Establishment of the Rump
- most of the Commons were also members of the Council of State (a committee of 41 who had replaced the king). |
- they were entirely dependant on the army for power. |
- generally conservative, most MPs wanted to promote Puritan 'godliness' and curb excesses if various millenarian sects. |
Acts and Committees
Blasphemy Act (1650) |
aimed at curbing religious extremism. |
Engagement Act (1650) |
all adult males to declare loyalty to the Commonwealth. |
Religious Act (1650) |
forcing a strict observance of the Lord's day. |
Adultery Act (1650) |
the death penalty imposed for adultery. |
Militia Act (1650) |
property holders to contribute proportionally to defence costs. |
Treason Act (1650) |
any claim that the House of Commons was not the supreme authority becomes an act of treason. |
Toleration Act (1650) |
compulsory attendance at parish churches abolished, this dated back to Elizabeth I, a main feature of the Angelican Church. |
Foreign Act (1650) |
prohibiting trade with Royalist colonies: Virginia, Bermuda, Barbados and Antigua. |
Navigation Act (1651) |
introduces measures aimed at hampering the Dutch. |
Union of England and Scotland Act (1652) |
presented at Parliament |
Ireland Act (1652) |
the settlement of Ireland |
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Finance
they received revenue through the sale of Royal lands and church property: excise levies, assessment tax. |
collected money from confiscated Royalist lands: counter-productive and caused resentment against the Commonwealth, discouraged reconciliation with royalists. |
due to the third civil war (1649-51) and the Anglo-Dutch war (1652), they were short of money. |
Religion
Committee for the Propagation of the Gospel (1652) controlled the appointment of the clergy. |
the Rump was cautious in the church reform, making few concessions to extremists. |
War
demands of war and national security diverted the Rump's time and resources from proposed social reforms. |
Cromwell's victory at the Battle of Worcester (1651) caused the army to change its mind about the Rump staying in power: this and other practical considerations delayed new elections. |
Charles II signs the Treaty of Breda, securing an alliance with the Scottish Covenanters. |
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Problems
Economic Problems |
- bad harvests of 1649 and 1650, created social distress. |
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- inherited a large debt. |
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- problems maintaining a large army. |
Direction |
- lack of clear political direction, or purpose. |
Power Structure |
- lack of clarity between the Council of State and the Rump. |
Unpopularity |
- high levels of taxation |
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- centralisation of government |
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- JPs refused to accept the Republic's legitimacy. |
Religious Radicalism |
- the execution had brought ideas of a second-coming of Christ. |
NMA |
- radicalism in the NMA (levellers) |
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- created problems with the gentry, royalists and presbyterians. |
Legal
the legal system was over-complex, slow and expensive. |
reformers called on the Rump to simplify legal procedures, and curb the power of lawyers. |
out of 211 MPs, 50 were from the legal profession - therefore reluctant to make changes. |
the Rump did not reduce legal fees or provide easier access to the courts. |
english was introduced in the courts, rather than latin. |
more lenient punishment for debtors. |
Dissolve of the Rump
after 1651, the Rump slowly stopped implementing legislation - it intended to dissolve itself in 1654. |
20th April 1653, Cromwell and the army marched to Westminster, and told the sitting MPs 'in the name of God, go!'. |
the Rump was replaced by the Nominated Assembly (the Barebones Parliament) and other constitutional experiments. |
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