History 342 Midterm Review

• Acted as an absolutist – the king had absolute power to make law: King had to follow rules of the Church because his absolute power was by divine right
• Tried to call for general religious toleration to try to get EVERY non-Anglican on his side (Dissenters and Nonconformists), not just Catholics, but Dissenters didn’t go for it because they still didn’t like Catholics
• Parliament invited James II’s daughter, Mary’s husband, William of Orange (the grandson of an English king) to take over England in the Glorious Revolution (James “abdicated” throne)

Parliament invited James II’s daughter, Mary’s husband, William of Orange (the grandson of an English king) to take over England in the Glorious Revolution (James “abdicated” throne)

• No power directly taken from the King
• Bill of Rights to guarantee English right and liberties (some individual/some Parliamentary)
• Some prescriptions of royal power: King can’t interfere in trials, interfere in elections, or obstruct Parliament from holding meetings
• Closest England gets to a Constitution
• King and Parliament must work together

• James II -> William II and Mary I -> Anne I -> George I
• Act of Union of 1707: Joined Scotland with England and Wales in United Kingdom of Britain under 1 royal reign

• Whig leader of "Robinocracy" of an oligarchy
• “Sinking fund” – a mechanism to repay war debts
• Destroyed the “South Sea Bubble”, a scheme to privatize the National Debt

• 1st Hanoverian born in England
• Not an absolutist: accepts role of Parliament, but wants to rely on it less
• Against Whigs: outed Pitt and brought in Lord Bute, his tutor
• "Farmer George" as exemplar for subjects
• Suffered from porhyria, so he was thought to be crazy

• Populist, bourgeois, radical Whig politician that purchased a seat in Parliament with the purchase of an estate, but wanted to eliminate "rotten boroughs", purchased seats of Parliament that came with a purchased estate
• Arrested with general warrant, which he sued over and won
• Wanted to make the system more evenly and accurately represented
• Symbolizes the radical opposition that the Americans favored

• Formally brought Ireland under Parliamentary control
• Brought raised Irish nationality that was tied to Catholicism
• Caused Pitt to resign over Catholic Emancipation, a promise to allow open Catholic worship; the king saw such an action as a threat to his coronation oath (to uphold the Church of England), so the rule didn’t pass

• Aimed to: Get rid of worst excesses of old system; Enfranchise at the very least the middle class; Meet
• popular grievances; Retain aristocratic influence
• Created more votes (but also corrupted system because now more votes could be bought)
• In the 1830s, the impulse to reform was partly moral, partly of political necessity (demand by middle class, then working class, then unsuccessfully by Chartists)

• Dynamic Whig that rose during Seven Years War
• Believed in imperial policy (little interest in fighting in Europe – keep involvement as small as possible)
• Fighting in Europe is inconsistent with government and social customs to turn themselves into a military state
• Subsidize allies, but focus effort overseas to Canada and sugar colonies in their awesome navy

• Tory proponent for limited economical reform: Reduces number of sinecures (posts doled out by Prime Minister to gain favor)
• Talked about eliminating rotten/pocket boroughs but couldn’t
• Cut taxes some, but really reduced spending on army and navy since war was over, thus reducing the national debt = "sinking fund"
• 1784 – passes the India Act that puts a Board of Control in place to oversee the East India Company
• Resigned after kind didn't uphold promise for Catholic Emancipation in 1801, but came back

• Leading Whig despised by the king but friend of Prince of Wales (future George IV)
• Made his name through impeachment of Warren Hastings (governor general of India)
• Burlesque and disliked, but great orator
• Wanted great reform, which people linked to French Revolution (=BAD)

• Part of Financial Revolution/growth of trade
• Enabled government to borrow money against taxation: Nobles bought up all national debt and then reissued it in the form of government bonds, thus lowering interest for government loans
• “Sinking fund” – taxes set aside to pay the debt between wars
• Stable source of revenue to pay for wars
• Parliamentary decisions to borrow money from Bank for wars: represents the people (governing classes) who are signing the bonds
• Enabled trustworthy paper currency to develop
• Common currency for England which became a more universal currency