PrepWisePrepWiseThe Exclusion Crisis
Restoration England 1660-1685Deep Dive

The Key Constitutional Question

Part of The Exclusion Crisis — GCSE History

This deep dive covers The Key Constitutional Question within The Exclusion Crisis for GCSE History. Revise The Exclusion Crisis in Restoration England 1660-1685 for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 4 flashcards. This is a high-frequency topic, so it is worth revising until the explanation feels precise and repeatable. It is section 3 of 18 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.

Topic position

Section 3 of 18

Practice

8 questions

Recall

4 flashcards

🧠 The Key Constitutional Question

Should Parliament be able to change the succession — or is the hereditary principle sacred?

Whig argument: Parliament represents the people. A Catholic king threatens Protestant liberty. Parliament had excluded Catholics from offices by the Test Acts — so why not from the throne? The people's safety overrides hereditary right.
Tory argument: God chooses kings through hereditary succession — humans cannot override divine right (the belief that kings are appointed by God and their authority is sacred). Changing the succession leads to civil war, as the 1640s proved. Even a Catholic king is better than constitutional chaos.

Keep building this topic

Read this section alongside the surrounding pages in The Exclusion Crisis. That gives you the full topic sequence instead of a single isolated revision point.

Setting the SceneKey Events of the Exclusion CrisisThe Exclusion Crisis 1679-81Whigs vs Tories: The First Political Parties

Practice Questions for The Exclusion Crisis

Why did Whig MPs attempt to pass the Exclusion Bills between 1679 and 1681?

  • A. They wanted to give Parliament the power to raise its own taxes without royal consent
  • B. They feared that James, Duke of York, as a Catholic, would threaten Protestant liberties if he became king
  • C. They believed Charles II had broken the terms of the Restoration Settlement by tolerating Dissenters
  • D. They wanted to replace James with Charles II's illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, who was already widely popular
1 markfoundation

What did Charles II do at the Oxford Parliament in March 1681?

  • A. He agreed to limit James's powers as king once he succeeded to the throne
  • B. He called a general election to seek a more favourable Parliament before the bill could be voted on
  • C. He dissolved Parliament after just one week, before a third Exclusion Bill could be passed, and called no more Parliaments for the rest of his reign
  • D. He accepted a compromise that placed regency powers with a Protestant council during any future Catholic reign
1 markfoundation

Quick Recall Flashcards

Who led the Whigs?
Anthony Ashley Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury — nicknamed 'Little Sincerity' by his enemies. Led the campaign to exclude James from the succession. After the Oxford Parliament's dissolution (1681) he fled to Holland, where he died in 1683.
What was the Exclusion Crisis?
1679-81: three successive Parliaments tried to pass Exclusion Bills to bar Catholic James, Duke of York, from succeeding to the throne. Charles dissolved all three Parliaments rather than allow the bills to pass. This was the most serious constitutional crisis of his reign.

Want to test your knowledge?

PrepWise has 8 exam-style questions and 4 flashcards for The Exclusion Crisis — with adaptive difficulty and instant feedback.

Join Alpha

Previous

Setting the Scene

Next

Key Events of the Exclusion Crisis