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English Civil War Essay

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English Civil War Essay
The English Civil War

There were three main causes of the English Civil War. The first was King Charles’ need for more money. The second was religion, and King Charles’ dislike of both the Puritans and the Catholics. Finally, the third reason was the struggle for power between King Charles and Parliament. These are the three causes of the English Civil War.
Firstly, the English Civil War was caused by King Charles’ relentless need to obtain more money. King Charles introduced many, many new taxes such as ship money (a tax used to earn money to build more ships, given to people regardless of their proximity to the ocean), and tonnage and poundage (the tax of all goods brought into the country based on their weight). In addition, he began to give away titles for money. Common people would come to him asking to be titled (duke, duchess, prince etc.), and King Charles would grant them titles in exchange for money. King Charles had an advisor (the Earl of Strafford) who came up with an incredibly large number of ways to earn King Charles money, which later became known as “Strafford’s Fork”.
Moreover, King Charles (who was Anglican) married a Catholic woman. There was plenty of surprise and irritation at this, because no one knew if their children would be Catholic or Anglican. Furthermore, The Catholics disliked King Charles because Catholics were not allowed in positions of power in the government after the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, due to the Test Acts. Catholics were discriminated against by the government/ordinary people, and disliked in general. Also, King Charles strongly disliked Puritans, and ordered one of his advisors, Archbishop Laud, to decorate the Puritans’ churches with stained glass and figurines. When the Puritans saw these changes being made to their places of worship, they rebelled and destroyed many Anglican churches.
Lastly, there was a significant struggle for power between Parliament and King Charles. King Charles, like his father, believed

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