The Failure of the Commonwealth (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes

The Failure of the Commonwealth

The inevitability of failure

The Commonwealth emerged through a fragmented process that saw former MPs gradually returning after having stayed away during the King's trial. By spring 1649, around 150 MPs had taken their seats in what became known as the Rump Parliament. Military successes and the diminishing prospects of a Royalist restoration encouraged more cautious and conservative elements to make peace with the new republican order. This had the effect of reducing radical influence within Parliament at the expense of more moderate voices.

Yet scant consideration had been devoted to defining what form of government should replace the monarchy. The army had acted to protect its own interests against what it perceived as an attempt to restore monarchical powers and impose a restrictive national Church. Religious toleration would clearly need to form part of the new settlement, and there existed expectations of 'godly reformation' in both government and society. Beyond these broad principles, however, little had been agreed or even properly debated.

Conflicting visions, 1649-52

Competing demands for reform

The MPs tasked with implementing godly reformation found themselves caught between competing demands. The army, radicals and committed idealists pressed for comprehensive restructuring. The Council of Officers advocated for Church reform and refurbishment alongside substantial religious freedom, simplification of legal processes, and greater social justice, including an end to imprisonment for debt. Baptist churches supported ending the national Church system and making all ministers reliant on voluntary contributions from their congregations. The Independents preferred retaining a reformed national Church with ministers paid through some form of tithes. More radical sects demanded complete religious freedom. Individual reformers such as the scientist Samuel Hartlib and the Independent minister Hugh Peter proposed schemes for educational reform and guaranteed agricultural prices to support the poor. Against a background of economic hardship, these reform proposals attracted support but proved financially unworkable.

The pressure for control

Most MPs recognised the need to restore authority and confidence throughout the political nation, particularly among the governing elite in the localities. Complaints about social unrest, radical behaviour and the collapse of parish administration mounted, demonstrating the urgent need to restore order and re-establish the Church. Law reform presented substantial obstacles. The subject required careful consideration since existing law was not merely worse than the alternative but fundamentally flawed. The Rump bore responsibility for both planning and debating necessary legislation while managing the daily administrative burden of government on a scale Parliament had never previously undertaken. Army leaders also demanded progress on constitutional reforms to establish foundations for a permanent new political structure.

Measures of control and reform

The measures implemented by MPs reveal both the conservative and authoritarian character of the regime and its general lack of popular support, alongside mounting dissatisfaction within the army. Statutes compelling church attendance were repealed, providing a degree of religious freedom. However, the Blasphemy and Adultery Acts of 1650 increased repression and launched an assault on more radical sects.

These measures targeted early Quakers, whose practice of parading naked through village streets carrying braziers of hot coals symbolised the fires of hell, leading to more restrained attitudes and a tendency to equate nakedness with moral depravity. Such actions could now be punished regardless of the intentions and motives behind them.

Steps were taken to improve the supply of competent preaching ministers, especially in Wales, which was viewed as a 'dark corner' of the land, though no measures addressed the replacement of tithes or development of less restrictive means of supporting the ministry.

Economic regulation

Economic regulation measures, particularly the Navigation Acts, were introduced to stimulate trade development. A successful war against the Dutch helped strengthen the navy and encouraged expansion of overseas commerce. Over time, these measures established foundations for economic growth, though at the time they appeared merely to advance the interests of merchants who were securing ever-growing influence in Parliament. This perception of self-interest intensified with time. The Hales Commission was created to examine law reform in 1651, following pressure from the army after the Battle of Worcester, but its report was set aside in February 1653. Whether the numerous lawyers in Parliament engineered this inaction, it suited their interests.

The dissolution of the Rump, 1653

Stalled constitutional reform

Progress with electoral reform and new constitutional measures advanced remarkably slowly, prodded forward only by frequent prompting from the army and Cromwell. After the Battle of Dunbar, Sir Henry Vane suggested a plan for 'recruiting' new members, which would protect the seats of existing MPs while simply adding new members to fill vacancies. Following Worcester, the House concentrated on arrangements to include Scottish and Irish members, and on prosecuting the war with the Dutch, which proved extremely popular among more consciously 'Protestant' members such as Cromwell himself. As prospects for reform diminished and irritation with the army mounted, the Rump's attitude indicated a determination to cling to power. The mounting hostility with which MPs responded to army pressure suggested that the Council of Officers' views would receive decreasing influence. By the end of 1652, the Council of Officers was pressuring General Cromwell to take action.

Cromwell's intervention

What finally prompted Cromwell to act remains not entirely certain. On 20 April 1653 he entered the House of Commons with a military escort, delivered a tirade of criticism at the assembled members and ordered them to leave. He later defended his action by claiming they were planning to maintain themselves in power indefinitely, though evidence suggests they were at least preparing a bill for dissolution. It has been suggested they were reviving Vane's idea for 'recruiting', though this appears unlikely. The best explanation appears to lie in a combination of the Rump's mounting hostility to the army and Cromwell's character.

The role of Cromwell

Character and contradictions

Throughout 1652 Cromwell had attempted to restrain more radical sections of the army and maintain unity with the Rump to protect the common cause, but by early 1653 this had become increasingly difficult. Cromwell was reluctant to act until he was certain of God's will – he sought guidance from providence. Just as in December 1648 he had hesitated until Pride's Purge provided the sign that God wished the King removed, he now waited for some providential event to show him the way forward.

