Putney Debates

The Putney Debates, which took place from 28 October to 8 November 1647, were a series of discussions over the political settlement that should follow Parliament's victory over Charles I in the First English Civil War. The main participants were senior officers of the New Model Army who favoured retaining Charles within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, and radicals such as the Levellers who sought more sweeping changes, including one man, one vote and freedom of conscience, particularly in religion.

Alarmed by what they viewed as the dangerous radicalism and increasing power of the New Model Army, in March 1647 the Presbyterian moderates who dominated the Long Parliament ordered the army to disband, a demand which was refused. In June, the army removed Charles from the custody of Parliament and in August established its headquarters at Putney, just outside the City of Westminster in South West London. Its senior officers or "Grandees" hoped the debates would end political divisions with the Agitators who represented the rank and file, and allow them to reach consensus on a peaceful settlement. Collectively, the two sides were grouped together into the Army Council.

The debates began on 28 October 1647 at St. Mary's Church, Putney and continued until 8 November, when senior officers including Thomas Fairfax, Oliver Cromwell, and Henry Ireton, grew concerned at the possible impact on military discipline and closed them down. The most contentious item was that of the right to vote: the Grandees wanted to restrict it to property-owners, but this was challenged by the Leveller spokesman, Colonel Thomas Rainsborough, who encapsulated his and the Levellers' position by saying:

" ...for really I thinke that the poorest hee that is in England hath a life to live as the greatest hee; and therefore truly, Sir, I thinke itt's cleare, that every man that is to live under a Governement ought first by his owne consent to putt himself under that Governement; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not at all bound in a strict sense to that Government that he hath not had a voice to put Himself under." (Putney Debates record book 1647, Worcester College, Oxford, MS 65. Spelling and capitalisation as in the original manuscript.)