England for a long time had been told to hate Catholics and when James came from Scotland and became king he decided to marry Henrietta Maria, a Catholic, the people became unhappy because they did not know if their heir would be Protestant or Catholic. In 1625 England became involved in expensive foreign wars - with the Austrian Empire then in 1627 a war against France. This meant that Charles was very short of money and so he forced rich people to lend it to him. In 1628 Charles asked Parliament to let him raise custom duties on wines and many other goods. The MPs were not happy with the forced loans and foreign wars so they presented Charles with the Petition of Rights which was just parliament saying that Charles cannot raise custom duties without parliaments permission.
He introduced this tax to the whole country and misused it by not using it for ship money. So people had to pay money to Charles when they barley had money for themselves. This caused argument because people in parliament didn’t pay and the case was taken to court but Charles’s tax was ruled legal. The most obvious reason for the civil war is power. Divine right also comes in to power.
The Parliament that assembled 3 November 1640 was fundamentally hostile to Charles I. Candidates associated with the court had been defeated, and almost everyone elected was aggrieved at some aspect of Charles' policies. Parliament had been assembled only because Charles needed money to pay the Scots army. To ensure that it was not dissolved as soon as the Scots army disbanded, Parliament forced Charles to sign an Act (10 May 1641) agreeing that this Parliament would not be dissolved without its own consent. The threat of the Scottish army was also used to persuade the King to consent to the Triennial Act (15 February 1641).
The American Revolution was a result of the colonists unrest caused by their abhorrence towards their British Mother Country. For several centuries the colonies had been subject to rule by the English Crown and it’s Parliament. They no longer wanted to be controlled by a country an ocean away, and in turn sought independence. A huge factor in the start of the American Revolution was the French and Indian War that changed the age-old bond between the colonies and England. Decades of conflict followed, starting with the revolt as a result of the Stamp Act in 1765, leading to the eruption of war in 1775.
The colonists believed that they should have separate laws from Britain because they are not directly represented in parliament. When the colonists continued to disobey the new laws, Britain enforced a harsher set of laws, known as the intolerable acts, to show the colonies that Britain was angry for the Boston Tea Party. This further angered the colonists and caused them to rethink the idea of a rebellion. The colonies as well violated the rights they were fighting for, by
Sharpe writes that serious opposition only emerged with the Bishops’ wars in 1637, followed by the attack on Charles government by parliament which led to the calling of the long parliament in 1640 and the end of the personal rule. In contrast, Morrill argues that significant opposition existed long before this, such as the formation of the ‘Godly party’ and the inflexible aspects of Charles personality, which also played key roles in the lead up to war and the long parliament. 1637 things people opposed It can be seen that Charles’ faced great opposition to his personal rule in the last three years of his personal rule. However, nothing was as breathtaking in terms of effects one the rule as was the Ship Money trial of 1637. This caused huge uproar as John Hampden was put to trial after he refused to pay the Ship Money tax.
However one thing is certain, the victor will either be King Charles Stewart and his Royalist supporters or the men of Parliament with their supporters. It is despicable that Parliament refuses to accept the divine will of our great and noble King Charles. Parliament has been given a sound opportunity to listen to the will of our King yet they have chosen to ignore his will and as a result they have jeopardized our position as a force in Europe and worst of all they have committed high treason. Parliaments will regret allowing the five condemned Members of Parliament to escape justice; it is only a matter of time before they beg for forgiveness. We have a strong position in the West Country, the north and Wales and we firmly believe that the people will gladly support our sovereign in this conflict.
It has been argued that Charles I was the main reason that war broke out. I will be investigating whether this is a far accusation by looking at the long-term and the short-term causes for the English Civil War and assessing how far Charles was really to blame. Firstly, it has been argued that Charles was to blame for the long-term reasons such as wanting to make changes to religion, the power of the king and money. For example, Charles was partly to blame for money because he was trying to buy off the Scottish with £850 a day (which he could not afford) as a result from trying to make the Scottish Puritans. They rebelled and tried to attack.
In 1637, three Puritans were put to trial by Archbishop Laud. They were found guilty and were punished severely. Charles tried to make the Scots use the English Prayer Book in 1637. They refused so Charles sent in an army. Charles’ army was defeated and he was in deep trouble.
Many, many things caused the revolution. From the economic problems, to the discontent with autocratic rule. Also, the colonies were not allowed their own economy to flourish, not letting the colonials print legal tender money which also in turn, since any monies printed was not considered by the King, it made it much harder to pay royal taxes. After the Boston Tea Party, came the Coercive Acts, or the Intolerable Acts on Boston, which really upset them and made them want to take even more action, rather than just using effigies (dolls made to look like the redcoats and used to scare the redcoat's and boycotting. Between the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 and the French and Indian War the colonies have been isolated by the mother country due to the policy of salutary neglect in which the king argued that colonies should take care of their own affairs, as the British were busy fighting foreign wars.