A Constitution in Making (1660-1714)

In Short

This sourcebook assembles primary documents tracing the transformation of British governance from the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 to the end of Queen Anne's reign in 1714. Through official statutes, private letters, trial transcripts, satirical songs, and personal diaries, the volume documents a half-century of acute crisis, showing how absolute monarchy gradually yielded to parliamentary supreme law. It survives as a vivid, multi-angled chronicle of a nation defining its constitutional boundaries through religious conflict, war, and political compromise.

The Story

The narrative opens in May 1660 with the return of Charles II from exile. His arrival at Canterbury immediately highlights the fragile nature of his restoration, as he is besieged by office-seeking royalists demanding compensation for past sacrifices. To establish national stability, Parliament passes strict religious mandates, including the Act of Uniformity, forcing clergy and educators to swear total obedience to the established church and explicitly renounce armed resistance to the Crown.

Disaster soon tests the kingdom's social order. In 1665, the Great Plague devastates London, driving the royal court to flee to Oxford while leaving the city’s poor behind to be buried in mass graves. The Great Fire follows in 1666, forcing a physical and economic rebuilding. Meanwhile, geopolitical entanglements deepen; England enters formal alliances, promising warships and ground forces to protect the United Provinces against foreign invasion, while vibrant coffee-house culture becomes a hotbed for public debate and political gossip.

Political tension peaks under Charles II over issues of religious allegiance and royal succession. Fabrications surrounding the Popish Plot inflame public paranoia, leading to high-profile treason trials like that of Edward Coleman. In response to arbitrary arrests, Parliament secures the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 to enforce strict legal protections against unlawful imprisonment. When the Catholic James II ascends the throne, his attempts to override religious laws provoke open resistance. Seven Anglican bishops oppose his directives and are tried for seditious libel in Westminster Hall, winning a landmark acquittal that unites Protestant factions against the King.

Recognizing an existential political crisis, prominent English leaders send a secret invitation to William of Orange. William lands in England, forces James II to flee to Rochester, and assumes executive control. Parliament formalizes this Glorious Revolution by declaring the throne vacant, establishing the joint monarchy of William and Mary, and enacting strict limits on royal prerogative. The dynamic of governance shifts permanently: landmark legislation guarantees basic legal rights for persons accused of treason, secures parliamentary control over state finances, and eventually merges the English and Scottish parliaments under the Act of Union in 1707. The volume concludes in the reign of Queen Anne, where political life is defined by bitter party battles between Whigs and Tories over war debts, financial speculation, and the Protestant succession.

How It Unfolds

The King returns Charles II lands at Dover in 1660 and travels to Canterbury, where he is instantly swamped by greedy partisans demanding offices and land grants. Parliament quickly passes strict laws requiring clergy, teachers, and university professors to swear absolute loyalty to the King and renounce all covenants.

Crisis sweeps the capital The Great Plague of 1665 ravages London as the wealthy flee, leaving local authorities to bury cartloads of dead in mass pits. Soon after, the Great Fire burns through the city, forcing citizens into coffee-house gathering spots to debate policy, trade news, and air grievances.

Paranoia and legal limits Fears of a Popish Plot grip the public, leading to intense court proceedings and executions based on suspect testimony. To guard against arbitrary royal power, Parliament passes the Habeas Corpus Act, guaranteeing prisoners a swift hearing before a judge.

Bishops stand trial When James II attempts to enforce religious changes, seven bishops refuse his orders and face trial in Westminster Hall for seditious libel. Their acquittal sparks widespread public celebration and accelerates plans among political leaders to depose the monarch.

The Revolution takes hold English elites send a clandestine invitation to William of Orange, who lands an army and forces James II to retreat. Parliament officially declares that James II has abdicated, offering the crown jointly to William and Mary under strictly defined constitutional limits.

A new order emerges New statutes reform treason trials to protect defendants, while the Act of Union unites the English and Scottish Parliaments into a single governing body. Political satirists mock the shifting loyalties of public officials as Whigs and Tories clash over foreign wars, national debt, and the succession.

The People

• Charles II: The restored monarch who seeks personal ease and political stability, but quickly grows weary of the relentless demands made by his loyalist supporters.
• Titus Oates: An unscrupulous informant whose dramatic claims regarding a Popish Plot trigger widespread public panic, political executions, and severe constitutional disputes.
• Edward Coleman: A Catholic official whose private correspondence with France is used to convict him of treason, resulting in his execution despite his dying protests of innocence.
• William of Orange: The Dutch prince invited by English leaders to intervene against James II, who successfully takes command of the government while avoiding overt violence.
• James II: The Catholic King whose polarizing religious policies and defiance of Parliament alienate his allies, leading to his eventual flight to Rochester and loss of the crown.
• The Seven Bishops: High-ranking Anglican prelates who risk imprisonment and trial to resist royal decrees, becoming symbols of national resistance against royal overreach.

In Its Own Voice

"The cart had in it sixteen or seventeen bodies... and they fell quite naked among the rest; but the matter was not much to them, or the indecency much to anyone else, seeing they were all dead, and were to be huddled together into the common grave of mankind..."

This passage from Daniel Defoe captures the utter desolation of London during the 1665 Plague, showing how sudden disaster flattened social distinctions.

"...for each man seems a leveller, and ranks and files himself as he lists, without regard to degrees or order; so that often you may see a silly fop and a worshipful justice... all blended together to compose an oglio of impertinence."

A period pamphleteer describes the chaotic social mixing inside seventeenth-century coffee houses, where political news was debated across class lines.

"And this is law that I'll maintain / Until my dying day, sir, / That whatsoever King shall reign / I'll still be Vicar of Bray, sir."

The verse from a popular song satirizes the opportunistic shifts in principle required to retain office through decades of political turmoil.

What It's Really About

At its core, this volume examines how a society establishes the rule of law when traditional authority collapses. It explores the tension between royal privilege and parliamentary authority, showing that constitutional governance was not born from a single theoretical design, but forged through trial, terror, and practical necessity. The documents reveal a deep struggle over religious conformity, civil liberties, and financial power. Underneath the legal statutes lies a persistent debate about loyalty: how far a citizen's duty to the state extends, and at what point arbitrary power justifies resistance and revolution.

Why Read It Today

This collection will appeal to readers who enjoy unvarnished history told through primary sources. Rather than offering a smoothed-over narrative, it places you directly inside the legal arguments, courtroom drama, and street-level panic of early modern Britain. You experience the evolution of modern rights—like habeas corpus and fair trial procedures—as immediate, desperate responses to real political danger.

The reading requires some patience. The prose shifts from dry, dense legal statutes to archaic satire, filled with archaic spellings, legal jargon, and period-specific terminology. Yet these difficulties are rewarded by the immediacy of the text. The voices feel extraordinarily alive, whether it is a terrified Londoner watching plague carts, an anxious politician plotting a coup by letter, or a cynical clergyman altering his beliefs to save his career. It leaves you with a sharp understanding of how fragile political institutions can be, and how much effort is required to build a lasting constitution.