The scientific revolution sparked an ideological revolution. Francis Bacon, the father of inductive science, shocked the world with his "knowledge is power" philosophy—a statement that sparked the Enlightenment. He boldly attacked traditional schools of thought, calling for a revolution in the field of academia—new terminology, new methods, new principles, new institutions and new education. The scientific renaissance of England, initiated by Boyle and Newton, can be largely attributed to Bacon's influence. His famous work The New Organon is full of enlightening and inspirational quotes. "Forget what you know, and learn from scratch." This phrase captures his philosophy of skepticism and rediscovery. He implored people to free themselves of the illusion of the reality, and re-examine, rediscover, re-learn everything—language, systems, dogmas. He warned theologists not to intervene in scientific research, and criticized the increasing focus on artistic style of humanists.
With this pair of revolutions, Europe ushered in an era of giants—Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Pascal, Newton and Locke. These defining characters brought with them waves of scientists, philosophers and political theorists, sparking an Enlightenment of epic proportions.
The Enlightenment is a bright page on the history of civilization, and her birthplace would later be the cause of epic pain for Manchu rulers—the great British Empire.
In 1640, exactly four years before the Qing conquest, Britain experienced an explosive revolution, turning the page into a new era of democracy. This revolution is also known as the English Civil War, or the Puritan Revolution. Puritans, a faction of the British Protestant Church, only believed in the Bible, disobeyed the church, and was mainly composed of lower classes of society, including small private landowners, businessmen and industrialists. They were the main force in England's 1640 revolution. This revolution sparked a new wave of political theories, and debunked the authority of the royal rule.
Absolutism was simply the fuse on the ticking time-bomb of this revolution. In 1628, the British Parliament passed Petition of Rights, outlining the restrictions on the royal family's authority. King Charles I flatly rejected these requests and ordered the dissolution of Parliament. In 1640, in order to penalize Scottish rebels, he was forced to re-open parliament. Parliamentary leaders, well aware of Charles's desperation, seized this opportunity to pass the bill and legitimize the Parliament's authority over the monarchy once and for all. Charles attempted to retain his authority by force, eventually causing a complete civil war. At the time, the Parliament separated into two factions, those who supported constitutional monarchy, and those who advocated the riddance of absolutism and establishment of a republic, based on the ideal of Convention of Human Rights. On January 30, 1649, Charles I was beheaded by the Republicans. Soon, the British established a military-led republic. This was the end of the first phase in the English Revolution.
Various political theories emerged in the flux of the English Revolution. Puritan Henry Parker believed that the king should not have absolute authority over the nation, and if he did not perform his duties satisfactorily, he should be deposed.
Hobbes, the founder of modern sociology and, according to Marx, "our common pioneer," re-examined the social contract theory, and held the belief that through the contract, people relegate power to the government which then protects the people's interests. "The people's welfare is the most important of all laws."
Political theorist John Locke developed Hobbes's theory, proposing the establishment of a constitutional separation of legislative and executive power. In his Concerning Civil Government, he pointed out that governments are a trust entity, and that the power of rulers is conditional, not absolute. The people are the ultimate rulers, for if the government loses the peoples' mandate, the people will withdraw their trust and overthrow the government. In isolation, people enjoy natural freedom, but humanity is a communal enterprise we all become a part of. And to enjoy freedom in this society, we must be bound by rules. Law's purpose is not to restrict freedom, but to protect and spread freedom. Without laws, there can be no true freedom.
Locke eloquently asserted that the risk of rebellion is nothing compared with the prospect of tyranny. The people will not easily revolt, and would rather endure the injustices of reality. But if the authorities tell themselves that there is no need to be afraid of a revolt against tyranny of the government, the consequences will be even more catastrophic.
Locke established the fundamental freedom of the masses to oppose the government, and the freedom of individuals to oppose the state. In his Concerning Civil Government he wrote: "Man is naturally free, equal and independent. Without their approval, it is impossible to truly make any one person subservient to others." The power of government is inevitably limited. Most importantly, "without personal consent, no supreme power can deprive man of his own property."
Although the first phase of the Puritan Revolution saw the execution of Charles I, the people's desires for freedom remained unfulfiled. The military dictatorship of Cromwell was even more autocratic than that of the Royals. He led a group of soldiers into the Parliament, ordering all members to disperse, claiming the mandate of Jehovah no longer required them. Claiming himself to be a "Lord Protector" with the mandate of God, he bluntly restored the ideology of the divine rights of kings.
