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The Commonwealth, 1649-53
What did the Rump achieve?
• When Charles I was executed, all that remained of the Long Parliament was
its Rump, that is, those 71 MPs who had survived Pride’s Purge on 6
December 1648 and had chosen to remain in House of Commons during the
revolutionary events of Dec 1648 – Jan 1649
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• A further 83 MPs resumed their seats is the following few months of
constitutional debate
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• The Rump’s first task was to establish who was to rule the country and under
what conditions
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• Despite the misgivings of some, including Oliver Cromwell, no alternative was
found but to abolish the monarchy and the House of Lords
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• The Council was composed of 41 members if whom 34 were MPs and 5 were
peers
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• The Council began to meet in Feb 1649
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• In effect, Parliament was the executive, as well as the legislative, power
within the country because of the overlap of personnel
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• The franchise was not extended and the Council of State was appointed and
not elected
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• It was not, and when Lilburne and three other Leveller leaders attacked
Parliament in the pamphlets “England’s New Chains Discovered”, they were
imprisoned in the Tower of London despite their valid claim that this was in
breach of their rights
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• Having established itself, the new government could begin to deal with other
pressing issues
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These concerns, as well as the Dutch War that began in 1652, had
implications for the role of the army and navy
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The need for a religious settlement was clear, although the solution was not
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While the Rump was successful in defending England and subduing the Irish,
other policies met with less approval, especially in the eyes of Oliver
Cromwell and the Army
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• As a mainly Catholic country whose men had fought for the King during the
first Civil War, it posed an important challenge to the Rump and all it stood
for
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• In May 1650, Cromwell returned to England, his work mostly accomplished as
a result of the superior training and more secure supply system of the English
army
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• As a result of the English victory, land was redistributed in Ireland, with the
Catholic share being reduced from 60% in 1641 to 20% by 1660
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• The Rump was then in a position to send Cromwell, now Commander-in-Chief
of the Army, to deal with Scotland where Charles Stuart had been declared
King and had landed in June 1650
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• Although Cromwell made some minor tactical errors in the early stages of the
campaign, the Scots were resoundingly defeated at Dunbar in September
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• Thereafter, an English army of occupation financed by the Scots was able to
ensure there was no further rebellion
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• The abolition of the Court of High Commission, the signing of the Solemn
League and Covenant with the Scots and the Directory of Worship published

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by the Westminster Assembly of Divines in 1645-46 had not led to religious
unity
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Some sects and individuals challenged the foundations of society, as well as
religion, and now it was time for the Rump to restore order
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Firstly, the issue of religious uniformity or toleration had to be decided
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Parliamentarians such as Cromwell and outspoken radicals outside
parliament considered that toleration within broad limits should form the
basis of any legislation
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Apart from passing laws against blasphemy (swearing) and adultery, which
meant that measures could be taken against extremists such as Ranters, and
repealing that Elizabethan legislation making weekly attendance at the
Church of England compulsory, the Rump achieved little
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A Committee for the Propagation of the Gospel was appointed in 1652, but
the lack of unity in Parliament prevented any decisions being reached
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The members of the Rump were clearer about their views on society and the
law
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They appreciated the minefield that legal reform presented and confined
themselves to a few minor alterations, the most significant of which was
probably the introduction of English rather than Latin and French as the
language of the courts
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Again the Army, which saw itself as God’s instrument in overthrowing the old
regime, was among those groups hoping for reform
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Another source of discontent for those seeking reform was that current
trading practices such as monopolies were protected to the benefit of
merchants, not the public
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Crown and Church lands were sold and the property of Royalists was
confiscated and the income appropriated
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Royalists were unlikely to be reconciled to sequestration (the confiscation of
Royalist lands to finance the Civil Wars)
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Why did Oliver Cromwell become Lord Protector?
• In 1653, significant changes were made to the constitution
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• They forcibly ejected the members
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• Cromwell handed authority to the Council of Officers
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• Some Independent churches made suggestions about who might be included,
but the Council of Officers made the choices
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• It declared itself to be a parliament, although Harrison’s original intention
had probably been to dispense with such discredited earthly institutions
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• However unjustified, the assembly had too low-class and radical a reputation
to be successful
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• The more moderate members handed power back to Cromwell and a power
vacuum existed again
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• Having withdrawn from politics when the assembly declared itself a
parliament, he put new plans to politics when the assembly declared itself a
parliament, he put new plans to Cromwell and the Council in November
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• Initially, the crown was offered to Oliver Cromwell, but in December he
accepted instead the title Lord Protector
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• He was to take the advice of his Council of State and call a Parliament to
meet for at least five months every three years
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Besides the failure to satisfy them regarding religion or the Army’s ideals
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The Rum was still sitting and had not make arrangements for electing a
successor
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This made for a serious situation; if the Commonwealth was to survive, the
franchise had to be adapted in order to ensure that the pro-monarchic
parliament would not result
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The Army entered the House and expelled the members
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Cromwell himself gave different justifications of his motives, but the irony of
the event is clear
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The nature of Cromwell’s dissatisfaction with the Rump, from a constitutional
point of view, is far from clear
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A year later, same writer reported that Cromwell asked, “What if a man
should take upon him to be King?”
