History of England, from the Accession of James II - (Volume 4, Chapter 17)

Thomas Babington Macaulay's monumental History of England redefined what historical writing could be, and this chapter captures him at his most electrifying. Here he narrates the Glorious Revolution of 1688: the moment England overthrew its king, invited a Dutch prince to take the throne, and fundamentally rewrote the contract between ruler and ruled. Macaulay writes with the verve of a novelist and the precision of a constitutional scholar, showing how James II's reckless Catholicism and arbitrary rule united Parliament, Church, and gentry in desperate rebellion. The result was not merely a new monarch but a new nation one where divine right died in the nursery and the liberties of Englishmen were declared sacred. This is history as drama, as argument, as literature.