Editing John Lilburne (section)

==Putney Debates==
Lilburne was imprisoned from July to October 1645 for denouncing [[Member of Parliament|Members of Parliament]] who lived in comfort while the common soldiers fought and died for the [[Parliament of England|Parliamentary]] cause. It was while he was incarcerated that he wrote his [[Tract (literature)|tract]], ''England's Birthright Justified''.

In July 1646, he was imprisoned in the [[Tower of London]] for denouncing his former commander the Earl of Manchester as a [[traitor]] and [[Cavalier|Royalist]] sympathiser. It was the campaign to free him from prison which spawned the political party called the [[Levellers]]. Lilburne called them "''Levellers so-called''" because he viewed himself as an agitator for freeborn rights.

The Levellers had a strong following in the [[New Model Army]] with whom his work was influential. When the army held the [[Putney Debates]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://courses.essex.ac.uk/cs/cs101/putney.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126094353/http://courses.essex.ac.uk/cs/cs101/putney.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 January 2009|title=The Putney Debates|date=26 January 2009}}</ref> between 28 October and 11 November 1647, the debate centred upon a pamphlet influenced by the writings of Lilburne called ''[[Agreement of the People|An Agreement of the People for a firm and present peace upon grounds of common right]]''.<ref name=Oct-1647>[http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/agreement-people.htm The Agreement of the People] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130211092845/http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/agreement-people.htm |date=11 February 2013 }} as presented to the Council of the Army, October 1647</ref>