The historian Ronald Hutton points out, in The British Republic 1649-1660
(2000) that these reported conversations were written down ten years later
when Bulstrode Whitelocke, who recorded the remarks, would have been
eager to associate himself with Royalist sympathies
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Much evidence of Cromwell’s political conservatism elsewhere, yet the
reason he gave publicly was that the Rump was trying to maintain itself in
power
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This equates with the version of events he gave to the Nominated Assembly,
in a speech in July 1653, when he criticised the Rump for its plan to fill the
House by means of by-elections rather than calling a general election
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They relate a power-hungry Cromwell, who had already ensured his support
in the Army, acted to take control when he realized that the Rump was about
to dissolve itself
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However, like Whitelocke’s these are by no means objective accounts
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Historians have been similarly divided on the matter
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In Oliver Cromwell (2001), J
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He treats contemporary sources with caution and relies on evidence that is
not in dispute
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This range of interpretations of events seems to rest on differences of
opinion about the Rump’s position and intentions
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In March 1649, the Rump expressed the intention of dissolving itself as soon
as was safe; in May, there was army pressure for this
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This proposal was raised several times and was used by Cromwell as evidence
that the Rump was trying to perpetuate itself
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Even those JPs who had supported Parliament in the war were reluctant to
take the Engagement
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Securing the regime and calling fresh elections must have seemed mutually
exclusive
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After initial moves towards reform, the MPs reverted to policies in the
interests of their class or groups within it
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The Navigation Act of 1651 and the Dutch War begun in 1652, both intended
to benefit merchants, could also be criticised for this reason
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Eventually, pressure from the Army began to force the issue
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Then they agreed to dissolve no later than November 1654
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Nevertheless, Cromwell managed to avoid direct Army involvement at this
point
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Clearly, given the level of unpopularity of the regime, the elections would
need careful management to avoid the restoration of the Stuart monarchy
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In March and April, the Rump debated the bill, with the Army growing
increasingly restless
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He saw what was happening and began chiding the members
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“In the name
of God, go!” and he called the musketeers to his aid
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He gave varied accounts of its contents, but even after his death Rump MPs
were not prepared to defend it
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What did the Nominated Assembly achieve?
• Used to be claimed that Nominated Assembly was designed by Harrison to
introduce the rule of the saints
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• Equally, Cromwell was committed to a reformation of manners and may
have believed that the best way to achieve the stability that the Rump had
failed to establish was to allow the godly to rule
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• His main concern was that England should have a republican form of
government
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• The Assembly was not intended to be permanent
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the Assembly was told that “this may be the door to usher in things that God
hath promised and prophesied of”
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Although between 40 and 50 members were Independents and sectaries,
the majority had administrative experience as members of the traditional
ruling elite and most were of more moderate persuasion
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The members were divided into 15 committees, which discussed various
matters and drafted significant reforms
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In considering the legal system, the Assembly drew on the work of the Hale
Commission (a body established by the Rump in 1651 to advise on reform
but whose recommendations had been largely ignored):
o Improvements were made to the laws regarding debtors
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o Most importantly, the Court of chancery was abolished
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However, the Assembly did not go so far as to reduce the laws to the size of a
pocket book, in line with popular demand
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The Assembly also made further moves to unite the countries of the British
Isles, to revise the excise and rationalize the treasuries
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The revision of the excise was more problematic
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Why did the Nominated Assembly fail?
• The Nominated Assembly’s reputation rests on the radicalism of some of its
members
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• Reforms of the legal system gave rise to demands to go beyond
rationalization, to sweep away the existing laws and to introduce Mosaic law
as part of the Fifth Monarchist programme of preparing for the rule of King
Jesus
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The most radical demands were heard in relation to religious reform
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There were popular demands that all forms of organized religion be
removed, but as usual the sticking point among the members was more
mundane
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It is significant that it was introduced in November, at a time when the
attendance of the more moderate members was ebbing, and hence their
majorities were shrinking
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After the first clause of the bill was narrowly defeated, the moderate
members handed power to Cromwell while soldiers ejected those who
continued to meet from the Commons
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Others, clearly, had been appraised of what was to occur
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How was England to be governed under the Instrument of Government?
• The government of Britain was to be headed by a Lord Protector
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• In both positions, he had gained respect
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• Although contemporaries, such as Major-General Harrison, accused Cromwell
of ambition and were of the opinion that he had betrayed the revolution, it is
difficult to back up the former claim
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• Cromwell himself later remarked, “I saw we were running into confusion and
disorder and would necessarily run into blood
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A further criticism was that Cromwell behaved like, and perhaps regarded
himself as, a king
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However, as the poet Andrew Marvell observes in “The First Anniversary”:
“Abroad a king, he seems, and something more,
At home a subject on the equal floor
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The Instrument of Government represented an attempt to learn from
England’s recent constitutional upheavals
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The arrangements incorporated electoral reforms and restrictions on the
legislative veto of the Protector
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No legislation was allowed which would alter the fundamentals of the
Instrument
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The historian Barry Coward, in The Stuart Age, contrasts the Nominated
Assembly and the Instrument, describing the latter as “a victory for the
conservative wing of the army”

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