English History Timeline

Guy Fawkes & other Catholic associates conspire to blow up James VI and I and Parliament

no taxation without representation (consent of Parliament), due process of the law, quartering of soldiers in private homes - breaks king's hold on absolute monarchy

Charles issues prayer book , Jenny Geddes organizes riot, Charles forced to call Parliament for the first time in 11 years, war w/ Scotland due to religious differences

follows 11 year parliamentary absence

Parliament meets for at least a 50 day session once every 3 years

bishops of the Church of England excluded from the House of Lords

list of grievances presented to king Charles I - reassertion of Parliament's historical rights

Parliament after Long Parliament was purged of political dissenters (those opposed to Grandee's intention to try King Charles I for high treason)

last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the installation of Oliver Cromwell - after Cromwell breaks the act of Forcible Dissolution by dissolving parliament, calls it a "republic" -> protectorate, cromwell becomes lord protector

Oliver Cromwell appointed as Lord Protector

return of King Charles II - rules w/ Parliament, but Catholic

purges Charles II - new leaders - William and Mary

sign English Bill of Rights - separation of powers, limits powers of monarchs, enhances democratic election, bolsters freedom of speech

ends War of Spanish Succession - Louis XIV can install his nephew in Spain but the two kingdoms could not combine through inheritance

James Hargreaves

most fundamental advance in technology - shifts from dependence from animal/plant fuel to fossil fuel

Richard Arkwright - use water frame to power, only needs human being to supervise

Samuel Crompton - update on Arkwright's water frame - allows for thinner thread to be spun so fabric can be softer, pliable, and lighter

Edmund Cartwright - weaving

banned employment of children under the age of 9, limited labor for children from 9-16 to 12 hours a day, stipulated that children were to receive instruction in reading and arithmetic during working hours

fought between British Royal Navy and French/Spanish Navies

imposed restrictions and tariffs on imported grain - keep grain prices high to favor domestic producers - focus of opposition from urban groups who had less political power than rural Britain

textile industry - after Napoleonic blockade is gone

cavalry charges into crowd of 60,000-80,000 who gathered to demand reform of parlaimentary representation -sends a shock through the political elite of Britain - political fork in the road - more draconian, authoritarian, repressive or liberalisation and reform

changes British electoral system - disenfranchised rotten boroughs, enfranchise places like manchester, expands franchise to upper middle class

ordinary working class & middle class people who wanted the Peoples Charter to be adopted (equal electoral districts, abolition of property qualifications for members of Parliament, universal manhood suffrage, annual parliaments, vote by ballot, payment of members of Parliament)

restricted working hours of women and young persons to 10 hours a day in textile mills

world's first industrial fair - housed at Kensington in London in the Crystal Palace - displayed Great Britain's industrial wealth

universal education - framework for schooling of all children between ages of 5 and 12