English Revolution in the Colonies
Encyclopedia
At the beginning of the English Revolution
(1642–1660), fifty thousand Englishmen inhabited some twenty colonies in the Americas
. Most of the colonies were founded in the decade prior to the English Civil War
with the oldest existing being the Colony of Virginia (1607). The vast majority of the adult population were first generation settlers and thousands returned to the British Isles
to fight or involve themselves in the politics of the Commonwealth of England
(1649–1660).
Six colonies recognized Charles II
after the regicide
in 1649: Antigua
, Barbados
, Bermuda
, Virginia, Maryland
, and Newfoundland. The Parliamentarians
were busy subduing Royalists
in Scotland
, Ireland
, the Isles of Scilly
, the Isle of Man
, and the Channel Islands
but on 3 October 1650, the Rump Parliament
restricted trade to Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda, and Virginia and assembled a fleet to take control of them. By 1652, all were brought into line by the Commonwealth.
The new government introduced mercantilism
with the first of the Navigation Acts
in 1651. Soon the colonies became embroiled First Anglo-Dutch War
(1652–1654) and the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660). By the English Restoration
, new colonies were added and the population quadrupled to over two hundred thousand due to exiles, refugees, prisoners, and the Atlantic slave trade
. In all the colonies, which later became part of the United States
, population growth throughout this period was vigorous, growing from a population of about 25,000 in 1640 to around 75,000 in 1660. The colonies also became more ethnically and religiously diverse. Another effect was the establishment of colonial assemblies in most of the colonies.
tended towards the Royalist
side, but largely escaped the effects of the conflict. After the regicide, Bermuda was the first colony to recognize Charles II. Royalists ousted their governor and elected their leader John Trimingham. Some of the island's defeated Puritans joined the Eleutheran Adventurers
in the Bahamas
.
Barbados
, the second most populous colony, experienced a division between Royalists and Parliamentarians during the civil war. The words "Roundhead" and "Cavalier" were banned to maintain peace. After the regicide, the Royalists gained control of the colonial assembly. Lord Willoughby
was appointed Governor of Barbados, by Charles II in May of 1650 and he banished the Roundheads. During this time he also sent a small colonizing party to Suriname
, which established Fort Willoughby (now Paramaribo
) in honor of the governor. The colony, now cut off from England, relied on trading with the Dutch Republic
. This became the motivation for the 1651 Navigation Act.
On October 25, 1651, a seven ship force under Commodore George Ayscue
arrived off Barbados, demanding that the island submit "for the use of the Parliament of England". Willoughby's reply (tellingly addressed to "His Majesty's ship Rainbow") was unyielding, declaring that he knew "no supreme authority over Englishmen but the King". With some 400 horsemen and 6,000 militia, he was prepared to resist any attempt at coercion.
Over the next month Barbados was blockaded. Dutch ships were seized, an act which would be one of the causes of the First Anglo-Dutch War
. In early December, with the Royalist cause defeated in England
, Ayscue began a series of raids against fortifications on the island and was reinforced by a group of thirteen ships bound for Virginia. On December 17 a force of more than 1,000 Barbadian militia was defeated by one of Ayscue's detachments. Governor Willoughby attempted to stem the spread of Parliamentary sympathies by hanging two of the returning militia soldiers and prohibiting the reading of documents from the blockading fleet. The Royalists held out for several more weeks until one of Willoughby's own commanders, Sir Thomas Modyford
the assembly speaker, declared himself for Parliament. A battle was averted by a week of rain, after which Willoughby, perhaps having seen the hopelessness of his cause, sought negotiations. He was replaced as governor but Barbados and the Royalists there were not punished.
News of Barbados' fall shocked the other Royalist colonies. Each of the other five would capitulate without resistance when Ayscue's fleet arrived to replace their governments. Following Oliver Cromwell
's adventures in Ireland
, and his attempt to force his protectorship on independent Scotland, Irish prisoners-of-war (POW) and ethnically-cleansed civilians, and smaller numbers of Scots POWs, were also sent to Bermuda. After the uncovering of a coup-plot by Irish and Black slaves in 1656, however, the import of further Irish slaves was banned.
In 1655, Cromwell sealed an alliance with the French against the Spanish. He sent a fleet to the West Indies under Admiral William Penn
, with some 3,000 marines under the command of General Robert Venables
, further reinforced in Barbados, Montserrat
, St. Kitts and Nevis. Penn and Venables decided to lay siege on Santo Domingo
but failed because the Spanish had improved their defences in the face of Dutch attacks earlier in the century.
