Thomas
Sutcliffe, “The paths are open, the way is plain”:
Political and Constitutional Theory in Jacobean England, 1603-1625
Excerpts
[see
Tom's commentary here]
Throughout the constitutional
debates of the Jacobean reign, one of the most common reoccurring
themes is that of fear. However, it is important to note that
this fear did not override the deliberative political culture
which bound Jacobean politicians together, and actually worked
through it. Certainly, fear is what drove these debates, and
fear is what pushed Jacobean politicians to begin analyzing
difficult questions. And contemporaries were well aware of this
fact, as Hoskyns noted in 1614 This a Parliament of Love. -
All the Arguments now used, Arguments of Fear.” And indeed,
a lot was at stake for these politicians. For members of Parliament,
their very status as free citizens was jeopardized; for the
king, his fundamental prerogatives ran the risk of being eroded.
Given such grave concerns, it is no wonder that constitutional
conflict occurred as often as it did. However, it is important
to remember that it was a fear of the future that drove these
debates, not necessarily concern with the present. Every time
either the king or Parliament allowed a privilege or prerogative
to weaken, this created a harmful precedent which could cause
further damage the next time it was invoked. Jacobeans had to
stand their ground so as to protect the fate of their posterity.
[…]
[However] the fear and apprehension
which characterized this era was contained and mitigated by
a political culture which placed a high value on cautious deliberation
and argumentation. Jacobeans had concerns, but they mediated
those concerns through an open dialogue which discouraged hasty
conclusions or rash, unsubstantiated statements. It is this
culture of cautious argumentation and examination that translated
these fears into a meaningful and fruitful dialogue. Indeed,
it is important to member that these politicians approached
constitutional disputes with a series of assumptions regarding
how political debate should operate. Ever since grammar school,
they had been raised and educated in an intellectual culture
which stressed that questions such as these should be approached
in a deliberative and systematic manner. As Peter Mack has noted,
these values were part of a broader “culture of debate”
which dictated how political discourse operated. And these values
did suddenly dissipate in the face of fear; rather they helped
Jacobeans deal with this fear. […] Ultimately, the Jacobean
political elite operated in an environment which saw fear as
only the beginning of a much longer process of discussion, dialogue
and argumentation, a process through which the ultimate answers
would eventually be derived. It is to this process that this
paper now turns.
