The Glorious Revolution (1688–89) permanently established Parliament as the ruling power of England—and, later, the United Kingdom—representing a shift from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. When William III and Mary II were crowned, they swore to govern according to the laws of Parliament, not the laws of the monarchy. A Bill of Rights promulgated later that year, based on a Declaration of Rights accepted by William and Mary when they were crowned, prohibited Catholics or those married to Catholics from claiming the throne.
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