History Civi (Primary source assignment)

Primary source assignment – For this assignment you will write a two page analysis of one of the primary sources.

· Your analysis will consider who wrote the source and why, what kind of source it is (ie legal document, piece of literature, religious text, legal code, etc), who the intended audience of the source was, and the historical context of the document (ie what was happening at the time and place the document was produced). But do not simply list these things; be sure to integrate them into your essay/analysis.

· This assignment should be analytical, not narrative. This means you must explain what the document means, and why it is significant, rather than simply summarizing what you think the document says.

· Your analysis also should consider what the document tells about what was going on at the time, and in the place, where the document was produced.

· The analysis of the document should be your own, and therefore you should use only the document itself, and lecture notes and text to help with historical context, to complete this assignment. Do not search the internet for someone else’s interpretation of the document.

· Your assignment will be graded on both content and writing style and must conform to the instructions for writing essays and grading rubric included at the back of the syllabus. Remember that you will be penalized for not properly citing your work and for not following all instructions.

· This assignment is intended to develop your critical and analytical thinking skills as well as your writing skills.

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182 A World in Transition

The French Revolution, which began in 1789, had a greater impact than the
English revolutions. More social groups – peasants, urban workers, and women
– participated, and it inspired more people around the globe. More important,
the French Revolution went beyond liberalism and constitutionalism. It champi-
oned the democratic principles that every person, irrespective of social standing,
should have a voice in government and that all people should be treated equally
before the law. It also aroused the first nationalist movements in Europe and
inspired disaffected groups throughout the world to seek political and social
change through revolution.

The Foundations of Parliamentary
Supremacy in England

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42 T ENGLISH BILL OF RIGHTS
The acceptance of the English Bill of Rights in 1689 ended a clash between the
Crown and Parliament that had convulsed English politics for almost a century.
During the reigns of the first two Stuart kings, James I (r. 1603-1625) and his son
Charles I (r, 1625-1649), the landowners, merchants, and lawyers who dominated
the House of Commons fought the monarchy over religious, economic, diplo-
matic, and political issues that all centered on the fundamental question of Parlia-
ment’s place in England’s government.

A political impasse over new taxes led to civil war between Parliamentarians
and Royalists in 1642. After a triumphant Parliament ordered the execution of
Charles I in 1649, a faction of Puritans led by Oliver Cromwell seized power and
for the next eleven years sought to impose its strict Protestant beliefs on the Eng-
lish people. The Puritans’ grip on England loosened after the death of Cromwell
in 1658 and was lost altogether when a newly elected Parliament restored the Stu-
arts in 1660.

Charles II (r. 1660-1685) and his brother James II (r. 1685-168~), however,
alienated their subjects through pro-French and pro-Catholic policies and disre-
gard for Parliament. James II was a professed Catholic, and when a male heir was
born in 1688, it raised the possibility of a long line of English Catholic kings. Most
of his predominantly Protestant subjects found this unacceptable, and the result
was the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689. In a change that resembled a coup
d’etat more than a revolution, Parliament offered the Crown to James’s Protestant
daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange of Holland. After James
mounted only token resistance and then fled the country, his son-in-law and
daughter became King William III and Queen Mary II after signing the English
Bill of Rights, presented to them by Parliament in 1689. By doing so they accepted
parliamentary limitations on royal authority that became a permanent part of Eng-
land’s constitution.

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Chapter 5 Europe and the Americas in an Age of Science, Economic Growth, and Revolution 183

QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS

1. What abuses of royal power seem to have most disturbed the authors of the
English Bill of

Rights?

2. Were the authors most concerned with political, economic, or religious
issues?

3. What role does the Bill of Rights envision for the English Crown?
4. When the Bill of Rights speaks of “rights,” to whose rights does it refer?
5. In what ways might the common people of England benefit from the Bill of

Rights?

