Parliament

(proper noun)

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories. The parliament is bicameral, with an upper house, the House of Lords, and a lower house, the House of Commons.

Related Terms

Examples of Parliament in the following topics:

  • The Stamp Act

    • The Stamp Act of 1765 was a direct tax imposed by the British Parliament on the colonies of British America.
    • The Stamp Act reflected the first significant joint colonial response to any British measure by petitioning Parliament and the King.
    • The Grenville ministry therefore decided that Parliament would raise this revenue by taxing the American colonists without their consent.
    • Parliament announced in April 1764 when the Sugar Act was passed that they would also consider a stamp tax in the colonies.
    • Since members of Parliament were bound to represent the interests of all British citizens and subjects, colonists, like those disenfranchised subjects in the British Isles, were the recipients of virtual representation in Parliament.

  • The Sugar and Stamp Acts

    • When passed by Parliament, the new Sugar Act of 1764 halved the previous tax on molasses.
    • Parliament announced with the passage of the Sugar Act in 1764 that they would also consider a stamp tax in the colonies.
    • The Stamp Act, passed in 1765, was a direct tax imposed by the British Parliament on the colonies of British America.
    • The counter to this argument, held by members of Parliament, was the theory of virtual representation.
    • Since members of Parliament were bound to represent the interests of all British citizens and subjects, colonists—like those disenfranchised subjects in Great Britain—were the recipients of virtual representation in Parliament.

  • The Calm Before the Storm

    • The Tea Act of 1773 arose from the financial problems of the British East India Company and the dispute of the Parliament's authority over the colonies.
    • In England, Parliament gave the East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea in 1698.
    • Parliament laid additional taxes on tea sold for consumption in Britain.
    • In response to the colonial protests over the Townshend Acts, Parliament repealed the majority of the Townshend taxes in 1770.
    • Parliament passed a new act in 1772 that reduced this refund, effectively leaving a 10% duty on tea imported into Britain.

  • The Acts of Parliament

    • Two 18th-century acts of the Parliament of Great Britain, known together as the Quartering Acts, ordered the local governments of the American colonies to provide housing and provisions for British soldiers.
    • They were amendments to the Mutiny Act, which had to be renewed annually by Parliament.
    • As a result, Gage asked Parliament to find a solution.
    • Following the expiration of an Act that provided British regulars with quartering in New York, Parliament passed the Quartering Act of 1765, which went far beyond what Gage had requested.
    • The colonies disputed the legality of this Act since it seemed to violate the Bill of Rights of 1689, which forbade taxation without representation and the raising and/or keeping of a standing army without the consent of Parliament.

  • Peace Overtures and the Evacuation of Philadelphia

    • In response to the defeat at Saratoga, Parliament dispatched the Carlisle Peace Commission to negotiate peace with Congress.
    • After the British defeat at Saratoga in October 1777, Parliament repealed offensive measures, such as the Tea Act and the Massachusetts Government Act, and sent a commission to seek a negotiated settlement with the Continental Congress.

  • Tax Protests

    • Beginning in 1765 the British Parliament asserted its supreme authority to lay taxes, and a series of American protests began that led directly to the American Revolution.
    • The Parliament attempted a series of taxes and punishments which met more and more resistance, namely the First Quartering Act (1765), the Declaratory Act (1766), the Townshend Revenue Act (1767), and the Tea Act (1773).
    • In response to the Boston Tea Party Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts: the Second Quartering Act (1774), the Quebec Act (1774), the Massachusetts Government Act (1774), the Administration of Justice Act (1774), the Boston Port Act (1774), and the Prohibitory Act (1775).

  • The First Continental Congress

    • It was called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament.
    • The delegates organized an economic boycott of Great Britain in protest against the Coercive Acts passed by the British Parliament in 1774 and petitioned the King for a redress of grievances.
    • They agreed to reconvene in May of 1775 if Parliament still did not address their grievances.
    • In London, Parliament debated the merits of meeting the demands made by the colonies.
    • On November 30, 1774, King George III opened Parliament with a speech condemning Massachusetts.

  • Economic Retaliation and Reaction to the Townshend Acts

    • When the Virginia House of Burgesses passed a resolution stating that Parliament had no right to tax Virginians without their consent, Governor Lord Botetourt dissolved the assembly.
    • Eloquently articulating ideas already widely accepted in the colonies, Dickinson argued that there was no difference between "internal" and "external" taxes, and that any taxes imposed on the colonies by Parliament for the sake of raising a revenue were unconstitutional.
    • Virginia and Pennsylvania also sent petitions to Parliament, but the other colonies did not, believing that it might be interpreted as an admission of Parliament's sovereignty over them.
    • Parliament refused to consider the petitions of Virginia and Pennsylvania.

  • The Coercive Acts

    • The Coercive Acts are names used to describe a series of laws relating to Britain's colonies in North America and passed by the British Parliament in 1774.
    • Colonists outside of Massachusetts feared that their governments could now also be changed by the legislative fiat of Parliament.
    • Great Britain hoped that the Coercive Acts would isolate radicals in Massachusetts and cause American colonists to concede the authority of Parliament over their elected assemblies.
    • The artist of this image targets select members of Parliament as the perpetrators of a devilish scheme to overturn the constitution; this is why Mother Britannia weeps.
    • Note that this cartoon came from a British publication; Great Britain was not united in support of Parliament’s policies toward the American colonies.

  • Conclusion: The Consequences of the British Parliamentary Acts

    • In 1765, the British Parliament moved beyond the efforts during the previous two years to better regulate westward expansion and trade by putting in place the Stamp Act.
    • The Stamp Act reinforced the sense among some colonists that Parliament was not treating them as equals of their peers across the Atlantic.
    • The Declaratory Act of 1766 had articulated Great Britain’s supreme authority over the colonies, and Parliament soon began exercising that authority.
    • In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which implemented a tax on consumer goods in British North America.
    • They also deeply resented the East India Company’s monopoly on the sale of tea in the American colonies; this resentment sprang from the knowledge that some members of Parliament had invested heavily in the company.