In 1657, one general Post Offices was established with one Postmaster General for all of England. No other person could have the horsing of the through-posts. It cost 2d. for a letter to or from 80 miles of London and 3d. for one outside 80 miles of London.

The Society of Friends was founded by the son of a weaver. They greeted everyone as "friend" and did not bow; remove their hat, as was the custom when before the king or an earl; or otherwise show any reverence to anyone. From 1650, they were called Quakers because they trembled when religiously stirred. They reverted to the ancient "thou" and "thee" appellations. Their dress was particularly simple, with no buttons, lace, ruffles, or embroidery. They hated ritual so much that they rejected baptism and communion. They did not observe the Sabbath as a special day different from other days. They derided the holiness of churches. No clergy were admitted into their sect. When they met for divine worship, each rose to deliver extemporaneous inspirations of the Holy Ghost. Women were admitted to teach the brethren and were considered proper vehicles to convey the dictates of the spirit. Quakers believed that every man, in his own life, could be fully victorious over sin. They denied any clerical authority and all texts. They believed in the separation of church and state. They refused to swear to any oath, e.g. in court, or to participate in war. They refused to take off their hats to anyone but God. It was their practice to turn the other cheek when one cheek had been struck. If asked for his cloak, a Quaker would give it. He never asked more for his wares than the precise sum which he was determined to accept. The Quakers encouraged widows and widowers to provide for children from a first spouse when remarrying. They carefully selected masters and mistresses who wanted to take on child apprentices for their suitability for such responsibility. The education of Quaker women did not decline, as it did for other women. From the fervor of their zeal, the Quakers broke into churches, disturbed public worship, and harassed the clergyman and audience with railing and reproaches. When brought before a magistrate, they show no reverence but treated him as an equal. Sometimes they were thrown into mad house or prisons and sometimes whipped or pilloried. They endured stoically under this suffering. Mary Fisher from Yorkshire introduced Quakerism to colonial New England.

In 1653 there were separation agreements between spouses as to property, e.g. support and maintenance.

Cromwell had bad experiences with Parliaments. The Rump Parliament was a remnant of the Long Parliament. The army and then Cromwell, although a member, came to believe that its members were self- interested, preoccupied with perpetuating themselves in seats of power, and corrupt. They thought that their own hopes of reform in the law, in the church, and in public finances were being deliberately frustrated. Cromwell came to doubt that it would ever give the people adequate government and protection. He started to believe that one man as chief executive could do this better. Cromwell dismissed the Rump Parliament in 1653. A new constitution created a Puritan "Parliament of Saints". These men were nominated in various ways, such as by church parishes, and selected by Cromwell. This one-house Parliament of Saints in 1653 made Cromwell Lord Protector for life with executive power of the state, with responsibility for making peace and establishing order after a decade of civil strife and political chaos. He was to administer the government and be the chief magistrate. It also provided for triennial Parliaments consisting of one house, and religious freedom for all except Roman Catholics and adherents of the formerly established Church of England. Cromwell did not tolerate the ritual of the formerly established English church nor allow any of its adherents to have any office under him. His was a purely Puritan government. He did not sell offices. The Parliament of Saints challenged many vested interests in property such as sales of delinquents' and Papists' lands. It clashed severely over the continuation of tithes to the church. It became disorderly when some declared the Parliament dissolved and left. Others remained in their seats. To avoid a Parliamentary crisis, Cromwell had soldiers close the Parliament of Saints and lock its doors. The people supported this action because they were dissatisfied with the state of public affairs. The next Parliament that was tried was elected on a new constitutional basis of men with 200 pounds, but these men voted to make Parliament sovereign without a chief executive, thereby abolishing the protectorate. Cromwell was distressed that this Parliament had also voted themselves to be the sole determinors of atheism and blasphemy instead of advancing liberty of religious conscience and religious toleration as Cromwell had advocated. He dissolved this Parliament, declaring that it was not acting for the public good. A last Parliament was also dissolved by Cromwell for tending to loosen the bonds of government and thereby threatening the peace of the nation.

