Under this new government, called the Commonwealth, Parliament acted as both executive and legislative branch. The English government was reorganized as a republic, without a monarch or House of Lords. In May 1660, Charles II was restored to the throne, and Virginians pointed toward their initial resistance to the Commonwealth as evidence of the colony’s loyalty, cultivating an enduring image of Virginia as a royalist stronghold. Virginia initially resisted this regime, proclaiming Charles II king, but was forced to surrender to Parliament on March 12, 1652.

The Commonwealth pursued economic and imperial policies that linked its colonies more closely to England. In 1649, Charles I was executed and a republican government called the Commonwealth, ruled by Parliament, replaced the monarchy. In 1648, Parliamentarian forces under the command of Oliver Cromwell prevailed. As a royal colony, Virginia was expected to support the king in wartime while Virginia governor Sir William Berkeley enforced Charles I’s views on religious conformity to the Church of England, he took a more relaxed approach to colonial commerce, declaring neutrality in order to maintain a robust trade. These wars and the resulting changes to English and colonial government affected Virginia in a number of ways. The English Civil Wars (1642–1648) were a pair of civil wars fought in England that set King Charles I and his supporters against supporters of the English parliament, which opposed his policies.

Virginia issues dominate ad wars