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90 PERIOD 2 Colonial America amid Global Change: 1607–1754

1625–1649) sought to consolidate their own power at Parliament’s expense, demand-
ing conformity to the Church of England. By 1642, the relationship between Parlia-
These sample pages are distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
ment and King Charles I broke down completely, and the country descended into a civil
war that lasted until 1651. During this time, the Puritan migration to New England
virtually halted.
Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan, emerged as the leader of the Protestant parliamentary
Copyright (c) 2024 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
forces against the crown, and, after several years of fighting, claimed victory. Charles I
was executed in 1649, Parliament established a republican commonwealth, and bish-
Strictly for use with its products. NOT FOR REDISTRIBUTION.
ops and elaborate rituals were banished from the Church of England. Cromwell ruled
England as a military dictator until his death in 1658 — when rival groups of nobles,
members of the Church of England, commercial elites, and commoners overthrew
Puritan rule and invited Charles I’s son, Charles II (reigned 1660–1685), to return from
exile, and restored the monarchy and the Church of England.
Shortly after he was restored to the English throne, Charles II came to terms with
expanded Puritan settlements in New England. He formalized his rule in this region
by granting the requests of Connecticut and Rhode Island for royal charters, accept-
ing their authority to rule in local matters. Because the charters could be changed only
with the agreement of both parties, Connecticut and Rhode Island maintained local
autonomy throughout the colonial period. Before the end of his reign, the English could
claim dominance — in population, trade, and politics — over the other European powers
vying for empires along the northern Atlantic coast.
Charles’s death in 1685 marked an abrupt shift in crown-colony relations.
Charles’s successor, King James II (reigned 1685–1688), instituted a more author-
itarian rule both at home and abroad. In 1686, he combined British colonies in the
Dominion of New England Northeast and Middle Atlantic into the Dominion of New England and established
The consolidation of tighter controls. Within the Dominion of New England, James II’s officials banned
northeastern colonies by King town meetings, challenged land titles granted under the original colonial charters,
James II in 1686 to establish and imposed new taxes.
greater control over them, Fortunately for the colonists, the Catholic James II alienated his subjects in
resulting in the banning
of town meetings, new England as well as in the colonies, inspiring a bloodless coup in 1688, the so-called
taxes, and other unpopular Glorious Revolution. James left the country and was replaced by his Protestant
policies. The Dominion was daughter, Mary II (reigned 1689–1694) and her husband, William of Orange (reigned
dissolved during the Glorious 1689–1702), who introduced more democratic systems of governance in England and
Revolution.
the colonies. Soon after, John Locke, a physician and philosopher, published the widely
circulated Two Treatises of Government supporting the initiatives of William and Mary
by insisting that government depended on the consent of the governed.

AP ® WORKING with EVIDENCE

Source: John Locke, English political philosopher, Second Treatise on Civil Govern-
ment, 1690
“If man in the state of nature be so free, as has been said; if he be absolute lord
of his own person and possessions, equal to the greatest, and subject to no
body, why will he part with his freedom? . . . To which ’tis obvious to answer,
that though in the state of nature he hath such a right, yet the enjoyment of
it is very uncertain, and constantly exposed to the invasion of others; for all
being kings as much as he, every man his equal, and the greater part no strict
observers of equity and justice; the enjoyment of the property he has in this
state is very unsafe, very unsecure. This makes him willing to quit this condition,
which however free, is full of fears and continual dangers: And ’tis not without

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