The Significance of the Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution was the peaceful overthrown of King JamesⅡof England in 1688 by a union of English Parliamentarians and an invading army led by William of Orange. King JamesⅡdesired to rule despotically and to reestablish the Roman Catholic religion in England. His overt Roman Catholicism, his suspension of legal rights of dissenters, and the prospect of a Catholic heir to the throne proved to be too much for the governing classes, which entered into negotiation with the Protestant William of Orange, who was the husband of Mary, Jame s’s eldest daughter. In 1688, William’s landing in England made James flee to France. The English throne was declared vacant, and William and Mary ascended the English throne as WilliamⅢand MaryⅡ. The Glorious Revolution was a landmark in English history and had great significances.
To begin with, the long conflict between Parliament and the English Crown culminated in the Glorious Revolution. This event brought a permanent realignment of power within the English constitution. Parliament clearly established its ascendancy over the crown, as its authority continued to increase, while that of the monarchy declined.
The antagonism between the monarch and parliament had been intensifying throughout the seventeenth century. In 1642, this dispute turned into a Civil War between the King and Parliament. As the Civil War drew to an end, King CharlesⅠwas beheaded, and Oliver Cromwell held the authority of England on an
experiment in republican government. The eleven-year experiment in republican government failed to provide England with stability in its political and religious life, therefore, the Parliament invited CharlesⅠ’s sons, Charles and James, back to England and acted to restore the monarchy. The restoration, however, did not resolve the question of the distribution of power between the King and Parliament, nor had the conflicts over religion. So the tension between the King and Parliament continued during the reign of King CharlesⅡand his brother King JamesⅡ. These issues finally came to an end following the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the passage of the Bill of Rights. The
revolutionary settlement placed restrictions on the powers of the crown, establishing a system of constitutional monarchy.
What’s more, the Glorious Revolution was an important stage in the evolution of modern English parliamentary democracy. With the passage of the Bill of Rights, it ended the Divine Right of Kings Theory, and never again would the monarch hold absolute power. These factors ultimately laid the foundation for a constitutional monarchy.
The significance of the Glorious Revolution set down in the Declaration of Rights: a document drawn up by the emergency Convention Parliament and later written into law as the Bill of Rights, which was
presented to William and Mary before they took the throne in 1689. The Bill of Rights was considered to be the cornerstone of the English Constitution, and from this point, England would be forward a constitutional monarchy. According to the new arrangement, the monarch’s powers were greatly restricted: he or she could no longer suspend laws, levy taxes, make royal appointments, or maintain a standing army during peacetime without Parliament’s permission. The Bill of Rights also balanced the liberties of the subject and guaranteed certain individual rights and basic civil liberties. For example, article ten declares that English subjects were to be free from excessive bail, fines, or cruel and unusual punishments.
The Glorious Revolution and the passage of the Bill of Rights made sure that England would be governed according to the statues in parliament agreed on, and the laws and customs of the same. From then on, England had a government of law, not of the Crown.
In addition, the Glorious Revolution ended any chance of Catholicism becoming re-established in England.
England adhered to the Catholic Church for almost a thousand years, from the time of Augustine of Canterbury. During the reign of King Henry VIII, the Parliament passed a law that repudiated any papal
jurisdiction over the English Church and declared the king to be its sole head. Since then, more and more English people became Protestant and there was a continuing undercurrent of anti-Catholicism
present in England. But under Mary I, England reverted back to Catholicism. She was known as “B loody Mary” because of her cruel persecutions of Protestants. People’s hospitality toward Catholicism, which was tyrannical and conservative, became deeper and deeper. In the seventeenth century England, anti-Catholicism was one of the main re-occurring themes. Under King Louis XIV, France became a Catholic superpower in Europe, which led to English fears of a French invasion of their country with the resulting loss of their property, their laws, their parliamentary form of government and their religion. Besides these fears about France, the English also worried about the increasing prominence of Catholics in influential positions at the Stuart court under the reign of James II. Therefore, the parliament decided to depose James and establish his protestant daughter and son-in-law, Mary and William, on the throne. The Act of Settlement 1701, which remains in operation today, excluded any Catholic or anyone who marries a Catholic from the throne.
Last but not least, the Glorious Revolution did not involve the masses of ordinary people in England, and there was little bloodshed and little threat of social disorder. Many historians viewed the event more closely resembled a coup d'état than a social revolution. This view of events did not contradict w
monarchyhat was originally meant by “revolution”: the coming round of an old system of values in a circular motion, back to its original position, as Britain's constitution was reasserted, rather than formed anew. The Revolution of 1688 led England to build a democratic system of constitutional monarchy at little expense. On the relatively free political conditions, England gradually became more and more powerful.
To sum up, the Glorious Revolution was one of the most important events in British history in that it ended the long conflict of political power between parliament and the Crown, laid the foundation for a constitutional monarch, stamped out once and for all any possibility of a Catholic monarchy and caused little bloodshed and little threat of social disorder.

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