A land of liberty?:

The Glorious Revolution was a decisive moment in England's history; an invading Dutch army forced James II to flee to France, and his son-in-law and daughter, William and Mary, were crowned as joint sovereigns. The wider consequences were no less startling: bloody war in Ireland, Union with Scotland, Jacobine intrigue, deep involvement in two European wars, Britain's emergence as a great power, a financial revolution, greater religious toleration, a riven church and a startling growth of parliamentary government. Such changes were only a part of the transformation of English society of the time. An enriching torrent of new ideas from the likes of Newton, Defoe, and Addison, spread throught newspapers, periodicals, and coffe-houses, provided new views and values that some embraced and others loathed. England's horizons were also growing, especially in the Carribean and American colonies. For many however, the benefits were uncertain: the slave trade flourished, inequality widened, and the poor and 'disorderly' were increasingly subject to strictures and statues. If it was an age of prospects it was also one of anxieties.