THE AGREEMENTS OF THE PEOPLE AND THE LEVELLERS: THE STRUGGLE FOR A NEW POLITICAL MODEL IN ENGLAND IN MIDDLE OF THE 17th CENTURY

Traditionally, research has indicated that the Glorious Revolution of 1688 was the only contribution to English constitutionalism, which differed from "popular sovereignty" modern democracies stood for later on. However, "the people" had already appeared as the main subject of power in the English Revolution that took place between 1642-1649, and the contractual theory as well as the idea of pre-existent rights attached to every English "freeman" were also manifest. A social coalition led by the Levellers and their defense of the Agreements of the People would support such political model after a parliamentarian struggle against the King where they became aware of the fact that not just the King but the Parliament itself could use the power arbitrarily. With those Agreements protection was pursued by means of a written document, a "paramount law", where the democratic and institutional framework and the rights and fundamental liberties for the English embedded in it, would be attained.