Weakened by fever, the English force then sailed west for Jamaica
, the only place where the Spanish did not have new defensive works. They invaded in May 1655
at a place called Santiago de la Vega, now Spanish Town
. They came, and they stayed, in the face of prolonged local resistance, reinforced by troops sent from New Spain
in the Battle of Ocho Rios (1657)
and the Battle of Rio Nuevo (1658)
. For England Jamaica was to be the 'dagger pointed at the heart of the Spanish Empire' as it became the base for buccaneers. Cromwell, despite all difficulties, was determined that the presence should remain, sending reinforcements and supplies. Jamaica remained an English colony despite the exiled king's promise to return it after the Restoration.
in 1624 and was mostly High Church
Anglican. The much smaller Maryland was a proprietary colony
founded by Catholic gentry but supported by a Protestant underclass.
In April 1643, aware of the problems besetting the home-country, Governor Leonard Calvert
departed Maryland to consult with his brother, Proprietor
Cecilius Calvert the Lord Baltimore. During this time, St. Mary's City was visited by Captain Richard Ingle
, a Roundhead, who led a rebellion upon Leonard Calvert's return. In September 1644, Ingle captured St. Mary's City, and William Claiborne
captured Kent Island
, forcing Calvert to seek refuge in Virginia. What followed became known as the Plundering Time
, a nearly two-year period when Ingle and his companions roamed the colony, robbing at will and taking Jesuits back to England as prisoners.
Meanwhile, Virginia was battling for its survival in a war against the Powhatans (1644–1646) which saw a tenth of the colonial population killed in the initial massacre. Royalist propaganda accused the Roundheads of stirring up the natives and Governor William Berkeley expelled all the Puritans from the colony in 1647. After Virginian victory, Calvert returned to Maryland in 1646 and recaptured St. Mary's City.
Following the death of Leonard Calvert in 1647, Cecilius Calvert named William Stone, a Protestant, as governor in 1649. By choosing Stone, Calvert could avoid criticism of Maryland as a seat of Popery, where Protestants were allegedly oppressed. Stone and his council, however, were required to agree not to interfere with freedom of worship. In 1649, the colonial assembly passed the Maryland Toleration Act
, ensuring freedom of religion within Maryland.
After the regicide, Virginia remained faithful to the House of Stuart
, though Parliament had decreed that support for Charles II was treason. Berkeley also invited the king to Virginia. The issue of which side Maryland stood was finally settled, at least in appearance, when Thomas Greene, deputy to Stone and a Roman Catholic, declared on November 15, 1649 that Charles II was the "undoubted rightfull heire to all his father's dominions". All acts taken by the Maryland Assembly would further require an oath of fidelity to Baltimore as "Lord Proprietor".
In March 1652 the Rump Parliament
removed Stone and Berkeley as governors of Maryland and Virginia, Richard Bennett
replaced Berkeley but Stone was reinstated in June. On March 2, 1654, Stone decreed that although he was faithful to the Commonwealth, all writs should "run in the Proprietary's name as heretofore".
On January 3, 1654, the exiled Virginian Puritans who had settled at Stone's invitation in Providence objected to the oath as Baltimore was a Catholic. On July 20, 1654, Stone resigned as governor under duress and fled to Virginia.
Parliamentary commissioners became de facto governors of the colony, and the first general assembly under their authority was held on October 20, 1654. Roman Catholics and any other individuals who had borne arms against the Parliament could not be members (effectively limiting the membership to Puritans), and among the 44 Acts passed by this group was a repeal of the Toleration Act, and another that forbade Roman Catholics from practicing their faith.
On January 31, 1655, The Golden Lion, a merchant ship commanded by Captain Roger Heamans, arrived in Maryland, and Stone reported to the Captain that he was no longer Governor of Maryland. At about that time, another ship, The Golden Fortune arrived in the colony with a letter from Oliver Cromwell
, by this time Lord Protector
, addressed to Captain Stone, Governor of Maryland.
Using this as a form of recognition, Stone challenged the authority of the commissioners, seized back the records of the colony, and mustered his troops to deal with the Puritan settlers allied with them. Recruiting from St. Mary's County, Stone recaptured the Assembly records located on the Patuxent River
, and sailed with a small fleet up the Chesapeake Bay
north towards Providence.
Heamans was informed of a plot to kill the inhabitants of Providence, as well as to burn his ship and kill his crew and officers. Following the removal of the women and children of Providence to The Golden Lion, a war council was convened, and appointed William Fuller of the Puritan settlers of Providence as its leader. On March 23, 1655, the council issued a warrant to Heamans to serve as a counselor, with Heamans relating to Stone that he was bound to do so, ignoring his contrary orders. Virginia's Richard Bennett also lent support to the Puritans.
On March 24, 1655, Heamans fired on sloop
s and boats heading toward his ship, forcing their retreat. Heamans then ordered an armed sloop to bar their escape by blocking Spa Creek, the inlet of the Severn to which Stone's forces had retreated. On March 25, after Fuller retrieved the only Commonwealth flag in the colony for use as his colors in battle, the forces met on Horn Point, with Fuller's forces driving Stone's small force to the end of the peninsula. In less than one half hour, the battle was over, with 17 of Stone's forces being killed and 32 wounded, including Stone. Only two of Fuller's force were killed. This event was marked as the Battle of the Severn
.