Cromwell had first ruled as a democratic leader who did not believe in force, but preferred to persuade with reason. He initially believed that people would do the right thing according to their consciences, but was disillusioned and then became autocratic. He came to rule as a military dictator. Payment of taxes was enforced by distraint. After 1654, he issued about 100 proclamations covering public amusements, roads, finances, the condition of prisons, the imprisonment of debtors, banning of dueling and cockfighting, law reform, control of religion and education, and reorganization of the army. The singing of ballads was banned. The Court of Chancery was reformed by proclamation. The established church was reformed and the power to interfere with different faiths was denied to it. Each parish could choose its form of service, whether Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, or any other seen as fundamental by the Puritans. No one was compelled to attend any particular church or to accept the discipline of any particular minister. But the Book of Common Prayer was forbidden. There was freedom of worship for Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Quakers, Catholics, and Jews who had secretly migrated to England to avoid persecution on the continent, but not Prelatists , who favored government of the church by bishops).

In 1655, Cromwell placed major generals in charge of eleven newly- established provinces. As their Governors, they had authority to levy troops, exact taxes imposed by the Protector, disarm Royalists and Catholics, examine into the conduct of the clergy and schoolmasters, arrest dangerous and suspicious persons, prevent unlawful assemblies, and to enforce the existing laws against immorality and blasphemy. The only appeal was to the Protector. Since they were Puritans, they ordered public ale houses to close as dusk, banned idlers, minstrels, and actors, forbade exercising of horses on Sunday and the holding of markets on Saturday as well as Sunday, censored the press, and proscribed newspapers. Horse races, which meetings were used for seditious purposes, were closed. Theaters were closed. Dancing was discontinued. Organs and choirs in churches were prohibited. Court masks continued because they provided soothing music. After a year, Cromwell withdrew the major-generals. From this time, men of property hated the idea of a standing army.

In 1657, the officers of a new Parliament modified the constitution and Cromwell approved it. It was to secure liberties of the people as they never before had. Under the modified constitution, there were again two houses. The Commons regained its old right of exclusively deciding on the qualification of its members. Parliamentary restrictions were imposed on the choice of members of the Council, officers of state, and officers of the army. A fixed revenue was voted to the Protector. No moneys were to be raised except by consent of Parliament. Liberty of worship was guaranteed to all except Papists; Prelatists; Socinians, who denied the divinity of Jesus; for those who denied the inspiration of the Scriptures. Liberty of conscience was secured for all. In 1658, Cromwell tried another Parliament, but dissolved it because it wrangled without resolution.

There was continual problem with Catholics. Mayors, Justices and capital burgesses of towns where Papists or others had caused rebellion and insurrection and plundered, robbed, pillaged, murdered and raped, were given the power in 1642 to call, assemble, train, and arm soldiers for defense. The Committee of the Militia of London was given authority in 1647 to search all houses and places for Papists and to search for and seize any arms, ammunition, and war materials in custody of such persons. In 1648, all Papists and soldiers of fortune who had borne arms against Parliament were ordered to depart from within twenty miles of London and Westminster or be imprisoned as traitors. In 1657 convicted Papists and people marrying convicted Papists were required to take an oath renouncing the pope and Catholic Church or lose two-thirds of their lands and estate, retaining their house on the remaining one-third. If one went to mass in an ambassador's house, the fine was 100 pounds and imprisonment for six months, one half going to the informer. In 1659 all householders in London and Westminster had to give a list of persons lodging in their house, and the horses and arms there. But the laws against Catholics practicing their religion were not rigorously enforced, nor were those against adherents of the formerly established Church of England.

After Cromwell died, the people demanded the return of a genuine and free Parliament. The old constitution was restored and a new House of Commons was elected. It called Charles II to return to be king if he promised religious freedom and backpay to the army, which had not recently been paid. When Cromwell's Puritan soldiers were disbanded, they did not drift into thievery as royalists soldiers had before, but took up honest work such as baker, mason, brewer, baker, or haberdasher. Puritanism now made itself felt not by the sword, but in literature and politics. It affected the character of the English, who tend to be stoics, and imbued capitalists with a hard-working attitude.

The Law