II.

The Joint Monarchy and the Bill of Rights

William’s stated objective was to secure a free Parliament that would allow the English to remedy their grievances. With James gone, William was invited to take charge of the government and maintain order. He summoned a “Convention”—a true Parliament could be called only by a king—and on February 6, 1689, the convention declared that James had abdicated and offered the crown to William and Mary, creating the only joint monarchy in English history. Many in Parliament were reluctant to recognize William as king, because he was not James’s immediate heir, but they had no real alternative, as he was already exercising full kingly power. They salved their consciences by offering the crown to Mary as well, although executive power lay with William. The claim of James’s son was negated by a resolution declaring that experience had shown that it was incompatible with the safety of a Protestant kingdom to be governed by a Catholic prince.

The offer of the crown was preceded by the reading of a “declaration of rights,” later passed into law as the Bill of Rights; the future exclusion of Catholics from the English throne was added at this stage. The Bill condemned what many saw as recent breaches of the constitution; the only major novelty—apart from the debarment of Catholics from the throne—was the statement that the king could not raise an army in peacetime without Parliament’s consent. Parliament also passed the Toleration Act that allowed freedom of worship to Protestant Nonconformists, also known as Dissenters; Catholics, Jews, and Unitarians were excluded from its benefits and Nonconformists were not allowed full civil rights, including the right to hold public office, until 1828.

The Bill of Rights clarified some uncertainties, but left the crown’s basic prerogatives intact. The monarch still had the power to choose ministers and office-holders, summon and dismiss Parliament, command the armed forces, and formulate policy—at least in theory.

After 1689, however, William found it increasingly difficult in practice. The Commons refused to grant him sufficient revenues to support the cost of government, even in peacetime. William’s accession embroiled England in major wars with France, namely the Nine Years’ War and the War of the Spanish Succession. The financial independence of previous monarchs had obviated any need to call Parliament regularly. William and his successors had to call Parliament each year, to vote supply. The Commons exploited the king’s necessities, attaching conditions to their grants.

As Parliament was divided on party lines, the leaders of the majority party used their control of the Commons to put pressure on the monarch to follow their advice. Increasingly, parliamentary politicians, rather than monarchs, made key decisions about policy and appointments. Although further legal limitations have been imposed on royal power since 1689, notably by the Act of Settlement, the monarch has been far more stringently constrained by the practical need to work with Parliament.