An Agreement of the People

An Agreement of the People was a series of manifestos, published between 1647 and 1649, for constitutional changes to the English state.

Several versions of the Agreement were published, each adapted to address not only broad concerns but also specific issues during the fast changing revolutionary political environment of those years.

The Agreements of the People have been most associated as the manifestos of the Levellers but were also published by the Agitators and the General Council of the New Model Army.

The major tenets of this first version of the Agreement were: freedom of religion, the frequent convening of new parliaments and equality before the law.

As these basic proposals were queried, other provisions were added; for example Roman Catholics were exempt from the right to religious freedom, and the electorate was to be made up of "all men of the age of one and twenty years and upwards (not being servants, or receiving alms, or having served in the late King in Arms or voluntary Contributions)."

An Agreement of the People , 1647