Stone surrendered after he was promised mercy. Following hostilities, however, the war council issued death sentence
s for Stone and nine others. Four of the prisoners were executed, but the remainder were saved when the women of Providence begged that their lives be spared.
The primarily Puritan assembly retained powers until April 27, 1658, when proprietorship was restored to Lord Baltimore, religious freedom was ensured, and an agreement of general amnesty
was entered into. Thus, in the end, Lord Baltimore not only retained his lands and powers, but was able to avoid the grisly fate of many of his contemporaries in England during this time. The proprietor appointed Josias Fendall
to succeed Stone as governor for his loyalty during the battle.
Governor Fendall soon had a falling out with Lord Baltimore and led a bloodless revolution in 1659 known as Fendall's Rebellion whereby he and Fuller reorganized Maryland's government to resemble the Commonwealth's. The proprietorship and the assembly's upper house was abolished. However, the Restoration
of Charles II
in 1660 forced Fendall into exile and restored the proprietorship.
After the death of Governor Samuel Matthews
, Virginia's House of Burgesses
reelected the royalist William Berkeley in 1659. Thus, in the view of historian Robert Beverley, Jr.
writing in 1705, Virginia colony "was the last of all the King's Dominions that submitted to the Usurpation, and afterwards the first that cast it off." Many of the First Families of Virginia
trace their founding to this time period and not the actual first days of the colony. As a reward for its loyalty, Charles II gave Virginia the epithet "Old Dominion". He awarded a group of his faithful supporters the rights to found a new colony just south of Virginia, to be called Carolina
after his father (its capital would be called Charleston
).
in a Great Migration
. In 1642, after the English Civil War began, a sixth of the male colonists returned to England to fight for Parliament, and many stayed, since Oliver Cromwell
was himself a Puritan. In 1643, most of the colonies formed the New England Confederation
, a defensive alliance. In the early years of the Commonwealth, there was a pamphlet
war on whether England should model itself after its Puritan colonies. The non-Puritan factions successfully convinced Cromwell to go for religious toleration lest there be mutiny in the New Model Army
.
Royalist Newfoundland fishermen, with the support of Prince Rupert, fought sea skirmishes with New Englanders until Governor David Kirke
was arrested by his replacement John Treworgie
in 1651. The sparsley populated High church
Anglican Province of Maine
was annexed by the most populous Massachusetts Bay Colony
in 1652 as the County of Yorkshire.
In 1654, the New England Confederation voted to invade New Netherland
to support the Commonwealth during the First Anglo-Dutch War
. Massachusetts refused to join which severely undermined the Confederation. Cromwell sent naval reinforcements but the war ended while they were organizing their forces. This expedition was retooled to target Nova Scotia
, the former Scottish colony
that was ceded to French Acadia
years earlier by Charles I. Cromwell claimed the Treaty of Suza
and Treaty of Saint-Germain
were invalid and that the French did not pay the purchase money. Nova Scotia was taken without significant resistance by Robert Sedgwick
. This became an international incident since England and France were at peace but the French were busy fighting the Spanish and ceded the territory to England to secure the Commonwealth as an ally. England returned it to France in 1670 as according to the 1667 Treaty of Breda.
After the Restoration, there was a Fifth Monarchist uprising in London
led by New Englander Thomas Venner
. This was used in Royalist propaganda to unfairly blame all the upheaval of the last two decades on New England. It was not helped by the fact that the New Haven Colony
shelted several regicides. New Haven was merged with the Connecticut Colony
as punishment. New England as a whole remained the hotbed of Puritanism where sentiments for the 'Good Old Cause
' against the 'Norman yoke
' simmered until the Glorious Revolution
.
English Revolution
"English Revolution" has been used to describe two different events in English history. The first to be so called—by Whig historians—was the Glorious Revolution of 1688, whereby James II was replaced by William III and Mary II as monarch and a constitutional monarchy was established.In the...
(1642–1660), fifty thousand Englishmen inhabited some twenty colonies in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
. Most of the colonies were founded in the decade prior to the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
with the oldest existing being the Colony of Virginia (1607). The vast majority of the adult population were first generation settlers and thousands returned to the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
to fight or involve themselves in the politics of the Commonwealth of England
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
(1649–1660).
Six colonies recognized Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
after the regicide
Regicide
The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the British tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after a trial...
in 1649: Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
, Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
, Virginia, Maryland
Province of Maryland
The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S...
, and Newfoundland. The Parliamentarians
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
were busy subduing Royalists
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, the Isles of Scilly
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly form an archipelago off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The islands have had a unitary authority council since 1890, and are separate from the Cornwall unitary authority, but some services are combined with Cornwall and the islands are still part...
