Zusammenfassung der Ressource
The 1st Rump Parliament
- Policies
- Religious
- Not very radical
- Act Against the Destestable Sins of Profane Swearing and Cursing
- Act for Suppressing the Detestable Sins of Incest, Adultery and Fornication
- Acts which abolished the House of Lords and the Monarchy
- March 1649
- Relief for Poor Debtors-
ended imprisonment for debts
of under £5
- Hale Commission for law reform
- an attempt, but not successful
- Act limiting the freedom of press- to suppress Leveller Movement
- Act of Oblivion 1651- reconcile
some former Royalists to the
Commonwealth
- Pass 125 Statutes in 1649, 51 in 1652
- Failures
- Leveller ideas remained- branched out into
smaller factions such as the 5th Monarchists
and Quakers- religious legislation wasn't very
effective in this way
- Diplomatic failures as they enter into a war with the Dutch in 1652.
- Hurts the English economy
- Cannot afford
- Cannot end the war as they do
not have an executive leader to
carry out negotiations with the
Dutch
- 1651- Navigation Act, forbade
foreign ships to port in
England with goods that were
from other countries.
- Means they have to implement high
taxation upon the English nation-
creates popular resentment
- December 1652- the monthly assessment was raised from £90,000 to £120,000
- 1653- Although win 2nd and 3rd battles at Portland and the Gabbard
- Fail to impose enough radical legislation
- February 1649- purged MPs allowed to reenter Parliament
- obstruct legislation
- 22/41 MPs of the Council of State refused to swear an
Oath approving of the regicide
- Eventually, fail to even meet
- Their reliance on the army for
their foreign policy meant that
they were vulnerable to their
criticisms and when they didn't
fulfill their demands, they were
shut down by Cromwell and 20/30
musketeers in April 1653
- 1649-April 1653
- Successes
- Gained effective control over
Ireland by the end of 1649 -
had represented a great threat
as it had never been under
sufficient control and was a
likely place from which Charles
Stuart would invade from/lead
a rebellion from
- Mass suppression of the native irish people-
25% killed by Cromwell and his 20,000 troops,
3000 at Drogheda and 2000 at Wexford.
- Supression of
Scottish Opposition
- Dunbar- September 1650, where
Cromwell secured a victory, despite
being outnumbered 2:1, at a battle
where Charles Stuart was present.
And again in September 1651,
Cromwell's troops were victorious
against the invading Scots at
Worcester.
- The Scots had been
outraged at Charles's
execution and had
proclaimed Charles II
as their new king.
- Scotland was garrisoned for control- threat of
royalist invasion neutralised
- Supression of leveller groups
- Within the army
- William Thompson,
leader of a
leveller-inspired rising in
Oxfordshire shot 1649
- Lilburne, Overton and two other leading levellers imprisoned and
forced to sign the Oath of Engagement
- Managed to secure
a Republic in
England
- abolition of the monarchy
and the regicide
- Some new legislation
- religious
- Relief for Poor Debtors
- Mainly down to the army!!
- The Case of the Missing Bill
- It is likely that the bill accounted for
an election for a new Parliament, but
that the Rump MPs would get to
approve the new MPs
- Cromwell shuts them down for being corrupt and inefficient
- 'You have sat here too long for any good you have done'
- Does suggest that perhaps
Cromwell was looking for
power/was a dictator