ALTERNATES TO 17TH CENTURY ABSOLUTISMThe Dutch and England

Questions from your reading in Spielvogel. Pages 467 – 475.

“What do you know?”

• Poor Poland! The Polish people have spent much of the last 500 years looking for a state to represent them and their culture with a strong and stable government. Only recently has Poland been a stable country.

• In the 17th Century, the ________, or Polish Parliament really controlled the Polish government.

• The Polish King was chosen by ________________________________________________.

• Also , when the Sejm accepted the liberum veto , which allowed____________________________________________, the Polish Government became really ineffective and weak.

• Now the Dutch are a different story in the 17th Century.

• At the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the __________________________ became recognized as a new and independent state in Europe.

• Dutch government had two centers of power. One was the ________________________.The other was the _____________________.

• By the end of the 17th Century, the Dutch government was led by ______________ of the House of ______________. However, his power and that of his successors was challenged by _____________________. So , in the 17th and 18th Century, the form of government in the Netherlands could be called a __________________.

• What else should you know about the 17th Century Dutch Republic?

• ____________________became the financial and commercial capital of Europe in the 17th Century.

• By 1660, this city’s population had reached _______________ making it one of the largest cities in Europe.

• The Dutch prosperity of the 17th Century was built on____________________.

• Amsterdam was the headquarters of both the ________________________ and the ______________________ which dominated much of the trade in Europe to the New World and the East.

• The Dutch had the most powerful financial institution in 17th Century known as the _____________________________.

• As a side-note, 17th Century Amsterdam was one of the cleanest and most efficiently run cities of any age. The phrase “______________________________________________________” could easily be applied to the industrious and hard-working women and men of Amsterdam.

• The 17th Century in England began with the death of a dynasty. When ________________ died in 1603, the ______________dynasty died with her.

• In 1603, _________________ became king of England beginning a new dynasty of rulers known as the _______________. He was from ________________ and believed in that kings ruled on the basis of ___________________________________________________________.

• James I ruled from __________to _________. He had difficulty in dealing with two English institutions. Politically, he did not like sharing power with _________________ and when it came to Church affairs he didn’t want to have anything to do with the _____________ who wanted to reform the Church of England.

• These differences came to a head during the reign of James I’s son, _______________, who ruled from ___________ to ____________.

• In 1628, Parliament being wary of the new kings leanings passed the ________________.

This new law limited the king’s power by ___________________________________________. As a result, from 1629 – 1640, the king ruled England without Parliament.

• Charles I’s religious policy became a big problem. In religion Charles leaned toward supporting_________________________.

• When Charles was forced to call Parliament in 1640, things began to get worse. Parliament passed the Triennial Act which said______________________________________________.

When Charles arrested some opponents in Parliament, ________________ began.

• The first part of the Civil War ended in _______ with the capture of ____________ by the forces led by ________________ and his army known as _____________________.

• Cromwell and Presbyterian members of Parliament were negotiating with the king when Charles fled to seek help from the

______________. Cromwell then fought a second civil war against Charles forces and when Charles I was defeated and captured this time, he was _____________________.

• On Charles I’s death, Cromwell’s Parliament, known as the ________________, proclaimed that England was a ______________. Cromwell ran into ran into opposition from such groups as the _________________ and the __________________. He then dismissed _________________ in 1653 and ended up ruling England as a virtual _________.

• When Cromwell died in 1658, the leaders in England had had enough of Puritanism and asked __________________ to return and rule England. He ruled England from ___________ to _____________. At first the people were glad to see a representative of the __________ dynasty back on the throne. The period of his rule was called the ___________.

• But Charles II, soon found he had problems. In Church matters, he leaned towards ________________. In 1673, parliament passed the Test Act which said that____________________________________________. Two political parties were formed in England during this time. There was the _________ who believed ___________________________. And the second party was the ___________ who believed_________________________________.

• So when Charles II died, his brother ______________________, became king. James religion was ______________ and when his second wife had a son, James and his family ended up ______________________.

• Leading English lords invited __________________________ to come to England and Parliament offered them the throne of England.

• These events were known as ________________________________.

• William and Mary, the new monarchs of England had to agree to rule England in accordance with the provisions of the _________________________.

• A law regulating religious worship was also passed at this time. It was known as _________________________.

• As a result of the Civil War and Glorious Revolution in 17th Century England, two English political thinkers wrote about books about the basis of political authority and each came up with very different conclusions. Both of these men, _________________ and __________________ have theories which have influenced political scientists ever since. Their ideas are referred to frequently, even today.

• The first of these thinkers was Thomas Hobbes. He was a well established scholar at the time of the English Civil War and he witnessed a lot of the upheaval and fighting during those years. He felt that humans in the state of nature were _____________________________________. So left to themselves, people will always be

• ___________________________.

• Hobbes conclusion was that the best solution was to adopt a contract with a ruler who would rule for the people to provide order, discipline and laws to allow people to live peacefully and prosper. This ruler would embody ____________________________. Thus Hobbes ended up supporting _____________________________________.

• John Locke saw the human condition quite differently. He felt that humans left in the state of nature lived____________________

________________. In this state they had inalienable rights such as ____________, ____________ and ______________. They still needed to protection from disputes, but he argued the way to do this was to set up a government whose purpose was ____________________________.

• If a government failed to protect a society’s natural rights, it was the right of the people to _____________________________________.

• Locke’s theory should sound very familiar to you because it’s the basis of our government today.

• By the way, the name of Hobbes book on government was called _____________________________.

• The name of Locke’s writing on government was ____________________________________.

• Let’s just throw this in here. For the quest tomorrow you should be able to describe some of the characteristics of the Baroque Art of the 17th Century and describe an example or two of it.

• _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• These acts changed the government in England a great deal. The government in England was now a ____________________.

• Two great political philosophers came out of this period of 17th Century English History. They were __________________ and _________________________. You definitely need to know the ideas and arguments of these two political thinkers!