Editing Commonwealth of England (section)

===Rule of the Major-Generals and Second Protectorate Parliament===

Having decided that Parliament was not an efficient means of getting his policies enacted, Cromwell instituted a system of direct military rule of England during a period known as the [[Rule of the Major-Generals]]; all of England was divided into ten regions, each was governed directly by one of Cromwell's Major-Generals, who were given sweeping powers to collect taxes and enforce the peace.  The Major-Generals were highly unpopular, a fact that they themselves noticed and many urged Cromwell to call another Parliament to give his rule legitimacy.

Unlike the prior Parliament, which had been open to all eligible males in the Commonwealth, the new elections specifically excluded Catholics and Royalists from running or voting; as a result, it was stocked with members who were more in line with Cromwell's own politics.  The first major bill to be brought up for debate was the Militia Bill, which was ultimately voted down by the House.  As a result, the authority of the Major-Generals to collect taxes to support their own regimes ended, and the Rule of the Major Generals came to an end.  The second piece of major legislation was the passage of the [[Humble Petition and Advice]], a sweeping constitutional reform which had two purposes.  The first was to reserve for Parliament certain rights, such as a three-year fixed-term (which the Lord Protector was required to abide by) and to reserve for the Parliament the sole right of taxation.  The second, as a concession to Cromwell, was to make the Lord Protector a hereditary position and to convert the title to a formal constitutional Kingship.  Cromwell refused the title of King, but accepted the rest of the legislation, which was passed in final form on 25 May 1657.

A second session of the Parliament met in 1658; it allowed previously excluded MPs (who had been not allowed to take their seats because of Catholic and/or Royalist leanings) to take their seats, however, this made the Parliament far less compliant to the wishes of Cromwell and the Major-Generals; it accomplished little in the way of a legislative agenda and was dissolved after a few months.