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The Declaration of Rights


The Declaration of Right, also known as the Declaration of Rights, is a document written to detail the wrongs committed by the King of England, James II, and specify the rights that all citizens of England should be entitled to and that all English monarchs should abide by. The English Parliament read the Declaration aloud to William of Orange and his wife, Mary (daughter of the absent James II) on 6 February 1689 when the formal offer of the throne was made to them jointly, although it was not made a condition of their acceptance.

The Declaration was a tactical compromise between the Whig and Tory parties, who advocated for Constitutional Monarchism and Absolutism respectively.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, many monarchs, including France’s Louis XIV and Prussia’s Frederick William, moved toward an absolute monarchy and took the power from the hands of many to the hands of the regent. From 1625-1642, Charles I of England took all the power from the English Parliament, effectively dismissing them, and ruled without their authority, collecting illegal taxes. Eventually, this led to the English Civil War, which put the power in the hands of the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell from 1642-1649. but after Cromwell's death the monarchy was re-instituted under Charles II.

Subsequently, under the rule of James II, England moved dangerously close to becoming an absolutist state, when James dismissed Parliament and attempted to rule alone. In response, Parliament called on William of Orange to invade England and James II fled to France. A Convention was summoned to decide the political settlement and it was decided that the King had effectively abdicated and that the throne should be offered to William and his wife Mary — James's daughter.


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