, the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
, and the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
but on 3 October 1650, the Rump Parliament
Rump Parliament
The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....
restricted trade to Antigua, Barbados, Bermuda, and Virginia and assembled a fleet to take control of them. By 1652, all were brought into line by the Commonwealth.
The new government introduced mercantilism
Mercantilism
Mercantilism is the economic doctrine in which government control of foreign trade is of paramount importance for ensuring the prosperity and security of the state. In particular, it demands a positive balance of trade. Mercantilism dominated Western European economic policy and discourse from...
with the first of the Navigation Acts
Navigation Acts
The English Navigation Acts were a series of laws that restricted the use of foreign shipping for trade between England and its colonies, a process which had started in 1651. Their goal was to force colonial development into lines favorable to England, and stop direct colonial trade with the...
in 1651. Soon the colonies became embroiled First Anglo-Dutch War
First Anglo-Dutch War
The First Anglo–Dutch War was the first of the four Anglo–Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Caused by disputes over trade, the war began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but...
(1652–1654) and the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660). By the English Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
, new colonies were added and the population quadrupled to over two hundred thousand due to exiles, refugees, prisoners, and the Atlantic slave trade
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, also known as the trans-atlantic slave trade, refers to the trade in slaves that took place across the Atlantic ocean from the sixteenth through to the nineteenth centuries...
. In all the colonies, which later became part of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, population growth throughout this period was vigorous, growing from a population of about 25,000 in 1640 to around 75,000 in 1660. The colonies also became more ethnically and religiously diverse. Another effect was the establishment of colonial assemblies in most of the colonies.
Bermuda and the Caribbean
BermudaBermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
tended towards the Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
side, but largely escaped the effects of the conflict. After the regicide, Bermuda was the first colony to recognize Charles II. Royalists ousted their governor and elected their leader John Trimingham. Some of the island's defeated Puritans joined the Eleutheran Adventurers
Eleutheran Adventurers
The Eleutheran Adventurers were a group of English Puritans and religious Independents who left Bermuda to settle on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas in the late 1640s...
in the Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
.
Barbados
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
, the second most populous colony, experienced a division between Royalists and Parliamentarians during the civil war. The words "Roundhead" and "Cavalier" were banned to maintain peace. After the regicide, the Royalists gained control of the colonial assembly. Lord Willoughby
Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham
Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham was an English peer of the House of Lords.He succeeded to the title 14 October 1617 on the death in infancy of his elder brother Henry Willoughby, 4th Lord Willoughby of Parham...
was appointed Governor of Barbados, by Charles II in May of 1650 and he banished the Roundheads. During this time he also sent a small colonizing party to Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...
, which established Fort Willoughby (now Paramaribo
Paramaribo
Paramaribo is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 250,000 people, more than half of Suriname's population...
) in honor of the governor. The colony, now cut off from England, relied on trading with the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
. This became the motivation for the 1651 Navigation Act.
On October 25, 1651, a seven ship force under Commodore George Ayscue
George Ayscue
Admiral Sir George Ayscue was an English naval officer who served in the Civil War and the Anglo-Dutch Wars.In 1648, during the Civil War, while serving as a captain in the navy of the English Parliament, he prevented the fleet from defecting to the Royalists, and was promoted to General at Sea...
arrived off Barbados, demanding that the island submit "for the use of the Parliament of England". Willoughby's reply (tellingly addressed to "His Majesty's ship Rainbow") was unyielding, declaring that he knew "no supreme authority over Englishmen but the King". With some 400 horsemen and 6,000 militia, he was prepared to resist any attempt at coercion.
Over the next month Barbados was blockaded. Dutch ships were seized, an act which would be one of the causes of the First Anglo-Dutch War
First Anglo-Dutch War
The First Anglo–Dutch War was the first of the four Anglo–Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Caused by disputes over trade, the war began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but...
. In early December, with the Royalist cause defeated in England
Battle of Worcester
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 at Worcester, England and was the final battle of the English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentarians defeated the Royalist, predominantly Scottish, forces of King Charles II...
, Ayscue began a series of raids against fortifications on the island and was reinforced by a group of thirteen ships bound for Virginia. On December 17 a force of more than 1,000 Barbadian militia was defeated by one of Ayscue's detachments. Governor Willoughby attempted to stem the spread of Parliamentary sympathies by hanging two of the returning militia soldiers and prohibiting the reading of documents from the blockading fleet. The Royalists held out for several more weeks until one of Willoughby's own commanders, Sir Thomas Modyford
Thomas Modyford
Colonel Sir Thomas Modyford, 1st Baronet was a planter of Barbados and Governor of Jamaica, 1664-70.Modyford was the son of a mayor of Exeter with family connections to the Duke of Albemarle, who emigrated to Barbados as a young man with other family members in 1647, in the opening stages of the...
the assembly speaker, declared himself for Parliament. A battle was averted by a week of rain, after which Willoughby, perhaps having seen the hopelessness of his cause, sought negotiations. He was replaced as governor but Barbados and the Royalists there were not punished.
