Nineteen Propositions

The Nineteen Propositions was a set of proposals sent from the Lords and Commons to King Charles 1 in June 1642 after the King had left London and set up his court at York.

The Propositions were confrontational and uncompromising in tone although the framers of the legislation cast them as moderate reforms:

• Parliament was to be responsible for the defence of the country; the King must accept Parliament's authority to raise armies
• Parliament was to supervise all foreign policy
• The King was publicly to pardon the Five Members
• Strict new laws against Roman Catholics were to be enforced
• Parliament was to supervise the education of royal children and to arrange their marriages
• All the King's ministers were to be made answerable to Parliament; no new peers could be appointed to the House of Lords without the approval of the Commons.

The full list is:

• 1 Ministers serving on the King’s Privy Council must be approved by the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
• 2. Matters that concern the public must be debated in Parliament, not decided based upon the advice of private advisors.
• 3. That the Lord High Steward of England, Lord High Constable, Lord Chancellor, or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, Lord Treasurer, Lord Privy Seal, Earl Marshall, Lord Admiral, Warden of the Cinque Ports, Chief Governor of Ireland, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Master of the Wards, Secretaries of State, two Chief Justices and Chief Baron, may always be chosen with the approbation of both Houses of Parliament; and in the intervals of Parliament, by assent of the major part of the Council, in such manner as is before expressed in the choice of councillor
• 4. Parliament shall approve those responsible for the education of the King’s children.
• 5. Parliament shall approve of the marriage of the King’s children to any person, from home or abroad.
• 6. Laws against Jesuits, Catholic priests, and Catholic recusants must be strictly enforced.
• 7. The vote of Catholic Lords shall be taken away, and the children of Catholics must receive a Protestant education.
• 8. A reformation of the Church government must be made.
• 9. The King will accept the ordering of the militia by the Lords and Commons.
• 10. Members of Parliament who have been put out of office during the present session must be allowed to return.
• 11. Councilors and judges must take an oath to maintain certain Parliamentary statutes.
• 12. All judges and officers approved of by Parliament shall hold their posts on condition of good behavior.
• 13. The justice of Parliament shall apply to all law-breakers, whether they are inside the country or have fled.
• 14. The King’s pardon must be granted, unless both houses of Parliament object.
• 15. Parliament must approve the King’s appointees for commanders of the forts and castles of the kingdom.
• 16. The unnecessary military attachment guarding the King must be discharged.
• 17. The Kingdom will formalize its alliance with the Protestant States of the United Provinces (the Dutch) in order to defend them against the Pope and his followers.
• 18. The King must clear the five members of the House of Commons, along with Lord Kimbolton, of any wrongdoing.
• 19. New peers of the House of Lords must be voted in by both Houses of Parliament.

Although moderate Parliamentarians regarded the Propositions as a basis for further discussion with the King, others regarded them as an ultimatum. Not unexpectedly, they were firmly rejected. The King's Answer was published on 18 June. It declared that Parliament's proposals threatened the ancient constitution of the kingdom and would damage the shared balance of power of the Commons, Aristocracy and Monarchy. If the King agreed to them, he would effectively be deposing himself and his posterity.

After the rejection of the Nineteen Propositions, both sides began openly preparing for an armed confrontation.