The Declaration of Right, or Declaration of Rights, is a document produced by the English Parliament, following the 1688 Glorious Revolution. It sets out the wrongs committed by the exiled James II, the rights of English citizens, and the obligation of their monarch. On 13 February 1689, it was read out to James' daughter, Mary, and her husband, William of Orange, when they were jointly offered the throne, although not made a condition of acceptance. The Declaration itself was a tactical compromise between Whigs and Tories; it put forth a set of grievances, without agreeing to their cause or solution.

Background

The first Stuart monarch, James VI and I, sought to combine the three separate kingdoms of Scotland, Ireland, and England into a centralised British state, under a monarch whose authority came from God, and the duty of Parliament and his subjects was to obey. This premise was continued under his son and successor Charles I. Their attempts to enforce this led to the 1638 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms and execution of Charles I in 1649; the political conflict continued after the 1660 Restoration. 17th century society valued conformity, stability, and predictability. James II became king in 1685 with widespread backing from both Tories and Whigs, since the principle of hereditary succession was more important than his personal Catholicism. His religious reforms threatened to re-open the bitter conflicts of the past, and were viewed by Tories in particular as breaking his coronation oath, in which he swore to uphold the primacy of the Church of England. A direct threat to a society based on such oaths, it also brought back memories of his predecessors, who continually made commitments they later broke. In the 17th century, close links between religion and politics meant 'good government' required 'true religion', while society valued uniformity and stability; 'tolerance' was generally viewed as negative, since it undermined those values. For the same reason, Louis XIV of France gradually tightened controls on Protestants, who comprised 10% of the French population in 1600; the October 1685 Edict of Fontainebleau sent an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 into exile, 40,000 of whom settled in London. His expansionist policies threatened Protestant powers like England, the Dutch Republic, and Denmark-Norway; when the Edict was followed by the killing of 2,000 Vaudois Protestants in 1686, this led to fears Protestant Europe was threatened by a Catholic Counter-Reformation. Historians generally accept James wished to promote Catholicism, not establish an absolutist state, but his inflexible reaction to opposition had the same result. When Parliament refused to repeal the 1678 and 1681 Test Acts, it was dismissed; attempts to rule by decree, and form a 'King's party' of Catholics and English Dissenters, undermined his own supporters. The result was the 1688 Glorious Revolution.

Political context

A key aspect of Stuart ideology was the Divine right of kings, which successive monarchs from James I to his grandson James II used to argue their actions and decisions were not subject to 'interference', whether by Parliament, the courts, or the church. However, although the king himself might be above the law, his servants were not, and thus could be prosecuted for illegal acts, even if they were only carrying out Royal instructions. In addition, the Anglican doctrine of passive obedience did not mean submission to 'unjust' laws, but accepting punishment for breaking them, as with the Seven Bishops. Modern historians argue James failed to appreciate the extent to which Royal power relied at the local level on the Landed gentry, and the loss of that support fatally damaged his regime. Differences between Tories and Whigs are often overstated, since Tory elements within the Royal Army, like Charles Trelawny, brother of one of the Seven Bishops, were instrumental in deposing James, while the Act of Settlement 1701 which excluded the Catholic Stuart exiles from the throne was passed by a Tory government. In 1689, both factions generally agreed the king was bound to observe the law; the real battle was how and on what grounds James could be removed from the throne, possibly the most radical result of the Revolution. The Declaration of Right was essentially a conservative document, which contained two main parts: a list of the wrongs, or grievances, committed by James, and 13 clauses establishing limits on Royal power and authority.

Grievances

Note: In the following, quotation of the original text is in italic type, and the paraphrase is in roman. Whereas the late King James the Second, by the assistance of [many] evil counsellors, judges and ministers employed by him, did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion and the laws and liberties of this kingdom... All of which are utterly and directly contrary to the known laws and statutes and freedom of this realm.

The 13 clauses limiting the power of the Crown

Results

At their coronation on 11 April 1689, William and Mary swore to govern according to "the statutes in Parliament agreed on" instead of by "the laws and customs ... granted by the Kings of England", thus ending the threat of an absolutist reign. This non-violent overthrow of the monarch is known as the Glorious Revolution. The Declaration of Right was written into the English Bill of Rights; it became law in December 1689 and is now considered part of the Constitution of the United Kingdom. Some scholars have argued that the Glorious Revolution strengthened finances: "Douglas North and Barry Weingast's seminal account of the Glorious Revolution argued that specific constitutional reforms enhanced the credibility of the English Crown, leading to much stronger public finances." Other scholars argue that the Glorious Revolution was a turning point in history, starting the age of constitutionalism. The format of a declaration enumerating various specific wrongs attributed to a king was followed a century later in the American Declaration of Independence – whose authors were clearly familiar with the 1689 document.

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