News of Barbados' fall shocked the other Royalist colonies. Each of the other five would capitulate without resistance when Ayscue's fleet arrived to replace their governments. Following Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
's adventures in Ireland
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland refers to the conquest of Ireland by the forces of the English Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Cromwell landed in Ireland with his New Model Army on behalf of England's Rump Parliament in 1649...
, and his attempt to force his protectorship on independent Scotland, Irish prisoners-of-war (POW) and ethnically-cleansed civilians, and smaller numbers of Scots POWs, were also sent to Bermuda. After the uncovering of a coup-plot by Irish and Black slaves in 1656, however, the import of further Irish slaves was banned.
In 1655, Cromwell sealed an alliance with the French against the Spanish. He sent a fleet to the West Indies under Admiral William Penn
William Penn (admiral)
Sir William Penn was an English admiral, and the father of William Penn, founder of the Province of Pennsylvania....
, with some 3,000 marines under the command of General Robert Venables
Robert Venables
Robert Venables , was a soldier during the English Civil War and noted angler.Venables was lieutenant-colonel in the parliamentary army. He was wounded at Chester in 1645. He was appointed governor of Liverpool in 1648. He served with success in Ireland from 1649 until 1654...
, further reinforced in Barbados, Montserrat
Montserrat
Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...
, St. Kitts and Nevis. Penn and Venables decided to lay siege on Santo Domingo
Siege of Santo Domingo (1655)
The Siege of Santo Domingo of 1655, was fought between April 23, 1655 to April 30, 1655 at the Spanish Colony of Santo Domingo. A force of 2,400 Spanish troops led by Governor Don Bernardino Meneses y Bracamonte, Count of Peñalba, successfully resisted a force of 13,120 troops and 34 ships of the...
but failed because the Spanish had improved their defences in the face of Dutch attacks earlier in the century.
Weakened by fever, the English force then sailed west for Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, the only place where the Spanish did not have new defensive works. They invaded in May 1655
Invasion of Jamaica (1655)
The Invasion of Jamaica was an amphibious expedition conducted by the English in the Caribbean in 1655 that resulted in the capture of the island from Spain...
at a place called Santiago de la Vega, now Spanish Town
Spanish Town
Spanish Town is the capital and the largest town in the parish of St. Catherine in the county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the former Spanish and English capital of Jamaica from the 16th to the 19th century...
. They came, and they stayed, in the face of prolonged local resistance, reinforced by troops sent from New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
in the Battle of Ocho Rios (1657)
Battle of Ocho Rios (1657)
The Battle of Ocho Rios was a military action which took place on the island of Jamaica on 30 October 1657 where a Spanish force under Cristóbal Arnaldo Isasi hoping to take back the island was defeated by the English occupying force under the Governor Edward D'Oyley.The English had occupied...
and the Battle of Rio Nuevo (1658)
Battle of Rio Nuevo (1658)
The battle of Rio Nuevo occurred over two days on the island of Jamaica between Spanish forces under Cristóbal Arnaldo Isasi and English forces under governor Edward D'Oyley. In the battle the invading Spanish were routed...
. For England Jamaica was to be the 'dagger pointed at the heart of the Spanish Empire' as it became the base for buccaneers. Cromwell, despite all difficulties, was determined that the presence should remain, sending reinforcements and supplies. Jamaica remained an English colony despite the exiled king's promise to return it after the Restoration.
The Chesapeake Colonies
The colonies of Virginia and Maryland had strong Royalist sympathies owing to their origins and demographics. Virginia, the oldest and third most populous colony, was turned into a crown colonyCrown colony
A Crown colony, also known in the 17th century as royal colony, was a type of colonial administration of the English and later British Empire....
in 1624 and was mostly High Church
High church
The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...
Anglican. The much smaller Maryland was a proprietary colony
Proprietary colony
A proprietary colony was a colony in which one or more individuals, usually land owners, remaining subject to their parent state's sanctions, retained rights that are today regarded as the privilege of the state, and in all cases eventually became so....
founded by Catholic gentry but supported by a Protestant underclass.
In April 1643, aware of the problems besetting the home-country, Governor Leonard Calvert
Leonard Calvert
Leonard Calvert was the 1st Proprietary Governor of Maryland. He was the second son of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, the first proprietary of the Province of Maryland...
departed Maryland to consult with his brother, Proprietor
Proprietary Governor
Proprietary Governors were individuals authorized to govern proprietary colonies. Under the proprietary system, individuals or companies were granted commercial charters by the King of England to establish colonies. These proprietors then selected the governors and other officials in the colony....
Cecilius Calvert the Lord Baltimore. During this time, St. Mary's City was visited by Captain Richard Ingle
Richard Ingle
Richard Ingle was an English colonial seaman and tobacco trader in the American colonies who took over the government of the colony of Maryland in 1645....
