Editing New Model Army (section)

===Revolutionary politics and the "Agreement of the People"===
Having won the [[First English Civil War|First Civil War]], the soldiers became discontented with the [[Long Parliament]], for several reasons. Firstly, they had not been paid regularly – pay was weeks in arrears – and on the end of hostilities, the [[Small-c conservative|conservative]] MPs in Parliament wanted to either disband the Army or send them to fight in Ireland without addressing the issue of back pay. Secondly, the Long Parliament refused to grant the soldiers [[amnesty]] from prosecution for any criminal acts they had been ordered to commit in the Civil War. The soldiers demanded indemnity as several soldiers were hanged after the war for crimes such as stealing horses for use by the cavalry regiments. Thirdly, seeing that most Parliamentarians wanted to restore the King without major democratic reforms or religious freedom.{{efn| Under the influence of the [[Committee of Both Kingdoms]] which joined English and Scottish Covenantor causes Parliament was inclined to installation of Presbyterianism across England while the NMA tended towards the [[Independent (religion)|Independent]] cause of freedom of religion. }}

Two representatives, called Agitators, were elected from each regiment. The Agitators, with two officers from each regiment and the Generals, formed a new body called the [[Army Council (1647)|Army Council]]. At a meeting ("rendezvous") held near [[Newmarket, Suffolk]] on 4 June 1647 this council issued "A [[Solemn Engagement|Solemne Engagement]] of the Army, under the Command of his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax" to Parliament on 8 June making their concerns known.{{sfn|Fairfax|General Council of the New Model Army|1647}}

[[Image:Agreement of the People (1647-1649).jpg|thumb|right|Agreement of the People (1647–1649)]]
Having come into contact with ideas from the radical movement called the [[Levellers]], the troops of the Army proposed a revolutionary new constitution named the [[Agreement of the People]], which called for almost universal male suffrage, electoral boundary reform, power to rest with a Parliament elected by the people every two years, religious freedom, and an end to imprisonment for debt.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/england/english-revolution/may-day.htm|title=An agreement of the free people of England April 30 1649|website=www.marxists.org}}</ref>

Increasingly concerned at the failure to pay their wages and by political manoeuvrings by King Charles I and by some in Parliament, the army marched slowly towards London over the next few months. In late October and early November at the [[Putney Debates]], the Army debated two different proposals. The first was the ''Agreement of the People''; the other was the ''[[Heads of Proposals]]'', put forward by Henry Ireton for the Army Council.{{sfn|Smith|1994|p=132}}