Revolutionary Comparison: The English, America,

¶ … revolutionary comparison: The English, America, and French Revolutions

The English Revolution, known as the 'Glorious Revolution,' was a reflection of a long-standing conflict between Protestants and Catholics in England and the general lack of clarity about succession to the English throne after Henry VIII left no viable male heirs. The English Parliament chafed at the rule of what it saw as a dictatorial King, James II. James was also a devout Roman Catholic, the first Catholic to reign in England since Bloody Mary Tudor, and James seemed unconcerned that most of the English people were proudly Protestant. In response to James' mishandling of Parliament, William of Orange took the throne, and James was deposed but not executed. England was established as a Protestant nation. With memories of Oliver Cromwell and Civil War still relatively fresh, the English nation breathed a collective sign of relief.

William was also more open to accepting a greater degree of Parliamentary voice in politics than James. However, it should be noted that the Glorious Revolution, while admirable because of its relative lack of violence (it is also often called the 'Bloodless Revolution') was not a truly democratic revolution. The House of Lords was the most powerful house of Parliament at the time, and was not an elected body. One king was simply replaced by another king, and Catholics actually lost their civil rights, even while non-conformists Protestants breathed easier. The crisis was more procedural in nature, revolving around the complex succession laws of a monarchy, and the religious definition of England as a sovereign nation.

The American Revolution to some degree was also procedural, in the sense that the American colonists originally wanted a voice in the British Parliament, not total independence. But when this goal proved elusive, they decided to revolt. Economics more than religious reasons were at the heart of their anger against King George III. The American colonists chafed at what they saw as the prohibitive policies of taxation of the British government, and also limitations the British attempted to put on American expansion into Western territories occupied by Native Americans. Unlike the English Revolution, the American Revolution was also bloody, not relatively peaceful, and created a new government, rather than sustained and substantially reformed an old one. But it was more desired and waged 'by the people,' rather than by the ruling classes, unlike the British. In this sense, the American Revolution was seen as a greater victory for the Enlightenment. Just as the Bloodless Revolution did make the English system more balanced in terms of monarchial authority and allowed the predominantly Protestant will of the English people to be respected, the American Revolution even more radically upheld notions of national self-definition, individual rights, and the right for a people to exercise self- determination over their futures. The philosopher John Locke believed that a sovereign abdicated his or her right of rule when he or she acted in a tyrannical fashion and deprived citizens of fundamental rights to life, liberty, and property. The Americans colonists put these words into action, and replaced the rule of kings with the rule of law.