Humble Petition and Advice
Encyclopedia
The Humble Petition and Advice was the second, and last, codified constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...

 of England after the Instrument of Government.

On 23 February 1657, during the sitting of the Second Protectorate Parliament
Second Protectorate Parliament
The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons...

, Sir Christopher Packe
Christopher Packe (politician)
Sir Christopher Packe , Lord Mayor of London; member of the Drapers Company; lord mayor, 1654; a prominent member of the Company of Merchant Adventurers; knighted and appointed an admiralty commissioner, 1655; a strong partisan of Oliver Cromwell, proposing on 23 February 1656, in the Protector's...

, a Member of Parliament and former Lord Mayor of London
Lord Mayor of London
The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...

 (chosen by those supporting Kingship as he was a less controversial character than the leaders of the Kingship party), presented the Lord Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...

 Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

 with a remonstrance which became known as the Humble Petition and Advice. Although he presented it, Packe was not the author.

The remonstrance came about largely as a result of the rise of the New Cromwellians. They in themselves were an expression of strong latent support for monarchy and the English traditional constitutional limits on its power, a desire to lose the military overtones of the earlier Protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...

 and the increasingly small level of control Cromwell was able to exert due to ill health and frustration with a lack of revolutionary ideology amongst his subjects.

The Humble Petition and Advice wanted to offer hereditary monarchy
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...

 to Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

, assert Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...

's control over issuing new taxation, provide an independent council to advise the king, safeguard 'Triennial' meetings (every three years) of Parliament and reduce the size of the army in order to save money, amongst other things. These had the effect of limiting, not increasing, Cromwell’s power.

Cromwell refused the Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...

, on the 8 May 1657. This may have been because he feared disaffection in the Army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...

, especially considering the proposed reduction in the size of the army, was distressed by allegations of dynastic/personal ambition, did not genuinely accept that a monarchy was necessary in England, or because he feared re-instating the monarchy on the basis that he believed it had been judged by God in the period following the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

.

The Humble Petition was modified to remove the clause on kingship and due to the Naylor case the Humble Petition and Advice was also modified to include a second chamber
Cromwell's Other House
The Other House , established by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Humble Petition and Advice, was one of the two chambers of the Parliaments that legislated for England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, in 1658 and 1659, the final years of the Protectorate.During the Rule of...

.

On 25 May, Cromwell ratified a modified Humble Petition and Advice saying he would nominate his successor, as Lord Protector
Lord Protector
Lord Protector is a title used in British constitutional law for certain heads of state at different periods of history. It is also a particular title for the British Heads of State in respect to the established church...

.
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