As a result, the Glorious Revolution constitution made credible the enduring ascendancy of Parliament. In terms of the king, the new constitution increased the credibility of the proposition that kings would not usurp Parliament. A king who lives within the constitution has less desire to renege on his commitments. Recall that Charles II defaulted on his debts in an attempt to subvert the constitution, and, in contrast, Parliament after the Glorious Revolution generously financed wars for monarchs who abided by the constitution.
An irony of the Glorious Revolution is that monarchs who accepted constitutional constraints gained more resources than their absolutist forebears. Still, should a monarch want to have his government renege, Parliament will not always agree, and a stable constitution assures a Parliamentary veto.
The two houses of Parliament, Commons and Lords, creates more veto opportunities, and the chances of a policy change decrease with more veto opportunities if the king and the two houses have different interests Weingast Another aspect of Parliament is the role of political parties.
For veto opportunities to block change, opponents need only to control one veto, and here the coalition aspect of parties was important. For example, the Whig coalition combined dissenting Protestants and moneyed interests, so each could rely on mutual support through the Whig party to block government action against either. Cross-issue bargaining between factions creates a cohesive coalition on multiple issues Stasavage As a deterrent against violating commitments today, reputation relies on penalties felt tomorrow, so reputation often does not deter those overly focused on the present.
A desperate king is a common example. As collective bodies of indefinite life, however, Parliament and political parties have longer time horizons than an individual, so reputation has better chance of fostering credibility. A measure of fiscal credibility is the risk premium that the market puts on government debt.
During the Nine Years War , government debt carried a risk premium of 4 percent over private debt, but that risk premium disappeared and became a small discount in the years to Quinn A related measure of confidence was the market price of stock in companies like the Bank of England and the East India Company.
Because those companies were created by Parliamentary authorization and held large quantities of government debt, changes in confidence were reflected in changes in their stock prices. Again, the Treaty of Ryswick greatly increased stock prices and confirms a substantial increase in the credibility of the government Wells and Wills , The fiscal credibility of the English government created by the Glorious Revolution unleashed a revolution in public finance.
To bolster credibility, Parliament committed future tax revenues to servicing the debts and introduced new taxes as needed Dickson , Brewer Credible government debt formed the basis of the Bank of England in and the core the London stock market.
While the Glorious Revolution was critical to the Financial Revolution in England, the follow up assertion in North and Weingast that the Glorious Revolution increased the security of property rights in general, and so spurred economic growth, remains an open question.
A difficulty is how to test the question. An increase in the credibility of property rights might cause interest rates to decrease because people become willing to save more; however, rates based on English property rentals show no effect from the Glorious Revolution, and the rates of one London banker actually increased after the Glorious Revolution Clark , Quinn In contrast, high interest rates could indicate that the Glorious Revolution increased entrepreneurship and demand for investment.
Unfortunately, high rates could also mean that the expansion of government borrowing permitted by the Financial Revolution crowded out investment. Distinguishing between crowding out and increased demand for investment, however, relies on establishing whether the overall quantity of business investment changed, and that remains unresolved because of the difficulty in constructing such an aggregate measure.
The potential linkages between the credibility created by the Glorious Revolution and economic development remain an open question. Radical Whigs argued that William should reign as an elected king, meaning his power would be derived from the people. Tories wanted to acclaim Mary as queen, with William as her regent. Among other constitutional principles, the English Bill of Rights acknowledged the right for regular meetings of Parliaments, free elections, and freedom of speech in Parliament.
Speaking to the nexus of the Glorious Revolution, it also prohibited the monarchy from ever coming under Catholic control. English Catholics suffered both socially and politically from the Glorious Revolution. For over a century, Catholics were not allowed to vote, sit in Parliament, or serve as commissioned military officers. Until , the sitting monarch of England was forbidden to be Catholic or to marry a Catholic.
The English Bill of Rights of began the age of English parliamentary democracy. Not since its enactment has an English king or queen held absolute political power. The Glorious Revolution also played a significant role in the history of the United States. News of the Revolution spurred hopes of independence among the American colonists, leading to several protests and uprisings against English rule.
Perhaps most importantly, the Glorious Revolution served as the basis for constitutional law establishing and defining governmental power, as well as the granting and limitation of rights. These principles regarding the division of powers and functions among well-defined executive, legislative, and judiciary branches of government have been incorporated into the constitutions of England, the United States, and many other Western countries.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. In Ireland and Scotland, the revolution was militarily contested and its settlements extremely politically and religiously divisive. For example, Irish Protestants disregarded the generous peace terms of the Treaty of Limerick 3 October and established a monopoly over land-ownership and political power. The revolution also failed to limit the power of parliaments and created no body of protected constitutional law.
Therefore the Septennial Act of was able to effectively undermine the terms of the Triennial Act, ushering in the lengthy rule of a Whig oligarchy. For the non-white inhabitants of the British Atlantic empire, the Glorious Revolution represented not the broadening of freedom but the expansion of servitude.
Cambridge University Press, He is currently writing a history of English radicalism from Magna Carta to the present day. Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience.
Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving. British History Timeline. Explore the British History Timeline from the Neolithic to the present day. King James, however, had prepared for military attacks and left London to bring his forces to meet the invading army.
James decided to retreat back to London on November In December , King James made an attempt to escape but was captured. Later that month, he made another attempt and successfully fled to France, where his Catholic cousin Louis XIV held the throne and where James eventually died in exile in In January , the now-famous Convention Parliament met. The two new rulers accepted more restrictions from Parliament than any previous monarchs, causing an unprecedented shift in the distribution of power throughout the British realm.
The king and queen both signed the Declaration of Rights, which became known as the Bill of Rights. This document acknowledged several constitutional principles, including the right for regular Parliaments, free elections and freedom of speech in Parliament.
Additionally, it forbade the monarchy from being Catholic. While there was little bloodshed and violence in England, the revolution led to significant loss of life in Ireland and Scotland. After this event, the monarchy in England would never hold absolute power again. The event also had an impact on the 13 colonies in North America.
The colonists were temporarily freed of strict, anti- Puritan laws after King James was overthrown. The Glorious Revolution, Parliament.
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