, a Roundhead, who led a rebellion upon Leonard Calvert's return. In September 1644, Ingle captured St. Mary's City, and William Claiborne
William Claiborne
William Claiborne was an English pioneer, surveyor, and an early settler in Virginia and Maryland. Claiborne became a wealthy planter, a trader, and a major figure in the politics of the colony...
captured Kent Island
Kent Island, Maryland
Kent Island is the largest island in the Chesapeake Bay, and a historic place in Maryland. To the east, a narrow channel known as the Kent Narrows barely separates the island from the Delmarva Peninsula, and on the other side, the island is separated from Sandy Point, an area near Annapolis, by...
, forcing Calvert to seek refuge in Virginia. What followed became known as the Plundering Time
Plundering Time
The Plundering Time was a period of civil unrest in the Province of Maryland caused by the tensions of the English Civil War. Governor Leonard Calvert led colonial defenses against Parliamentary privateers such as Captain Richard Ingle and William Claiborne...
, a nearly two-year period when Ingle and his companions roamed the colony, robbing at will and taking Jesuits back to England as prisoners.
Meanwhile, Virginia was battling for its survival in a war against the Powhatans (1644–1646) which saw a tenth of the colonial population killed in the initial massacre. Royalist propaganda accused the Roundheads of stirring up the natives and Governor William Berkeley expelled all the Puritans from the colony in 1647. After Virginian victory, Calvert returned to Maryland in 1646 and recaptured St. Mary's City.
Following the death of Leonard Calvert in 1647, Cecilius Calvert named William Stone, a Protestant, as governor in 1649. By choosing Stone, Calvert could avoid criticism of Maryland as a seat of Popery, where Protestants were allegedly oppressed. Stone and his council, however, were required to agree not to interfere with freedom of worship. In 1649, the colonial assembly passed the Maryland Toleration Act
Maryland Toleration Act
The Maryland Toleration Act, also known as the Act Concerning Religion, was a law mandating religious tolerance for trinitarian Christians. Passed on April 21, 1649 by the assembly of the Maryland colony, it was the second law requiring religious tolerance in the British North American colonies and...
, ensuring freedom of religion within Maryland.
After the regicide, Virginia remained faithful to the House of Stuart
House of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
, though Parliament had decreed that support for Charles II was treason. Berkeley also invited the king to Virginia. The issue of which side Maryland stood was finally settled, at least in appearance, when Thomas Greene, deputy to Stone and a Roman Catholic, declared on November 15, 1649 that Charles II was the "undoubted rightfull heire to all his father's dominions". All acts taken by the Maryland Assembly would further require an oath of fidelity to Baltimore as "Lord Proprietor".
In March 1652 the Rump Parliament
Rump Parliament
The Rump Parliament is the name of the English Parliament after Colonel Pride purged the Long Parliament on 6 December 1648 of those members hostile to the Grandees' intention to try King Charles I for high treason....
removed Stone and Berkeley as governors of Maryland and Virginia, Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett (Governor)
Richard Bennett was an English Governor of the Colony of Virginia.Born in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, Bennett served as governor from 30 April 1652, until 2 March 1655...
replaced Berkeley but Stone was reinstated in June. On March 2, 1654, Stone decreed that although he was faithful to the Commonwealth, all writs should "run in the Proprietary's name as heretofore".
On January 3, 1654, the exiled Virginian Puritans who had settled at Stone's invitation in Providence objected to the oath as Baltimore was a Catholic. On July 20, 1654, Stone resigned as governor under duress and fled to Virginia.
Parliamentary commissioners became de facto governors of the colony, and the first general assembly under their authority was held on October 20, 1654. Roman Catholics and any other individuals who had borne arms against the Parliament could not be members (effectively limiting the membership to Puritans), and among the 44 Acts passed by this group was a repeal of the Toleration Act, and another that forbade Roman Catholics from practicing their faith.
On January 31, 1655, The Golden Lion, a merchant ship commanded by Captain Roger Heamans, arrived in Maryland, and Stone reported to the Captain that he was no longer Governor of Maryland. At about that time, another ship, The Golden Fortune arrived in the colony with a letter from Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, by this time Lord Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...
, addressed to Captain Stone, Governor of Maryland.
Using this as a form of recognition, Stone challenged the authority of the commissioners, seized back the records of the colony, and mustered his troops to deal with the Puritan settlers allied with them. Recruiting from St. Mary's County, Stone recaptured the Assembly records located on the Patuxent River
Patuxent River
The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast passing through Baltimore, and the Patuxent River between...
, and sailed with a small fleet up the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
north towards Providence.
