Glorious Revolution in England inspires colonial resistance

In November 1688, William of Orange landed at Brixham, England, with a Dutch army and forced James II to flee to France in December 1688. In February 1689, Parliament declared the throne vacant and offered it jointly to William III and Mary II, replacing the Stuart king whose policies had alarmed both Protestant elites and chartered interests. The English revolution of 1688 and 1689 therefore changed the lawful source of authority throughout the empire, including the American colonies.

The Glorious Revolution intensified a constitutional struggle over whether James II had violated English liberties by suspending laws, attacking charters, and ruling without proper parliamentary limits. The English Bill of Rights of December 1689 answered that question by affirming parliamentary supremacy and restricting royal prerogative under William III and Mary II. In British America, colonists used the same logic in April 1689 to overthrow Edmund Andros in Boston and in May 1689 to justify Jacob Leisler's seizure of the New York fort, arguing that Andros and other James II officers no longer ruled legitimately.

The colonial uprisings of 1689 led directly to the collapse of the Dominion of New England and to a new imperial settlement under William and Mary. Massachusetts received a new royal charter in 1691 that restored an elected assembly while adding a Crown-appointed governor, proving that the Glorious Revolution reshaped colonial institutions as well as the English throne.