The Glorious Revolution
By Jacob Perry
What was the Glorious Revolution?
In short, The Glorious Revolution was where a line of kings starting with James I went about ruling England. Charles I, James' son just like his father did not get along with the Parliament, and this caused trouble. When the king needed money they went to Parliament but the Parliament wouldn't give the king money unless he changed his ways. The parliament wanted to have more power and wanted to limit the kings power, and this was formally called the Petition of Rights. Of course they didn't agree on this subject so Charles I didn't call on the parliament for 11 years and so they had a civil war! The supporters of the king were called Cavaliers and the supports of the parliament were called roundheads. The Roundheads' leader was Oliver Cromwell, eventually after 5 years the roundheads won and beheaded Charles I and Oliver Cromwell became "lord protector" of the Commonwealth he created. Cromwell led with strict religious rules and restricted leisure activities of the citizens. The citizens eventually got tired of this and elected Charles II! Charles the second was a great ruler, he restored all leisure activities and he even got along with the Parliament. Charles II did eventually have a money problem so he converted to Catholicism so Louis XIV would give him money! When Charles II died his brother, James II took over. He was openly Catholic so the parliament did not like that so they called on William of Orange (ruler of the Netherlands) and his wife Mary, who was James II daughter! They called to invade so James II would stop appointing Catholics to government positions and so his son who was also Catholic would not rule. When he invaded James II fled to France, William got the throne without any bloodshed, thus making it the glorious revolution!