The Glorious Revolution in North America

The Glorious Revolution in North America

Introduction

One of the major event that even further bolstered the identity of the colonists in England was the glorious revolution that took place somewhere in the 17th century. One thing to note here is that while that was a very important and 'positive' event for the English people; it was exactly the opposite for the colonist, simply put it was dreadful. Under the rule of King James II, the colonists of England had suffered a lot more than the English, and for colonists the glorious revolution was simply history repeating itself against them. King James II did not recognize the charter presented by colonists; he would simply ignore colonists before making any laws, and was extremely autocratic. The reason James II was so distant from colonists was because with time he got more and more independent of the parliament that was working. Religion was also an important element in the relationship of King and the colonists. King James was a catholic while colonists were Protestants.

King James II during his reign issued a 'Declaration of Indulgence,' which worked as a law which would provide freedom to practice religion to Catholics; it was seen positively by all the Catholics and Marylanders; however, it was not appreciated amongst the ranks of colonists. Most of the actions taken by King James were seen negatively by Protestants. During the same period France which was a Catholic country got turned into Monarchy as well. For colonists, Catholicism meant someone having absolute power. This is exactly what was happening. After the glorious revolution, more than half of the countries were being controlled by a monarchy. The following paper discusses the major impact and factors of the Glorious Revolution in North America.

Discussion

The news regarding the Glorious Revolution had started in slowly and gradually through the colonies of America. Most of that news in the beginning was quite distorted and inaccurate. The American colonists quite rapidly noticed and observed the applicability of the whole revolution to their situation, and a very short time after that a series and chain of revolts broke out in the colonies in the year 1689. The truth was that most of the colonists had little or no idea regarding what exactly was happening in the mother country. Soon afterwards, William of Orange was given the throne of England. As soon as he took control, he made some radical changes, but his orders never made it on time to the colonies. Starting initially from Boston and then gradually spreading to Maryland, New York and to Plymouth, a chain of revolts broke out as a result of which, the government of the King was forced to quit and to hand the power back to all the colonists.

Most of the people of England were never able to notice the connection and the link between the revolution that was taking place in the colonial America and the reassertion of power and authority over the affairs of ...