The English Revolution and The Levellers

English Revolution

• See the word file “A Timeline”.

Puritanism

• group of English Protestants in the XVI and XVII centuries, including English Calvinists

• Puritans believed that the Church of England was still associated and tolerant with the Catholic Church; English Reformation not enough

• They came to power after the English Civil War (1642–46). After the English Restoration of 1660, Puritans left the Church of England and the movement in England changed radically

Cromwell

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUC1pqepl7I

Different Political Tendencies

• The majority of the MPs were in favour of Monarchy, although limited and under the control of the parliament

• 3 major currents: • A. Presbiterians (a group originated in Scotland,

which adhered to the Calvinist theological tradition)• B. Independents (tolerance toward the other

protestant sects and in favour of the complete separation of church and state)

The Levellers

• C. Levellers (term of abuse conied by their opponents to exaggerate their ideas): political movement demanding constitutional reform

• Many of them were New Model Army Agitators• in particular, they were in favour of: extended suffrage

and popular sovereignty, equality before the law and religious tolerance

• All men were born free• Freedom should be limited only by regard for the

freedom of others, not by the governments

• The Levellers espoused some very radical political ideas which undermined the rule of the dominant propertied class

• People were sovereign. Not parliament, nor representatives of the people, but the people as popular “multitude”

• Levellers were spokesmen for smaller independent proprietors as against large landowners and wealthy merchants, especially the old monopolists

• Levellers opposed practices such as enclosure • Defended the right of the craftsman or farmer

to the fruits of his labour• Finally – and most importantly – they were in

favour of “local self-government”: they called for a weaker parliament, in the interests of stronger local government

John Lilburne

• He believed that all men possessed "freeborn rights“ (he coined the term) and that they belonged to individuals, not to the government

• Never showed an inclination to go against private property

• He was never a leveller in the sense of someone seeking to abolish all distinctions betweem rich and poor

• His radicalism consisted in his insistence on the power to the people, as against either ling or parliament

• A Puritan first and then a Quaker

An agreement of the People

• publication after First English Civil War• A manifesto, published in 3 different versions

between 1647 and 1649• Purpose was constitutional changes in

England• It was this document which generated the

Putney Debates (Putney – south of London)

• The Agreement ranged over a broad spectrum of constitutional, political and religious issues

• 3 versions:• "An Agreement of the People for a firm and present

peace upon grounds of common right“ (presented to the Army Council – Oct. 1647)

• "An Agreement of the People of England, and the places therewith incorporated, for a secure and present peace, upon grounds of common right, freedom and safety“ (presented to the Rump Parliament – Jan. 1649)

• “An Agreement of the Free People of England. Tendered as a Peace-Offering to this distressed Nation“ (extended version from the Leveller leaders - May 1649 – while they were in prison)

Points included in the 1649 version

• Right to for all people to vote for their representatives• Freedom of religion and press• Equality of all persons before the law• No judgment touching life, liberty or property but by jury

trial• Abolition of capital punishment except for murder• No military conscription of conscientious objectors• No monopolies, tithes, or excise taxes• Taxation proportionate to real or personal property• Abolition of imprisonment for debt

The Putney Debates (1647)

• Took place between Oct. 28 and Nov. 11• The Levellers wanted the Agreement of the People

to be England's new constitution• But the New Model Army based their demands on

the Heads of Proposals, a more moderate document

• The division between the Army grandees and the Levellers represented a substancial divergence between what has been called an ‘oligarchic republicanism’ and a more democratic radicalism

• The New Model Army was the first army in the history to have a democratic debate in its ranks

• These debates were conducted not by philosophers or theologians, but by activists and soldiers, speaking in their own language

Reform of the franchise (suffrage)

• (Ellen Wood) Radicals invoked some revolutionary ideas about the fundamental rights of men (males) and the basis of legitimate government

• The position of the Leveller leaders was universal adult male suffrage