Nineteen Propositions

Title page of book containing the Nineteen Propositions and the response of King Charles to the Nineteen Propositions.

In June 1642, the English Lords and Commons sent a list of proposals known as the Nineteen Propositions to King Charles I of England, in York at the time. In what resembled a list of demands, the Long Parliament effectively sought a larger share of power in governance of the kingdom. Among the MPs’ proposals was Parliamentary supervision of foreign policy and responsibility for the defense of the country, as well as making the King’s ministers accountable to Parliament.^[1] Before the end of the month the King rejected the Propositions and in August the country descended into civil war.

Contents

The opening paragraph of the Nineteen Propositions introduces the document as a petition which Charles, in his “princely wisdom,” will be “pleased to grant.”^[2] The propositions follow in nineteen numbered points:

1. Ministers serving on the King’s Privy Council must be approved by the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

2. Matters that concern the public must be debated in Parliament, not decided based upon the advice of private advisors.

3. A number of high offices, including the Lord Treasurer and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, must be chosen with the consent of both houses of Parliament.

4. Parliament shall approve those responsible for the education of the King’s children.

5. Parliament shall approve of the marriage of the King’s children to any person, from home or abroad.

6. Laws against Jesuits, Catholic priests, and Catholic recusants must be strictly enforced.

7. The vote of Catholic Lords shall be taken away, and the children of Catholics must receive a Protestant education.

8. A reformation of the Church government must be made.

9. The King will accept the ordering of the militia by the Lords and Commons.

10. Members of Parliament who have been put out of office during the present session must be allowed to return.

11. Councilors and judges must take an oath to maintain certain Parliamentary statutes.

12. All judges and officers approved of by Parliament shall hold their posts on condition of good behavior.

13. The justice of Parliament shall apply to all law-breakers, whether they are inside the country or have fled.

14. The King’s pardon must be granted, unless both houses of Parliament object.

15. Parliament must approve the King’s appointees for commanders of the forts and castles of the kingdom.

16. The unnecessary military attachment guarding the King must be discharged.

17. The Kingdom will formalize its alliance with the Protestant States of the United Provinces (the Dutch) in order to defend them against the Pope and his followers.

18. The King must clear the five members of the House of Commons, along with Lord Kimbolton, of any wrongdoing.

19. New peers of the House of Lords must be voted in by both Houses of Parliament.[2]

It concluded "And these our humble desires being granted by your majest, we shall forthwith apply ourselves to regulate your present revenue in such sort as may be for your best advantage; and likewise to settle such an ordinary and constant increase of it, as shall be sufficient to support your royal dignity in honour and plenty, beyond the proportion of any former grants of the subjects of this kingdom to your majesty's royal predecessors."^[3]

King’s response

Charles rejected the document in his Answer to the Nineteen Propositions.

1. He said that Parliament already held enough power, and to cede it any more would breach the historical balance of power between the commons, lords, and king.
2. These represent democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy respectively.
3. Charles held that this mixed government was perfect: “The experience and wisdom of your Ancestors hath so moulded this [government] out of a mixture of these [monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy], as to give to this Kingdom… the conveniences of all three, without the inconveniences of any one…”
4. Each of these ‘three Estates’ kept the other in check.

Charles’ Answer to the Nineteen Propositions was delivered to the Long Parliament on June 21 1642, and it was ordered that it be displayed in the churches of England and Wales. At least six editions were also published.^[4]

Aftermath

When examined in the context of longstanding tense relations between British monarchy and Parliament, The Nineteen Propositions can be seen as the turning point between attempted conciliation between the King and Parliament and war.

In August 1642 the government split into two factions: the Cavaliers (Royalists) and the Roundheads (Parliamentarians), the latter of which would emerge victorious with Oliver Cromwell as its leader. The idea of mixed government and the three Estates, popularized by Charles’s Answer to the Nineteen Propositions, remained dominant until the 19th Century.^[4]

References

1. ^ Plant, David The Nineteen Propositions, British Civil Wars & Commonwealth website, Retrieved 3 March 2010
2. ^ ^{a b} s:Text of The Nineteen Propositions 53. The Nineteen Propositions sent by the two Houses of Parliament to the King at York]
3. ^ Sources and Debates in English History
4. ^ ^{a b} Weston, Corinne Comstock. "English Constitutional Doctrines from the Fifteenth Century to the Seventeenth: II. The Theory of Mixed Monarchy under Charles I and after" The English Historical Review, Vol. 75, No. 296 (Jul., 1960), pp. 426-443