead to progress.
King James II was forced off the throne in favour of his daughter Mary, and a new English constitution was born.
James II was England’s first Roman Catholic monarch for a hundred and fifty years (if you don’t count his brother Charles II’s deathbed conversion). At any rate, Parliament was determined that he would be the last, and in 1688 they took drastic action to make sure that England did not become a vassal of the powerful and ambitious French King, Louis XIV.