A report on Instrument of Government

Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland used 1654–5.

Constitution of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.

- Instrument of Government
Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland used 1654–5.

10 related topics with Alpha

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Commonwealth of England

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The political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execution of Charles I.

The political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execution of Charles I.

Territory claimed by the Commonwealth in 1653
Territory claimed by the Commonwealth in 1653
A gold Unite from 1653
Flag of the Commonwealth
Territory of the Commonwealth in 1660
Arms of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector, used on the great seal from 1655 to 1659.
Territory of the Commonwealth in 1660

In 1653, after dissolution of the Rump Parliament, the Army Council adopted the Instrument of Government which made Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of a united "Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland", inaugurating the period now usually known as the Protectorate.

General John Lambert

John Lambert (general)

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English Parliamentarian general and politician.

English Parliamentarian general and politician.

General John Lambert
Thomas Fairfax; Lambert's mentor in the 1640s and commander of the New Model Army, he resigned in protest at the execution of Charles in January 1649

In December 1653, he helped prepare the 'Instrument of Government', which provided the constitutional framework for the Protectorate.

A 1656 Samuel Cooper portrait of Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

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English general and statesman who, first as a subordinate and later as Commander-in-Chief, led armies of the Parliament of England against King Charles I during the English Civil War, subsequently ruling the British Isles as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658.

English general and statesman who, first as a subordinate and later as Commander-in-Chief, led armies of the Parliament of England against King Charles I during the English Civil War, subsequently ruling the British Isles as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658.

A 1656 Samuel Cooper portrait of Cromwell
Portrait of Cromwell's wife Elizabeth Bourchier, painted by Robert Walker
Oliver Cromwell's House in Ely
Cromwell in the Battle of Naseby in 1645. Charles Landseer.
The trial of Charles I on 4 January 1649.
Arms of the Commonwealth
Oliver Cromwell c. 1649 by Robert Walker. National Portrait Gallery, London
Moray House on the Royal Mile – Cromwell's residence in Edinburgh when he implored the Assembly of the Kirk to stop supporting Charles II
Oliver Cromwell's death mask at Warwick Castle
The execution of the bodies of Cromwell, Bradshaw, and Ireton, from a contemporaneous print
A contemporaneous satirical view of Cromwell as a usurper of monarchical power
1899 statue of Oliver Cromwell, Westminster by Hamo Thornycroft outside the Palace of Westminster, London

After the dissolution of Barebone's Parliament, John Lambert put forward a new constitution known as the Instrument of Government, closely modelled on the Heads of Proposals.

Humble Petition and Advice

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The Humble Petition and Advice was the second and last codified constitution of England after the Instrument of Government.

Lord Protector

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Title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state.

Title that has been used in British constitutional law for the head of state.

Standard of the Lord Protector

The 1653 Instrument of Government (republican constitution) stated:

Constitution of the Year XII (First French Republic)

Constitution

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Aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.

Aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.

Constitution of the Year XII (First French Republic)
Constitution of the Kingdom of Naples in 1848.
Detail from Hammurabi's stele shows him receiving the laws of Babylon from the seated sun deity.
Diagram illustrating the classification of constitutions by Aristotle.
Third volume of the compilation of Catalan Constitutions of 1585
The Cossack Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk, 1710.
A painting depicting George Washington at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution
Constitution of May 3, 1791 (painting by Jan Matejko, 1891). Polish King Stanisław August (left, in regal ermine-trimmed cloak), enters St. John's Cathedral, where Sejm deputies will swear to uphold the new Constitution; in background, Warsaw's Royal Castle, where the Constitution has just been adopted.
Presidential copy of the Russian Constitution.
Magna Carta
United States Constitution

The English Protectorate that was set up by Oliver Cromwell after the English Civil War promulgated the first detailed written constitution adopted by a modern state; it was called the Instrument of Government.

Heads of Proposals

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Set of propositions intended to be a basis for a constitutional settlement after King Charles I was defeated in the First English Civil War.

Set of propositions intended to be a basis for a constitutional settlement after King Charles I was defeated in the First English Civil War.

Elements of "Heads of Proposals" were incorporated in the Instrument of Government.

English Council of State

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First appointed by the Rump Parliament on 14 February 1649 after the execution of King Charles I.

First appointed by the Rump Parliament on 14 February 1649 after the execution of King Charles I.

With the failure of Barebone's Parliament, the Council was re-modelled with the Instrument of Government to become something much closer to the old Privy Council advising the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.

First Protectorate Parliament

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The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government.

Kingdom of England

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Sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

Sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The dominions of Cnut the Great (1014–1035)
King John signs Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215, surrounded by his baronage. Illustration from Cassell's History of England, 1902.
Fifteenth-century miniature depicting the English victory over France at the Battle of Agincourt.
Portrait of Elizabeth I made to commemorate the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588), depicted in the background. Elizabeth's international power is symbolised by the hand resting on the globe.
Cromwell at Dunbar. Oliver Cromwell united the whole of the British Isles by force and created the Commonwealth of England.

After an experiment with a Nominated Assembly (Barebone's Parliament), the Grandees in the Army, through the Council of State imposed a new constitutional arrangement under a written constitution called the Instrument of Government.