Levellers

Levellers, 17th-century English political group, active during the civil wars known as the English Revolution. The group advocated an extended franchise and other government reforms based on the inalienability of individual rights and the principle of popular sovereignty. The Levellers first figured as a distinct group in 1647, during the conflict between King Charles I and Parliament. With widespread support in the army, the Levellers, headed by political agitator John Lilburne, presented to their commander a petition, The Case of the Armie Truly Stated, for the dissolution of Parliament and for changes in the structure of future parliaments.

Known by their emblem, a sea-green ribbon, the Levellers anticipated the philosophical ideas of the American Revolution in many respects. Their philosophy, expressed in a pamphlet by Lilburne, The Foundations of Freedom, or an Agreement of the People, was presented to Parliament in 1649. The philosophy had three principal tenets: the existence of certain inalterable rights of man beyond the jurisdiction of any government; the idea that governmental authority derived from the people; and the doctrine of separation of powers, directed especially against the contention “that the Law makers should be Law executors.” The Levellers advocated a representative assembly to meet biannually, based on a redistribution of seats according to density of population, and with the franchise extending to all Englishmen 21 years of age or over and wealthy enough to be “housekeepers.” They also urged abolition of capital punishment for all crimes except murder.

In 1649 Levellers in several regiments of the English army mutinied after their egalitarian ideals were rejected and their leaders imprisoned. The movement was quickly suppressed, and the political influence of the group faded. The Levellers are sometimes confused with the Diggers, a strongly religious and pacifist group that advocated the abolition of private ownership of land.