ABSTRACT
The ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1689, which ousted James II from the throne and installed his daughter Mary and her husband William as joint monarchs, effectively ended the old Stuart absolutism and brought the bourgeoisie to power in England. Along with the dynamism of expanding capitalism and new scientific and philosophical ways of looking at the world, a new sort of class consciousness was also emerging. Political and cultural power devolved upon the rising middle and upper classes, and they fought for hegemony through their increasingly strident parties, Whigs and Tories. The Declaration of Rights removed the King’s power to suspend the law of the land or to maintain his own army, and asserted that Parliament must meet regularly and frequently. Supremacy shifted to the House of Commons. Nonconformism became acceptable, as a new Toleration Act was passed.
