The long-term consequences of the English revolution : politics, political thought and the constitution

This chapter argues that the second revolution of the seventeenth century, triggered by the invasion of William of Orange in 1688, should be seen as conceptually yoked to the first revolution of the 1640s and 1650s. The two revolutions should be seen as part of a linked process of revolution that lasted well into the early eighteenth century and which cumulatively had a major impact on politics, political thought and the constitution. Seeing the two seventeenth century revolutions as part of a revolutionary process, rather than as two separate ‘events’, enables analysis of themes, such as partisan divisions, print culture, state formation and religious toleration that spanned the two revolutions. The first revolution did not cause the second; but the second revolution addressed many of the issues left outstanding by the first