constitutional monarchy
(noun)
A monarchy in which the monarch's power is limited by a written constitution.
Examples of constitutional monarchy in the following topics:
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Paine's Common Sense
- Having created this model of what the balance should be, Paine goes on to consider the Constitution of the United Kingdom.
- Paine identified two tyrannies in the English constitution: monarchical and aristocratic tyranny.
- Paine goes on to criticize the English constitution by examining the relationship between the king, the peers, and the commons.
- Paine also argues that all men are equal at creation and therefore the distinction between kings and subjects is a false one and attacks one type of mixed state—the constitutional monarchy in which the powers of government are separated between a Parliament or Congress that makes the laws, and a monarch who executes them.
- According to Paine, a constitutional monarchy does not limit the powers of kings sufficiently.
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Foreign and Domestic Crises
- From 1789 to 1792, as the French overthrew their monarchy and declared a republic, many Americans supported the revolution.
- Democratic-Republicans seized on the French revolutionaries’ struggle against monarchy as the welcome harbinger of a larger republican movement around the world.
- At first, in 1789 and 1790, the revolution in France appeared to most in the United States as part of a new chapter in the rejection of corrupt monarchy.
- A constitutional monarchy replaced the absolute monarchy of Louis XVI in 1791, and in 1792, France was declared a republic.
- The events of 1793 and 1794, however, challenged the simple interpretation of the French Revolution as a chapter of unfolding triumph of republican government over monarchy.
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Conclusion: The Development of the Constitution
- This idea of checks and balances arose from the fear many delegates held that one branch could become too strong and mirror a monarchy; something they had just fought against in the American Revolutionary War.
- The draft Constitution was finished in September 1787.
- When nine of the 13 had approved the plan, the constitution would go into effect.
- The opposition to the Constitution reflected the fears that a new national government, much like the British monarchy, created too much centralized power and resultantly deprived states' citizens of the ability to make their own decisions.
- Adopted in 1791, the bill consisted of the first 10 amendments to the Constitution and outlined many of the personal rights state constitutions already guaranteed.
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The United States and the World
- In 1887, the Honolulu Rifle Company, a paramilitary force also known as the Honolulu Rifles, deposed the Hawaiian monarchy, forcing the King to sign a new constitution at gunpoint.
- Bayonets were fixed to their guns, which led to the term Bayonet Constitution, referring to King David Kalākaua's resignation and the establishment of new voting rights.
- No voting rights were extended to Asiatics and the requirements for voting rights included land ownership, making the Bayonet Constitution one of the most controversial documents in history.
- On January 17, 1893, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, Queen Lili'uokalani, was deposed in a coup d'état led largely by American citizens who were opposed to Lili'uokalani's attempt to establish a new Constitution.
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The Soul of a Republic
- Wood, conversely, described how monarchies had various advantages.
- The pomp and circumstance surrounding monarchies cultivated a sense that the rulers were entitled to citizens' obedience and that they maintained order just by their presence.
- In a monarchy, people might be restrained by force so as to give up their own interests in favor of their government's.
- In a republic, however, people must be persuaded to submit their own interests to the government, and this voluntary submission constituted the 18th century's notion of civic virtue.
- To allow all states their own rules of suffrage, the Constitution was written with no property requirements for voting.
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Settlement of the New Land
- The United States began continental expansion immediately after the Constitution of 1789 through war, treaty, land deals, and settlement.
- Hawai'i became the fiftieth state in the Union after a military coup by Euro-American business interests deposed the native monarchy.
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The Founding of Carolina
- A group of eight men were rewarded for their faithful support of Charles II following the 1660 restoration of the monarchy of Britain with the charter to a colony in the new world .
- Shaftesbury, with the assistance of his secretary, the philosopher John Locke, drafted the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, a plan for government of the colony.
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German Migration
- By 1775, Germans constituted about one-third of the population of the state.
- Despite this, many of the German settlers were loyalists during the Revolution, possibly because they feared their royal land grants would be taken away by a new republican government, or because of loyalty to a British German monarchy who had provided the opportunity to live in a liberal society.
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The Patriots
- These men were architects of the early Republic and are counted among the Founding Fathers and architects of the constitution of the United States.
- The philosophy of republicanism entailed a rejection of monarchy and aristocracy, and emphasized civic virtue.
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Domestic Turmoil During the Adams Presidency
- To pay for it, Congress imposed $2 million in new taxes on real estate and slaves, apportioned among the states according to the requirements of the Constitution in July, 1798.
- Many refused to pay, making the constitutional argument that this tax was not being levied in proportion to population.
- President John Adams, however, pardoned Fries and the others, prompted by the narrower constitutional definition of treason.
- In 1798, the tavern was used as a meeting place for German farmers protesting a house tax which they felt was to sponsor a British monarchy in the U.S., and also because of their opposition to the war with France.