Notes de cours
CM Civilisation GB
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- Civilisation GB
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- Université De Reims Champagne Ardenne
Cours de Civilisation GB du S6 de L3 LLCE Anglais
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CMCIVILISATION GB
How Britain and the British style of Democracy developed?
The quest for Democracy in 19th century.
“Democracy is a terrible system, except that it’s the best of all the bad systems to
govern the countries.” Churchill.
2016: UK: Referendum, and then Brexit. 15th, January 2019, Parliament is going to
vote against Theresa May. They are voting against immigration. / US: Vote for
Trump. Only 50% people voted, and Hillary got more votes than Trump.
Demos = the people / Catos = the power. The power for the people. Often people
say that Democracy originated in Greece, but they mean Athens. It was a kind of
Democracy. The citizens of Athens (those who were born here, and only the men)
used to gathered in public places and they could speak. You were expected to do
that, you had the right to vote on every issue. Excluded: slaves (the prisoners of
war), foreigners and women. But Athens was a slave society. Pericles was a real
supporter of this form of Democracy. Plato & Aristotle too.
Plato thought that ordinary men should not have the right to vote because they
don’t own land. If you own a house, or land, then you have necessarily got an
interest in the country because you own part of it.
In France in the 18th century, Rousseau believed in a form of Democracy, but that
women shouldn’t have the right to vote. The Marquis of Condorcet was a
Democrat and believed that women should vote. He thought that people should vote
all the time, on all the issues.
Lesson 1 – Introduction.
A) The Growth of the Parliamentary system in EN.
Magna Carta, 1215. The King was John Lackland. The King was losing power, and
the council was made of barons, who had the power over taxation. “No taxation
without representation”. 1258, The Provisions of Oxford: The King had to meet
with the Parliament once a year. It was one of the first time when the word
“Parliament” was mentioned. It comes from parler. Henry IIIrd didn’t obey it and
there was a rebellion against him in 1265. One of the great barons took control of
the country: Simon de Montfort. He governed the country with Parliament. He is
called “The Father of the EN Parliament”.
His son Edward Ist had the model Parliament: in 1295 he created the House of
Commons. They represented the merchants (pay taxes, were rich), bankers… They
elected their representatives, and one day they split: The House of Lords. At the
time, the King was the most important. But today, the House of Commons have the
power. There was a shift of power, it changed over many years.
In the 16th century, the King was Henry VIII. (He had 6 wives). He created a
separate independent Church of EN. He took EN out of EU by splitting away from
Rome. At the time, there was no revolution against him because he did everything in
agreement with Parliament, especially the House of Commons. He understood that
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they were representatives of the “common people”. Henry VIII allowed Parliament
to taste power.
Elizabeth didn’t want Parliament to tell her what she had to do: “don’t discuss my
private life”. But Henry VIII said to them that they could discuss his private life. So,
they didn’t want to go from Champaign to Champomy. Henry VIII also closed the
monasteries because he wanted their lands. He sold them at a very low class, and
middle-class people could buy land and become land owners: they had the right to
vote. In this way, he created a new class: a bourgeois middle-class.
B) The birth of the political party system in 17th century in EN.
Elizabeth died in 1603, and James Ist became King. It was the end of the Tudors
and the beginning of the Stuarts. James Ist was intelligent, but had no idea how to
speak to people, to govern. He was arrogant, proud and believed in a theory of
monarchy: that he had been chosen by God, the divine right of Kings. To Parliament:
“The State of Monarchy is the supremist thing on earth, for Kings are not only God
lieutenants on earth, but by God himself, they are called God”. James Ist had a
speak problem, he couldn’t speak properly: the Parliament were laughing at James.
They knew that THEY were gods.
His son, Charles Ist became king in 1625, and was executed in 1649 by Parliament.
He tried to be a tyrant, to govern without Parliament, and he nearly succeeded. They
were really worried about him. In the end, Parliament went to war against the King:
the EN Civil War 1642-49. He was defeated, it was more or less clear by the end
of 1647 that the King was defeated. In November 1647, the Parliamentary Army
held a series of debates in Saint-Mary Church in Putney.
The Army and its leader Cromwell had these debates and were talking about how
EN should be governed. Nobody said “A Republic”. A man said: “For really I think
that the pooresty that is in EN have a life to live (…) every man that is to live under
a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government.