Whereas the late King James the Second, by the
assistance of diverse evil counselors, judges and
ministers employed by him, did endeavor to
subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion and
the laws and liberties of this kingdom;

By assuming and exercising a power of dis-
pensing with and suspending of laws and the
execution oflaws without consent of Parliament;

By committing and prosecuting diverse wor-
thy prelates for humbly petitioning to be excused
from concurring to the said assumed power;

By issuing and causing to be executed a com-
mission under the great seal for erecting a court
called the Court of Commissioners for Ecclesias-
tical Causes;’

By levying money for and to the use of the
Crown by pretense of prerogative for other time
and in other manner than the same was granted
by Parliament;

By raising and keeping a standing army within
this kingdom in time of peace without consent of
Parliament, and quartering soldiers contrary to
law;

By causing several good subjects being Protes-
tants to be disarmed at the same time when
papists were both armed and employed contrary
to law;

By violating the freedom of election of mem-
bers to serve in Parliament; …

And whereas of late years partial corrupt and

IA special royal court established to try religious cases.
2Pive maritime towns in southeast England that during the
Middle Ages gained the right to send representatives to

unqualified persons have been returned and
served on juries in trials, and particularly diverse
jurors in trials for high treason which were not
freeholders;

And excessive bail hath been required of per-
sons committed in criminal cases to elude the
benefit of the laws made for the liberty of the
subjects;

And excessive fines have been imposed;
And illegal and cruel punishments inflicted;
And several grants and promises made of fines

and forfeitures before any conviction or judg-
ment against the persons upon whom the same
were to be levied;

All which are utterly and directly contrary to
the known laws and statutes and freedom of this
realm;

And whereas the said late King James the Sec-
ond having abdicated the government and the
throne being thereby vacant, his Highness the
prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased Al-
mighty God to make the glorious instrument of
delivering this kingdom from popery and arbi-
trary power) did … cause letters to be written
to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal being Prot-
estants, and other letters to the several counties,
cities, universities, boroughs and cinque ports,”
for the choosing of such persons to represent
them as were of right to be sent to Parliament,
to meet and sit at Westminster upon the two

Parliament in recurn for aiding the naval defense of the
realm.

184 A World in Transition

and twentieth day of January in this year one
thousand six hundred eighty and eight,” in order
to make such an establishment as that their reli-
gion, laws and liberties might not again be in
danger of being subverted, upon which letters
elections having been accordingly made;

And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and
Temporal and Commons,” pursuant to their re-
spective letters and elections, being now as-
sembled … , taking into their most serious
consideration the best means for attaining the
ends aforesaid, do in the first place (as their
ancestors in like case have usually done) for the
vindicating and asserting their ancient rights
and liberties declare;

That the pretended power of suspending of
laws or the execution of laws by regal authority
without consent of Parliament is illegal;

That the pretended power of dispensing with
laws or the execution of laws by regal authority,
as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is
illegal;

That the commission for erecting the late
Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes,
and all other commissions and courts of like
nature, are illegal and pernicious;

That levying money for or to the use of the
Crown by pretense of prerogative, without grant
of Parliament, for longer time, or in other man-

3Until the eighteenth century the English new year began
on Match 25, not January 1; by modern reckoning the year
should be 1689.
4The lords Spiritual were rhe prelates of the Anglican
Church who sat in the House of lords; the lords Temporal

ner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal;
That it is the right of the Subjects to petition

the king, and all commitments and prosecutions
for such petitioning are illegal;

That the raising or keeping a standing army
within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it
be with consent of Parliament, is against law;

That the subjects which are Protestants may
have arms for their defense suitable to their con-
ditions and as allowed by law;

That election of members of Parliament ought
to be free;

That the freedom of speech and debates or
proceedings in Parliament ought not to be im-
peached or questioned in any court or place out
of Parliament;

That excessive bail ought not to be required,
nor excessive fines imposed nor cruel and un-
usual punishments inflicted;

That jurors ought to be duly impaneled and
returned, and jurors which pass upon men in tri-
als for high treason ought to be freeholders;”

That all grants and, promises of fines and for-
feitures of particular persons before conviction
are illegal and void;

And that for redress of all grievances, and for
the amending, strengthening and preserving of
the laws, Parliaments ought to be held fre-
quently ….

were tided peers who sat in the House of lords; Commons
refers to the House of Commons, to which nontirled Eng-
lishmen were elected.
5Property holders.

A Program for Revolutionary Change In France
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43 T CAHIER OF THE THIRD ESTATE
OF THE CITY OF PARIS

The French Revolution began because of a problem that has plagued rulers since
the beginning of organized government – King Louis XVI (r, 1774-1792) and his
ministers could not b:uance their budget. Having exhausted every other solution,