Understanding the contradictions of the Interregnum requires understanding the contradictions of the man who now dominated it, Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell's profile analyses the events that shaped his character, and it is the complexity of this character that has fascinated biographers and led to conflicting interpretations and judgements. Cromwell was a conservative member of the gentry, concerned with maintaining social order, upholding the existing social hierarchy and protecting the interests of his class. He was never an original thinker in terms of political organisation and relied on associates to provide the theoretical understanding behind the constitutional changes he endorsed. In his religious views, he was not wedded or attached to particular forms of government but was willing to consider any practical alternatives.

Political philosophy and religious conviction

Cromwell's hatred was directed at men like Lilburne and the republicans who supported the Rump. He listened to their plans, sometimes tried them out, and was able to abandon them when they proved unworkable, leaving their authors feeling they had been used and betrayed. His own preference was for a 'government with something of the monarchical in it'. Like most gentlemen of his time, Cromwell believed that England was a 'mixed' monarchy, in which king, lords and commons all possessed some powers within the rule of law and were able to act as a check on one another against the abuse of power. This preference had been strengthened by the problems arising from government by a single authority, such as the Rump, and would reappear in the establishment of the Protectorate at the end of 1653.

In the spring of 1653, however, the other side of Cromwell's character came to prominence. If his political thinking was conventional, his religious convictions were those of a radical. It is difficult to define his views in relation to the various sects of the time, but he was probably closest to the Independents, who supported the idea of a national Church with limited toleration for voluntary groups whose views were neither too outrageous nor dangerous to others. This broadly describes the kind of Church he sought to create as Lord Protector.

Cromwell was deeply committed to the work of godly reformation and to the right of the godly to search for truth without unnecessary restraints. His whole career demonstrates his belief in providence and his desire to serve God and to act to further God's will. His notorious periods of hesitation arose from his desire to interpret the signs and understand God's will before acting. Once convinced, he acted with energy and determination. He did not share the extreme millenarian convictions of a man like Harrison and had no intention of allowing the 'Saints' to tear down government. However, he was prepared to consider the possibility that the civil wars and execution of the King might indicate that the struggle for godly reformation was approaching its climax. In such circumstances, an assembly drawn from the godly part of the nation might be able to contribute to the work. The result was the calling, in July 1653, of the Parliament of Saints.

The Godly Experiment, 1653

The Parliament of Saints

The army council had requested advice from local dignitaries before selecting those who were to attend. Historian Derek Hirst has pointed out that one-third of the members were men of sufficient status to have been elected to any Parliament and over two-thirds had been JPs for more than three years. Many were moderate and cautious reformers rather than fiery enthusiasts. However, they were often drawn from the minor gentry rather than the greater families, some had links with more flamboyant radical groups and about a dozen out of the total of 144 were Fifth Monarchists, determined to destroy man-made government and the national Church in order to usher in the rule of saints and the return of King Jesus.

Achievements and conflicts

These conflicting influences soon became apparent. To Cromwell's irritation, the Assembly began by declaring itself to be a Parliament with all parliamentary privileges. This did not promise well for an assembly whose task was to create a new constitution. Nevertheless, the members soon warmed to their task and in the five months of its existence passed over 30 acts, many eminently sensible and moderate.

A new Council of State was established with a good mix of members to represent both moderate and enthusiastic opinion. The work of the Hale Commission on law reform was taken up, producing reform of the laws on debt, a civil marriage act and a plan to abolish the notoriously slow and expensive Court of Chancery. Progress was made in uniting Scotland and Ireland with England and Wales and in modifying lay control of Church livings.

Here, however, the assembly began to tread on dangerous ground, since an attack on advowsons and tithes was seen by many as an attack on property itself. Advowsons referred to the right to appoint ministers to church positions, while tithes represented payments made to support the clergy. This strengthened the unease of moderate members, who were concerned by the growing clamour of the Fifth Monarchists for the introduction of biblical laws and by changes that were taking place in local government.

The summer of 1653 saw a series of purges in the commissions of the peace (JPs) that removed members of the gentry and replaced them with yeomen and shopkeepers. When the radicals succeeded on 10 December in pushing through a vote against tithes, the moderates decided to act before social order was seriously undermined. On 12 December they met early in the absence of the radicals and voted to dissolve themselves, handing power back to Cromwell.

The failure of the Commonwealth

Cromwell's disappointment regarding the Parliament of Saints was considerable, but he was pragmatic enough to recognise failure and to realise that it arose from the same issue that had destroyed the Rump Parliament – the difficulty of balancing the desire for reform with the need for stability. Where the Rump had proceeded too slowly, the radicals of the nominated assembly had moved too fast.

He therefore turned to the alternative suggested by Lambert, an executive officer to rule with the help of parliaments. The Rump and Parliament of Saints had demonstrated the problems caused by a single central authority which chose to ignore other opinions. Cromwell and Lambert now sought to restore the principle of mixed government in the hope of achieving a blend of reform and stability.

The transition from Commonwealth to Protectorate marked a recognition that the revolutionary experiment in republican government had failed to deliver either effective reform or political stability.