Heamans was informed of a plot to kill the inhabitants of Providence, as well as to burn his ship and kill his crew and officers. Following the removal of the women and children of Providence to The Golden Lion, a war council was convened, and appointed William Fuller of the Puritan settlers of Providence as its leader. On March 23, 1655, the council issued a warrant to Heamans to serve as a counselor, with Heamans relating to Stone that he was bound to do so, ignoring his contrary orders. Virginia's Richard Bennett also lent support to the Puritans.
On March 24, 1655, Heamans fired on sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
s and boats heading toward his ship, forcing their retreat. Heamans then ordered an armed sloop to bar their escape by blocking Spa Creek, the inlet of the Severn to which Stone's forces had retreated. On March 25, after Fuller retrieved the only Commonwealth flag in the colony for use as his colors in battle, the forces met on Horn Point, with Fuller's forces driving Stone's small force to the end of the peninsula. In less than one half hour, the battle was over, with 17 of Stone's forces being killed and 32 wounded, including Stone. Only two of Fuller's force were killed. This event was marked as the Battle of the Severn
Battle of the Severn
The Battle of the Severn was a skirmish fought on March 25, 1655, on the Severn River at Horn Point, across Spa Creek from Annapolis, Maryland, in what at that time was referred to as "Providence", in what is now the neighborhood of Eastport. Following the battle, Providence changed its name to...
.
Stone surrendered after he was promised mercy. Following hostilities, however, the war council issued death sentence
Death Sentence
Death Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...
s for Stone and nine others. Four of the prisoners were executed, but the remainder were saved when the women of Providence begged that their lives be spared.
The primarily Puritan assembly retained powers until April 27, 1658, when proprietorship was restored to Lord Baltimore, religious freedom was ensured, and an agreement of general amnesty
Amnesty
Amnesty is a legislative or executive act by which a state restores those who may have been guilty of an offense against it to the positions of innocent people, without changing the laws defining the offense. It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the...
was entered into. Thus, in the end, Lord Baltimore not only retained his lands and powers, but was able to avoid the grisly fate of many of his contemporaries in England during this time. The proprietor appointed Josias Fendall
Josias Fendall
Lieutenant-General Josias Fendall, Esq. , was the 4th Proprietary Governor of Maryland. He was born in England, and came to the Province of Maryland. He was the progenitor of the Fendall family in America....
to succeed Stone as governor for his loyalty during the battle.
Governor Fendall soon had a falling out with Lord Baltimore and led a bloodless revolution in 1659 known as Fendall's Rebellion whereby he and Fuller reorganized Maryland's government to resemble the Commonwealth's. The proprietorship and the assembly's upper house was abolished. However, the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
in 1660 forced Fendall into exile and restored the proprietorship.
After the death of Governor Samuel Matthews
Samuel Matthews
Captain Samuel Matthews was an English Colonial Governor of Virginia. Matthews came to Virginia Colony in 1622 and was chosen as governor by the House of Burgesses in 1656. In April 1658, mainly to signal their displeasure with Oliver Cromwell, the Burgesses ceremonially dismissed him and...
, Virginia's House of Burgesses
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the first assembly of elected representatives of English colonists in North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company, who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America...
reelected the royalist William Berkeley in 1659. Thus, in the view of historian Robert Beverley, Jr.
Robert Beverley, Jr.
Robert Beverley, Jr. was an important historian of early colonial Virginia. He was born in Jamestown and died in King and Queen County, Virginia...
writing in 1705, Virginia colony "was the last of all the King's Dominions that submitted to the Usurpation, and afterwards the first that cast it off." Many of the First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They originated with colonists from England who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsburg, and along the James River and other navigable waters...
trace their founding to this time period and not the actual first days of the colony. As a reward for its loyalty, Charles II gave Virginia the epithet "Old Dominion". He awarded a group of his faithful supporters the rights to found a new colony just south of Virginia, to be called Carolina
Province of Carolina
The Province of Carolina, originally chartered in 1629, was an English and later British colony of North America. Because the original Heath charter was unrealized and was ruled invalid, a new charter was issued to a group of eight English noblemen, the Lords Proprietors, in 1663...
after his father (its capital would be called Charleston
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
).
Northern Colonies
From 1630 through 1640 approximately 20,000 Puritans emigrated to New EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
in a Great Migration
Great Migration (Puritan)
The Puritan migration to New England was marked in its effects in the two decades from 1620 to 1640, after which it declined sharply for a while. The term Great Migration usually refers to the migration in this period of English settlers, primarily Puritans to Massachusetts and the warm islands of...
. In 1642, after the English Civil War began, a sixth of the male colonists returned to England to fight for Parliament, and many stayed, since Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
was himself a Puritan. In 1643, most of the colonies formed the New England Confederation
New England Confederation
The United Colonies of New England, commonly known as the New England Confederation, was a short-lived military alliance of the English colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven. Established in 1643, its primary purpose was to unite the Puritan colonies against the Native...
