Notes:BC1:Tudor and Stuart England - overview
Contents
During the Tudor era, oceanic sea power developed and sea lanes were opened across the Atlantic beating a path for emigrants to follow. Also in Tudor times, reformation of the Church swept across England and continental Europe. In England, the Church ceased to be a ruling Estate answering to the Pope and became subservient to the state represented by the English monarch - a fundamental change with causes and consequences far beyond a king's desire to change his woman.
The first English colony in America began with the Virginia charter of 1606 - three years into the reign of the first Stuart, King James I. Eighty six years later (and 100 years before the ratification of the Constitution of the United States), at the end of the Stuart era, thriving American colonies had been established from Carolina to Rhode Island. The Stuarts were done in 1689 when the Glorious Revolution (the Revolution of 1688) produced fundamental change to the English constitution, curbing the political and religious tyranny of the monarch. The Established Church was no longer coextensive with the state. Parliament was victorious over the crown as were the Common Lawyers over the royal Prerogative Courts. Feudalism was officially gone - remaining remnants the dying product of inertia. Rights of the commoners were now protected by Parliament and Common Law.
These events have done more to forward personal freedom than any before or since. 2014/08/12 User:Jeff
American government is a direct descendent of English institutions and, therefore, of English history and heritage. We can see its origins in English Common Law, first created by the English king Henry II in 1189. Coming forward a few hundred years to the time of the Tudors (1485 to 1603) and then the Stuart era (1603 to 1689) we can see more direct relevancy of English events to the birth of the United States.
During the Tudor era, oceanic sea power developed and sea lanes were opened across the Atlantic beating a path for emigrants to follow. Also in Tudor times, reformation of the Church swept across England and continental Europe. In England, the Church ceased to be a ruling Estate answering to the Pope and became subservient to the state represented by the English monarch - a fundamental change with causes and consequences far beyond a king's desire to change his woman.
The first English colony in America began with the Virginia charter of 1606 - three years into the reign of the first Stuart, King James I. Eighty six years later (and 100 years before the ratification of the Constitution of the United States), at the end of the Stuart era, thriving American colonies had been established from Carolina to Rhode Island. The Stuarts were done in 1689 when the Glorious Revolution (the Revolution of 1688) produced fundamental change to the English constitution, curbing the political and religious tyranny of the monarch. The Established Church was no longer coextensive with the state. Parliament was victorious over the crown as were the Common Lawyers over the royal Prerogative Courts. Feudalism was officially gone - remaining remnants the dying product of inertia. Rights of the commoners were now protected by Parliament and Common Law.
These events have done more to forward personal freedom than any before or since.
The Tudor era
(This section based on G.M. Trevelyan's History of England, Book III, The Tudors, Introduction)[1]
- ↑ Trevelyan, G.M. History of England, Illustrated Edition. London. Longmans. 1960
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