The Gun Powderplot

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In the early 1600s in England, King James ruled over the country. King James was named the successor to Queen Elizabeth I, whose reign covered the years from 1558-1603. During Elizabeth's rule over England, she enacted laws that were very harsh to those practicing Catholicism. Many had hoped that the anti-Catholic laws would change or even be overturned under King James I, whose wife was Catholic, but that didn't prove to be true. Not only did he "keep the old religious laws restricting Catholic worship, he even put new ones in place" (Barrow). Since the Catholic laws became more strict, people like Guy Fawkes decided to rebel and put a plan into action which would later be known as the Gunpowder Plot.
James further angered the Catholic population when he ordered Catholic priests to leave England. By 1605 tension was beginning to form, and people were plotting to remove the king. Trouble and rebellion grew among some Catholics, and they put together a plan to remove King James from the throne. The plotters wanted to kill James and put his daughter Elizabeth on the throne. (Trueman) Under advice from those in his inner circle, such as his spy expert, Sir Robert Cecil, and in an attempt to please more extreme Protestants such as the Puritans, James once again increased punishment on those who still practiced the Catholic religion. Anger grew to the point that some Catholics were willing to take extreme measures, and they had support from other Catholic royalty throughout other areas of Europe. At least two attacks against King James had already "failed by when a group of men met at a London inn to discuss a new strategy" (Ford). They talked of a new strategy to lead a plot to kill not only the King of England, but also all m...

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...from their graves and decapitated. In the aftermath of the plot, James I was in "no mood for tolerance. New laws were passed removing Catholics' right to vote and restricting their role in public life. It would be another 200 years before these restrictions were fully lifted" (Greenspan).
Due to King James making the Catholic laws more strict, gave Guy Fawkes his plan to rebel. With the survival of King James, today, Britons still celebrate the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot. November 5 is celebrated as Guy Fawkes Day, and has became a time to get together with friends and family, set off fireworks, light bonfires, attend parades and burn effigies, or stuffed dolls, of Fawkes. Children wheeled around their effigies, begging for a “penny for the Guy” (a similar custom to Halloween trick-or-treating) and imploring crowds to 'remember, remember the fifth of November'.

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