Why was there no settlement 1649-53?

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  • Created by: Lauriie
  • Created on: 26-04-16 22:13
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  • Why was there no settlement 1649-53?
    • The Rump Parliament
      • Events
        • Spring 1649
          • Aug 1649- May 1650: Irish campaign
            • Summer 1650
              • Spring 1651
                • Summer 1651
                  • Spring 1652
                    • 20 April 1653: Cromwell dissolves the Rump
                    • Jan: appointment of the Hale commission
                    • May: beginning of first Anglo Dutch War
                  • July-Aug: CII invades England
                    • 3 Sept: the Battle of Dunbar
                • Jan: CII crowned by the Scots
              • July 1650- Aug 1651: Scottish campaign
                • Summer 1651
                  • Spring 1652
                    • 20 April 1653: Cromwell dissolves the Rump
                    • Jan: appointment of the Hale commission
                    • May: beginning of first Anglo Dutch War
                  • July-Aug: CII invades England
                    • 3 Sept: the Battle of Dunbar
                • 3 Sept: Battle of Dunbar
              • Charles II lands in Scotland
              • 27 Sept: the Toleration Act
            • 11 Sept: Drogheda falls
            • 11 Oct: Wexford falls
          • Summer 1649
            • Spring 1650
              • Summer 1650
                • Spring 1651
                  • Jan: CII crowned by the Scots
                • July 1650- Aug 1651: Scottish campaign
                  • 3 Sept: Battle of Dunbar
                • Charles II lands in Scotland
                • 27 Sept: the Toleration Act
              • Jan: Engagement Act
          • Jan 4: Commons declares itself supreme power
          • Jan 30 CI is executed
          • Feb 5: CI declared King by the Scots
          • March 17-19 : Acts abolishing the monarchy and the lords
          • May 14-15 Leveller uprising
      • Reforms
        • 1650 acts for godly reformation: suppressed swearing, drinking, blaspemy etc
          • laws on obseving holy days and on spreading the gospel to the three kingdoms
          • Toleration Act: Limited
        • September 1649: Act for the relief of poor debtors
        • Jan 1643: set up the Hale Comission for law reform- but didn't implement any
      • Opposition
        • The Levellers: imprisoned leaders and put down a rebellion
        • The Irish: suppressed by Cromwell in 1649
        • The Scots: military campaign 1650-51
        • The Dutch: trade war
        • The Army: felt that the Rump was corrupt
        • Religious radicals: meant to be shut up be reforms
      • Reason for failure
        • April 1653: dissolved by Cromwell and soldiers while discussing a bill for new elections
        • Cromwell had forced the readmission of members secluded in Prides' Purge: they couldn't agree on anything
          • diplomatic paralisis: couldn't end the Anglo-Dutch war
        • failure to carry out godly reformation
          • toleration act: made people attend a sermon weekly
          • alienated the army and suppressed radical groups such as the Levellers
        • heavy economic burden
    • The Nominated Assembly / Barebones Parliament / Parliament of Saints
      • Events
        • April 1653: Cromwell dissolves the Rump
          • July 1653: Nominated Assembly opens
            • December 1653
              • 10 Dec: radicals defeat a moderate proposal to retain tithes
              • 12 Dec: moderates vote to return their power to Cromwell, NA is dissolved
      • What was it?
        • 140 members of the gentry
          • a few London tradespeople
        • 'of approved fidelity and honesty'
          • godly
        • Scots and Irish represented
        • Mostly nominated by army officers
        • met regularly 6 days/week from 8 am
      • Reforms
        • Huge and successful program of social reform
          • Acts for the relief of poor creditors and poor prisoners
          • Acts to regulate the conditions under which the mentally ill were kept
          • legalised civil marriages performed by JPs
          • established legislation for the probate of wills, marriages and births registration
        • were drafting
          • law reforms from the Hale commission
          • proposals to rationalise the taxation system and abolish the hated excise tax
        • Brought Scotland and Ireland further under English control
      • Opposition
        • The Levellers: John Lilburne's trial caused so much protest that he was aquitted
        • An (undeserved) negative image
          • seen as a radical religious and military dictatorship led by Fifth Monarchists such as Thomas Harrison
            • but in fact it was only meant to be a temporary measure, though it was democratic
            • Capp and Woolrych: only 13 out of 140 nominated members were Fifth Monarchists
          • seen as men 'unfit to rule'
            • Common tradespeople such as Praise-god Barebone, a leatherseller
            • but the vast majority were gentlement
          • people thought they spent too long considering ridiculous / utopian reforms
            • but they passed more legislation than the Rump
      • Why did it fail?
        • ripped apart by conflict between the radicals and the moderates
          • Manifested itself in tithes: moderates wanted to keep them (self interest, protection of property and social order)
        • weakened by its bad reputation
    • The Army
      • after the completion of the Scottish and Irish campaigns the Army didn't have much else to do
      • put pressure on the Rump for godly reform
        • anger at lack or progress
          • Toleration Act/ Hale comission
          • MPs were 'sitting on bayonets'
      • Expensive: £111 000 / month
        • Dec 1652: Monthy assessment increased
    • Situational factors
      • created by force (Pride's Purge)
      • rested on minority support
      • had to cope with the difficult legacy of the civil wars (religious /constitutional machinery destroyed, local communities angry and disillusioned, taxes.
      • born out of the desire to execute CI, no actual commitment to republicanism
      • radical religious and political groups
    • Cromwell
      • Became Lord General in 1650
      • Blair Worden: 'ideological schizophrenia
        • eg opinions on kingship, using force against parliament, political presbyterians
      • failed to provide strong leadership:
        • reliant on providence
        • eg let the Nominated Assembly be taken over by radicals
        • wanted to achieve godly reformation and constitutional propriety (Seel: 'mutually exclusive')
          • invited back presbyterians then complained about a lack of reformation
    • MPs
      • Sean Kelsey: 'many of the so-called 'revolutionaries' were nothing of the sort'
        • they came from the propertied levels of society and were often socially conservative
        • they were fearful of groups such as the Levellers and the Diggers
        • Only about 15% of the Rump could be labelled 'actively revolutionary'
        • Presbyterians secluded by Prides' Purge had been readmitted
      • Slow to pass any reforming legislation
        • During the first 3 months average attendance was 56 MPs out of 211
        • took ages to pass any religious reforming (Toleration Act) or constitutional legislation
        • None of the reforms recommended by the Hale commission were passed
      • Made unpopular political decisions (felt very insecure)
        • demanded an 'Oath of Engagement' (only 19 members of the Council of State took it)
        • little evidence that they were planning to stand down despite promises to dissolve the Rump in Nov 1653

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