Free Response 2:
P 1- introduction:
Thesis: The Protestant Reformation took a huge toll on both the government and the people; the people had to rebel, but it made the power of the country decrease and made the life of the people even more difficult, although it was for the greater good.
People were being mistreated
a. Henry VIII
The government executed people for rebelling
Power of the state decreased
P 5- Conclusion
Restate thesis: The Protestant Reformation took a huge toll on both the government and the people; the people had to rebel, but it made the power of the country decrease and made the life of the people even more difficult, although it was for the greater good.
The Protestant reformation in the first half of the sixteenth century greatly impacted the countries of Europe. Henry VIII, a very selfish, absolute ruler, sparked this reformation. He mistreated his people, and most of all, did not give them freedom of religion. The people could not just sit there and be treated like this. The Protestant Reformation took a huge toll on both the government and the people; the people had to rebel, but it made the power of the country decrease and made the life of the people even more difficult, although it was for the greater good.
England was the central area of the revolution. Henry VIII started it with passing the Act of Supremacy. This gave him complete control of not only the state, but the church as well. He did this for his own selfish reasons: the church would not let him divorce his wife, so he took over. Along with putting heavy taxes on the people, he confiscated Catholic land and monasteries, destroying them. If the people could not trust in their king to help and protect them, they only had God to trust in. Even their faith was being taken away from them though, so they had many marches and pilgrimages trying to prove their point to the king. He simply kept rejecting them, thinking he was gaining power and doing well for the country, but in reality he was destroying it.
The King’s way of suppressing the revolts was to execute anyone who tried to go against him. He tried over 200 people and 65 percent were found guilty and then executed. He ignored the letters they wrote, pleading for him to change his ways. He told his people that they were lucky to be spared, because they were committing treason. The people kept revolting, even throughout Henry’s entire reign, into his daughter’s. Mary, the Catholic, did not allow for religious freedom either. Even her sister Elizabeth supported the Protestant reformers, leading to her being thrown into jail. It seemed as though nothing could stop the government from making the people’s lives miserable.
The government had another way of seeing it. Both Henry and Mary thought they were doing the best thing for the country. They saw the people as disrespectful for what they have done for them. Having their people constantly revolting and attacking was slowly draining their power, too. They could not find any other way to stop this than executing people. Executions only made the people more angry, though. It seems as though neither side could with.
Though reformations like this one are not good for the government or the people, history could not be the same without them. The people are proving a point, and after enough time, the point will get across. The protestant reformation nearly destroyed England, but the government was corrupted and needed to be set straight. The world can never improve without going out of the lines sometimes.
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