Christopher Hill The class strugle of the English Revolution

As a prolific historian and scholar of 17th century England, Christopher Hill has taken a unique historical perspective on the Civil War and its manifestations. He perceives the revolution as being a bourgeois insurrection . He also believes that this is the reason for the shaping of England since that time.

In 1913 R. G Usher wrote: “The English Revolution of 1640 is as much an enigma today as it was to Charles. It is a riddle, which has to be solved. No one has tried to solve it because all assumed it was solved be repeating the Grand Remonstrance. Every Englishman born since 1800 has...been born into a view of English history. Christopher Hill did his part to dissect the Revolution and make sense of it. The following will describe some of his findings on the subject.

This paper will demonstrate Hill’s unprecedented knowledge and understanding of the events in the 17th century. It will look extensively at some of his works, namely: Some Intellectual Consequences of the English Revolution, Change and Continuity in 17th Century England, The Good Old Cause 1640-1660, and his first book The English Revolution 1640 . Hill’s interpretation that three main people influenced the revolution will also be demonstrated in th

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Oliver Cromwell has been noted to have recommended these works to other revolutionists of the time. He approved the fact that in the Netherlands, wealth was dispersed in many hands, and those the hands where there is most likely to be the greatest sparing and increase, and not in the hands where there would be the greatest expense and consumption. Hill suggests that the power was handed over to a different class after the Revolution. He gained a reputation as a severe prosecutor, and was favored at the court of James I. They revolted and then a capitalist system came to be where they could climb out of the socioeconomic trap that they had been trapped in the years

proceeding.

Hill further emphasized his Marxist point of view in his book Reformation To Industrial Revolution . This was a petition addressed to Charles I by Parliament in 1628. To this day, Hill is still closely associated with this publication. This is where how he based his interpretation of the revolution.

Hill also believes in the influence of Sir Edward Coke on the revolution. Ralegh is also credited with establishing the first colony in America. He thinks that this was fueled especially by three men and their ideas. ‘What can rich men do against poor men if poor men rise and hold together?’ This is an account from a laborer who was tired of dealing with the same nonsense from the upper-classes in England.

With Bacon’s uncompromising statement of the priority of Bourgeois interests went an advocacy of economic liberalism—at least when Bacon was not acting as government spokesman.

Approximate Word count = 2179
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)

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