Thirty-Third Week Seventh Grade History Essay

          This week I covered many different historic topics in Europe. They went over some of the different rulers and events of Scotland, England, and France. However, for this essay, I decided to write about King George I and King George II of England.

          After the Glorious Revolution, England was found to have no king, since King James II was overthrown. So, Queen Mary, daughter of King James II, and her husband King William II of Orange became the rulers of England. When William and Mary died without leaving an heir, Mary’s younger Protestant sister, Anne became queen.

          As I said before, Queen Anne was protestant, and she wanted the royal bloodline of England to always be protestant. To make Anne’s wish come true, the Act of Settlement was made. The Act of Settlement was signed in 1701, and it prohibited any Catholics from inheriting the English throne. However, this law led to England not having a clear ruler once more, since Anne did not have any children. The closest heir to the throne was Anne’s younger brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, but he and most of Anne’s relatives were eliminated from ruling England because of their Catholic beliefs.

          This elimination process left Anne’s second cousin, King George I of Hanover, the closest Protestant heir to the throne and, therefore, Anne’s successor. The Holy Roman Empire city of Hanover was located in Germany. George came to be the prince-elect of Hanover due to owning almost all the land in the city. He inherited all of this land from his royal father and uncles.

          George reigned from 1714 to 1727. Most of his reign revolved around George trying to keep away the Jacobites. The Jacobites were a group of people who believed that James Francis Edward Stuart should be king. Their goal was to dispose of King George and replace them with James, but their attempts failed.

          King George spent most of his time in Hanover, where he was eventually buried. After he died, his son, King George II became king as his successor. George II was not remembered for much at all. However, he is known as the last British monarch to lead an army into battle, but the dispute took place in Hanover.

          This lesson was one of my favorites this week. It covered a little bit of Queen Anne, the Act of Settlement, King George I, and King George II. Even though George I and George II did not play as big of roles as other historic people, they still helped to shape England.