(…) the poorest man on earth is not at all bound into this government that he had
not a voice to tell under”. The son-in-law of Cromwell said: “No man had a right to
and interest or share in the disposing of the affairs of the kingdom that have not a
permanent fixed interest in this kingdom”.
The question at the center of the Civil War: who governs this country? King or
Parliament? That question was answered: Parliament. For 11 years, EN was a
Republic. But Republicanism failed in EN. It was finished by 1660. So, the
Parliament decided to restore the Monarchy. They invited the first son of Charles
to be King: Charles IInd.
Charles IInd was probably the most intelligent of the Stuarts, but the competition
wasn’t tough. He realized that he was King not because God had chosen him, but
because Parliament had chosen him. He governed EN with Parliament. He governed
successfully from 1660 to 1685. The one big mistake he made: to fight for the right
for his brother to become king after him. Why not his son? He had lots of sons, but
they were illegitimate. His wife could not have babies. As Charles IInd was getting
older, the question was who would be king after him? He wanted James to be King.
It’s the origins of political parties. The Parliament was divided on the question.
One group that supported the idea of James being King. They argued that this was
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the proper thing to do, the correct way to behave. James was the next in line
technically. But why did some people not want him? He was a Catholic. The group
who supported him were close to the King and were known as the Court Party. On
the other side, the group who was against James was not close to the King and was
more or less excluded: The Country Party.
They insulted each other, the Court Party (the Conservative Party) called the Country
Party “Whigs”. It was a Scottish Presbyterian Outlaw, a kind of criminal. They
Country Party (the Liberal Party) called the Court Party “Tories”. It was an Irish
Catholic Rebel. Who won the argument? The Tories. In 1685, Charles IInd died, and
James became King.
James was the stupidest of the Stuarts, because he believed that he could make EN
Catholic. He truly believed that he could take EN back to Rome and instore the
authority of the Pope. He also believed in the theory of the Divine Right of Kings. His
hero was Louis XIV. He admired him. This was bad news for the Parliament. James
began to create a very large army: 300 000 men. Everybody knew what he was
planning to do with this army. Parliament was very nervous. The one piece of good
news for Parliament: James had two girls, Mary & Anne: both Protestant. In 1688,
James’ wife had a son. He became first in line, and it was sure that he will be raised
as a Catholic.
Many of the powerful men got together and wrote a letter to Mary and her husband:
William of Orange. They asked him to come to EN and to take the crown. He
accepted. He arrived in the South of EN, and the date was very significant:
November 5th (like the gunpowder plot). EN was celebrated the fact that God had
saved EN from the Catholics. James sent his army to fight William. The leader of
his army was John Churchill. When Churchill arrived, he joined William. There
was no fighting. There was only one thing for James to do: he left EN in
December with a group of men, and they sailed to France, to be protected by
Louis. Fishermen saw him, they recognized his boat, they stopped it, took the King
out, and took him back to London and gave him to Parliament. Parliament had no
intention of executing him.
One night, on the 24th of December, James was in a locked sell in the tower, and
he noticed that the guards had forgotten to lock the door. He came out of the tower,
which is next to Tower Bridge (a bridge over the Thames), and there was a boat. He
says to the man “Where are you going?” and he was going to France. On Christmas
morning 1688 he arrived on Calais. Parliament had planned everything. Parliament
immediately announced that the King had abdicated. They invited Mary and
William to become King and Queen. It was the only time when there was a King and
a Queen joined.
In 1689, Parliament produced the Bill of Rights. The first line was “And the said
King James II having abdicated the government and the throne (…)”. The Bill of
Rights is part of the Constitution. Point 7: “Subjects which are Protestants may have
arms for their defense.” It’s the IInd Amendment. James Madison was the number 1
expert on constitutional affairs, he studied Magna Carta, and the Bill of Rights. He
took point n°7 and put it in the Constitution.
The problem was that William and Mary did not have any children. And it was clear
by the early 1690’s that they were both too old to have children. Some members of
Parliament continued to believe in the hereditary line of power: the Tories. Some
believed that James and his son should come back, but the Whigs said no, they
wanted Anne. In 1695, Mary died, then William. Anne became Queen. She had
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