England’s New World empire emerged within a political, legal, and cultural context shaped not only by the peoples they encountered in the Atlantic world, but also by deep contests over power within England itself and between England and other European countries….

The restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660 not only restored the hereditary monarchy and the hereditary House of Lords, but also led to the consolidation of hereditary racial slavery in England’s American colonies….

As the Stuart monarchs consolidated their power on both sides of the Atlantic, the Whig Party emerged as a new coalition party within Parliament. The Whigs viewed the Stuart monarchs as threats to the liberties of English subjects…

The Stuart kings continued to consolidate power in the 1680s, forcing dissenters such as John Locke to seek exile in Holland and prosecuting others, including Algernon Sidney, for treason. Charles II’s death in 1685 led to the accession of his brother James II…

The Glorious Revolution in England led to  basic reforms in government and important statements of rights, especially the English Bill of Rights of 1689. With James II departure, the decade of the 1690s witnessed rich critiqutes of absolute monarchy and defenses of “democratic” ideals, including John Locke’s Two Treatises….

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