K I N G  J A M E S  I I   1633 - 1701

 

 

 

 A-Z INDEX | HOME

 

 

 

James II King of England - African slave trading Company, British Empire colonials

 

 

Portrait of King James II - British Empire colonial slave trader

 

 

 

King James II was born 14 October 1633, passing on 16 September 1701. He was King of England and King of Ireland, and Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was the last Catholic monarch of England, Scotland, and Ireland. His reign is now remembered primarily for conflicts over religious tolerance, but it also involved struggles over the principles of absolutism and the divine right of kings. His deposition ended a century of political and civil strife in England by confirming the primacy of the English Parliament over the Crown.

James succeeded to the thrones of England, Ireland, and Scotland following the death of his brother with widespread support in all three countries, largely because the principles of eligibility based on divine right and birth were widely accepted. Tolerance of his personal Catholicism did not extend to tolerance of Catholicism in general, and the English and Scottish parliaments refused to pass his measures. When James attempted to impose them by decree, this was met with opposition; some academics have however argued that it was a political principle, rather than a religious one, that ultimately led to his removal.

In June 1688, two events turned dissent into a crisis. Firstly, the birth of James's son and heir James Francis Edward on 10 June raised the prospect of establishing a Roman Catholic dynasty and excluding his Anglican daughter Mary and her Protestant husband William III of Orange from the line of succession. Secondly, the prosecution of the Seven Bishops for seditious libel was viewed as further evidence of an assault on the Church of England, and their acquittal on 30 June destroyed his political authority in England. The ensuing anti-Catholic riots in England and Scotland led to a general feeling that only James's removal from the throne could prevent a civil war.

Leading members of the English political class invited William of Orange to assume the English throne. When William landed in Brixham on 5 November 1688, James's army deserted and he went into exile in France on 23 December. In February 1689, a special Convention Parliament held that James had "vacated" the English throne and installed William and Mary as joint monarchs, thereby establishing the principle that sovereignty derived from Parliament, not birth. James landed in Ireland on 14 March 1689 in an attempt to recover his kingdoms, but, despite a simultaneous rising in Scotland, in April a Scottish Convention followed that of England, both finding that James had "forfeited" the throne and offered it to William and Mary. After his defeat at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, James returned to France, where he spent the rest of his life in exile at Saint-Germain, protected by Louis XIV. While his contemporary opponents often portrayed him as an absolutist tyrant, some historians – beginning in the 20th century – have praised James for advocating religious tolerance. More recent scholarship has tended to take a middle ground between these views. 

 

He succeeded Charles II who was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.

 

 

THE COLONIES AND SLAVERY

 

Slavery formed a cornerstone of the British Empire in the 18th century. Every colony had enslaved people, from the southern rice plantations in Charles Town, South Carolina, to the northern wharves of Boston.

Slavery was more than a labor system; it also influenced every aspect of colonial thought and culture. The uneven relationship it engendered gave white colonists an exaggerated sense of their own status. English liberty gained greater meaning and coherence for white people when they contrasted their status to that of the unfree class of enslaved black people in British America.

The transport of enslaved people to the American colonies accelerated in the second half of the 17th century. In 1660, English monarch Charles II created the Royal African Company to trade in enslaved people and African goods. His brother, James II, led the company before ascending the throne.

Under both these kings, the Royal African Company enjoyed a monopoly to transport enslaved people to the English colonies. Between 1672 and 1713, the company bought 125,000 captives on the African coast, losing 20 percent of them to death on the Middle Passage - the journey from the African coast to the Americas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT THE ROYALS

 

The Prince of Wales, is currently the third King of England, named Charles III. His son, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, is a King in waiting - as of 2022 as William V. 

Queen Elizabeth II, was the British Monarch, who passed at the age of 95, in 2022.

The previous King, Charles II, ruled from 1630 until 1685, gave a Royal Charter to export captured native Africans as slaves to British colonies.

 

Queen Elizabeth I (Good Queen Bess), was famous for commissioning privateers to carry out acts of piracy on the high seas, to boost the coffers of her Treasury. As was Queen Anne 1665 - 1714. King George I carried on with privateers, then politics changed during his reign 1714 to 1727.

 

 

 

 
 

 

  JAMES II WAS KING OF ENGLAND - A BRITISH COLONIAL SLAVE TRADER AND EMPIRE BUILDER

 

 A-Z INDEX | HOME