, a defensive alliance. In the early years of the Commonwealth, there was a pamphlet
Pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
war on whether England should model itself after its Puritan colonies. The non-Puritan factions successfully convinced Cromwell to go for religious toleration lest there be mutiny in the New Model Army
New Model Army
The New Model Army of England was formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War, and was disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration...
.
Royalist Newfoundland fishermen, with the support of Prince Rupert, fought sea skirmishes with New Englanders until Governor David Kirke
David Kirke
Sir David Kirke was an adventurer, colonizer and governor for the king of England. Kirke was the son of Gervase Kirke, a wealthy London-based Scottish merchant, who had married a Huguenot woman, Elizabeth Goudon, and was raised in Dieppe, in Normandy.In 1627 Kirke's father and several London...
was arrested by his replacement John Treworgie
John Treworgie
John Treworgie was the last Proprietary Governor of Newfoundland. Treworgie had worked as an agent at a Kittery, Maine trading post from 1635 to 1650...
in 1651. The sparsley populated High church
High church
The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...
Anglican Province of Maine
Province of Maine
The Province of Maine refers to several English colonies of that name that existed in the 17th century along the northeast coast of North America, at times roughly encompassing portions of the present-day U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, as well as the Canadian provinces of Quebec...
was annexed by the most populous Massachusetts Bay Colony
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
in 1652 as the County of Yorkshire.
In 1654, the New England Confederation voted to invade New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
to support the Commonwealth during the First Anglo-Dutch War
First Anglo-Dutch War
The First Anglo–Dutch War was the first of the four Anglo–Dutch Wars. It was fought entirely at sea between the navies of the Commonwealth of England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. Caused by disputes over trade, the war began with English attacks on Dutch merchant shipping, but...
. Massachusetts refused to join which severely undermined the Confederation. Cromwell sent naval reinforcements but the war ended while they were organizing their forces. This expedition was retooled to target Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, the former Scottish colony
Scottish colonization of the Americas
Scottish colonization of the Americas consisted of a number of failed or abandoned Scottish settlements in North America, a colony at Darien, Panama, and a number of wholly or largely Scottish settlements made after the Acts of Union 1707, and those made by the enforced resettlement after the...
that was ceded to French Acadia
Acadia
Acadia was the name given to lands in a portion of the French colonial empire of New France, in northeastern North America that included parts of eastern Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and modern-day Maine. At the end of the 16th century, France claimed territory stretching as far south as...
years earlier by Charles I. Cromwell claimed the Treaty of Suza
Treaty of Suza
The Treaty of Susa refers to two separate peace treaties signed in 1629 at Susa in the Duchy of Savoy , recently occupied by France during the Thirty Years' War....
and Treaty of Saint-Germain
Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1632)
The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye was signed on March 29, 1632. It returned New France to French control after the English had seized it in 1629. It also provided France with compensation for goods seized during the capture of New France....
were invalid and that the French did not pay the purchase money. Nova Scotia was taken without significant resistance by Robert Sedgwick
Robert Sedgwick
Major General Robert Sedgwick was an English colonist, born 1611 in Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, and baptised on May 6, 1613.-Biography:...
. This became an international incident since England and France were at peace but the French were busy fighting the Spanish and ceded the territory to England to secure the Commonwealth as an ally. England returned it to France in 1670 as according to the 1667 Treaty of Breda.
After the Restoration, there was a Fifth Monarchist uprising in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
led by New Englander Thomas Venner
Thomas Venner
Thomas Venner was a cooper and rebel who became the last leader of the Fifth Monarchy Men, who tried unsuccessfully to overthrow Oliver Cromwell in 1657, and subsequently led a coup in London against the newly-restored government of Charles II...
. This was used in Royalist propaganda to unfairly blame all the upheaval of the last two decades on New England. It was not helped by the fact that the New Haven Colony
New Haven Colony
The New Haven Colony was an English colonial venture in present-day Connecticut in North America from 1637 to 1662.- Quinnipiac Colony :A Puritan minister named John Davenport led his flock from exile in the Netherlands back to England and finally to America in the spring of 1637...
shelted several regicides. New Haven was merged with the Connecticut Colony
Connecticut Colony
The Connecticut Colony or Colony of Connecticut was an English colony located in British America that became the U.S. state of Connecticut. Originally known as the River Colony, it was organized on March 3, 1636 as a haven for Puritan noblemen. After early struggles with the Dutch, the English...
as punishment. New England as a whole remained the hotbed of Puritanism where sentiments for the 'Good Old Cause
Good Old Cause
The Good Old Cause was the retrospective name given by the soldiers of the New Model Army for the complex of reasons for which they fought, on behalf of the Parliament of England....
' against the 'Norman yoke
Norman yoke
The Norman yoke is a term that emerged in English nationalist discourse in the mid-17th century. It was a shorthand phrase, useful for attributing the oppressive aspects of feudalism in England to the impositions of William I of England, his retainers and their descendants.- History :The medieval...
' simmered until the Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
.