Putney Debates

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The Putney Debates were a series of discussions between members of the New Model Army and the Levellers, concerning the makeup of a new constitution for England. The debates were held at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Putney, in the county of Surrey, starting on October 28, 1647 and lasting until November 11.

Earlier that summer Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton and other officers, known as the Grandees, attempted to negotiate a settlement with Charles I of England in the aftermath of the First Civil War. Their proposals all included a strong monarchy and House of Lords, which lost them the support of the more radical elements among the military and civilian populations.

In October 1647, five of the most radical cavalry regiments elected new Agitators – known as the New Agents – to represent their views. The New Agents issued a political manifesto: The Case of the Armie Truly Stated,^[1] and endorsed the constitutional proposals drafted by civilian Levellers in the Agreement of the People.^[2] The radicals wanted a constitution based upon manhood suffrage ("one man, one vote"), biennial Parliaments and a reorganisation of parliamentary constituencies. Authority was to be vested in the House of Commons rather than the King and Lords. Certain "native rights" were declared sacrosanct for all Englishmen: freedom of conscience, freedom from impressment into the armed forces and equality before the law.

The Grandees responded by inviting the Agitators to debate their proposals before the General Council of the Army. Fairfax was not present, so Cromwell hosted. Cromwell flatly refused to accept any compromise in which the King was overthrown, while Henry Ireton (son-in-law of Oliver Cromwell) pressed the case that his own The Heads of the Proposals^[3] covered all of the concerns raised by the New Agents in The Case of the Armie while being far less radical. The Agitators accepted the meeting, sending Colonel Thomas Rainsborough (M.P. for Droitwich) John Wildman, and Edward Sexby as their representatives.

The debates opened on October 28, and were transcribed by secretary William Clarke and a team of stenographers. From November 2, however, all recording ceased. The debates were not reported and Clarke's minutes were not published at the time. They were lost until 1890 when they were rediscovered at the library of Worcester College, Oxford and subsequently published as part of the Clarke Papers.

Cromwell and Ireton's main complaint about the Agreement was that it included terms for near universal male suffrage, which Ireton considered to be anarchy. Instead they suggested suffrage should be limited only to landholders. The Agitators, on the other hand, felt they deserved the rights in payment for their service during the war. Thus Rainsborough, for the Levellers:-

For really I think that the poorest he that is in England have a life to live, as the greatest he: and therefore truly, sir, I think it's clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government.

And Ireton, for the Grandees:-

no man hath a right to an interest or share in the disposing of the affairs of the kingdom... that hath not a permanent fixed interest in this kingdom.^[4]

Eventually a compromise of sorts was arranged, the Agitators agreeing to exclude servants and beggars, the Grandees agreeing that all soldiers of the war were entitled.

The debates concluded with the understanding that the Agreement would not be the basis of the Army's official constitutional reform, but that it would be presented to the Army itself at a mass meeting. However, Grandees feared a complete breakdown of discipline in the Army, and, on 8 November, proposed that everyone return at once to their regiments to restore order. This was reinforced when on 11 November King Charles escaped from Hampton Court, bringing all debate to an end now that the New Model Army were faced with a more immediate threat. A new group then met to draw up a manifesto in the name of Lord-General Fairfax and the Army Council to be presented to the troops in place of the Levellers' Agreement.

The presentation itself was split from one mass meeting to three smaller ones. Those regiments invited to the first meeting on November 15 agreed with the manifesto, but two regiments arrived uninvited and objected, sparking the Corkbush Field mutiny. Cromwell suppressed the mutiny and at the other two meetings the other regiments agreed to the terms in the manifesto.