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Unit 8: The Restoration Period or Beginning of Neoclassicism (Dryden's Contribution, Glorious Revolution of 1688)

Issues Separating Crown and Parliament, 1660-1688 Notes

Table 8.1
Table 8.1
Issue King's Favored Position Parliament's Favored Position
Constitution Absolute Royal Power (King Constrained Royal Power (King
above Law) within Law)
Religion Catholic Protestant
Ally France Holland
Enemy Holland France
Inter-Branch Royal right to control Parliament's right to meet (Royal
Checks succession (Parliamentary summons NOT required)
approval NOT required)
Judiciary Subject to Royal Punishment Subject to Parliamentary
Impeachment
Ordinary Royal authority sufficient to Parliamentary authority
Revenue impose and collect traditional necessary to impose and collect
taxes. traditional taxes.
Extraordinary Royal authority sufficient to Parliamentary authority
Revenue impose and collect new taxes. necessary to impose and collect
new taxes.
Appropriation Complete royal control over Parliamentary audit or even
expenditures appropriation
In practice, authority over additional taxation was how Parliament constrained Charles II. Charles
brought England into war against Protestant Holland (1665-67) with the support of extra taxes
authorized by Parliament. In the years following that war, however, the extra funding from
Parliament ceased, but Charles II’s borrowing and spending did not.

Notes By 1671, all Charles II income was committed to regular expenses and paying interest
on his debts. Parliament would not authorize additional funds, so Charles II was
fiscally shackled.

8.2.2 Treaty of Dover

To regain fiscal autonomy and subvert Parliament, Charles II signed the secret Treaty of Dover
with Louis XIV in 1671. Charles agreed that England would join France in war against Holland and
that he would publicly convert to Catholicism. In return, Charles received cash from France and
the prospect of victory spoils that would solve his debt problem. The treaty, however, threatened
the Anglican Church, contradicted Charles II’s stated policy of support for Protestant Holland, and
provided a source of revenue independent of Parliament.
Moreover, to free the money needed to launch his scheme, Charles stopped servicing many of his
debts in an act called the Stop of the Exchequer, and, in Machiavellian fashion, Charles isolated a
few bankers to take the loss (Roseveare 1991). The gamble, however, was lost when the English
Navy failed to defeat the Dutch in 1672. Charles then avoided a break with Parliament by retreating
from Catholicism.

8.2.3 James II
Parliament, however, was also unable to gain the upper hand. From 1679 to 1681, Protestant
nobles had Parliament pass acts excluding Charles II’s Catholic brother James from succession to
the throne. The political turmoil of the Exclusion Crisis created the Whig faction favoring exclusion
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