Money and Power: The Politics of Religion in Revolutionary E
King James I died in 1625 giving the throne to his eldest son Charles. Charles I took over the throne of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland in a time of great political and economic strife. The struggle between Charles I and the Puritans, as well as Parliament’s aim at national sovereignty, caused the great rebellion known as the English Civil War. However, religion, though prominent at the time, proved secondary as the British merely used this institution to exacerbate the political issues of the time. The Irish Graces of 1625, the Root and Branch Petition of 1640, the Nineteen Propositions of 1642, and the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643 all exemplify how the British purely used religion in order to obtain political power and capitalistic dominance. Therefore, true political conflict lay at the heart of the religious conflict. The first divergence came between Charles and the “hotter sort of Protestants” at the very onset of his reign in 1625. The King needed to finance a war with Spain, and without Parliament, he must to raise subsidies to fund the endeavor. Therefore, Charles made certain compromises with the Irish named the “Graces” in exchange for £120,000. These Graces dealt mainly in les
The final dispute dealt with the politics of the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643. In this year of warfare, Charles made a truce with the incessantly rebelling Irish, thus freeing up much of his forces to fight the Parliamentarists in England. At this point in the war, Charles possessed superior military forces that would have overwhelmed Robert Devereux and his army. Therefore, in the same year, the Long Parliament drafted The Solemn League and Covenant for use as a bargaining tool to accrue Scottish support. A religious concession, the majority of this document dealt more with political issues. The first article called for “the preservation of the reformed religion in the Church of Scotland.” However, after making this dispensation, the remainder of the document goes on to assert the power of Parliament, and the justification of war. The third article called for the ability “to preserve the rights and privileges of the Parliaments.” Consequently, Parliament validates the war with Charles in stating that all needed to “endeavor the discovery of all such as have been incendiaries, malignants, or evil instruments by hindering the reformation of religion.” On the whole, Parliament, once again, used religion through the Solemn League and Covenant, as well as the subsequent Directory for Public Worship in order not to reform religion, but to obtain political power. In conclusion, political discord filled much of the reign of Charles I. This trouble, however, did not originate in re
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Approximate Word count = 1017
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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