Nineteen Propositions

On the 1st of June 1642, the English Lords and Commons sent a list of proposals known as the Nineteen Propositions or the grand remonstrance 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 defence of the country, as well as making the King’s ministers accountable to Parliament. Before the end of the month the King rejected the Propositions and in August the country descended into civil war.

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

It concluded "And these our humble desires being granted by your Majesty, 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."

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

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.

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