Following the Putney Debates of October to November 1647, Fairfax, Oliver Cromwell and Henry Ireton grew concerned by their radicalism, and in 1648, Agitators were removed from the Council.

[2] Having established control of Scotland in the 1639 to 1640 Bishops Wars, the Covenanters viewed the 1643 Solemn League and Covenant with Parliament as a way to preserve it, by preventing Royalist victory in England.

The Presbyterian faction which formed a majority of MPs had the support of the London Trained Bands, the Army of the Western Association, leaders like Rowland Laugharne in Wales, and elements of the Royal Navy.

He was now presented with The Heads of the Proposals, a set of conditions prepared by Cromwell and other senior officers; in many ways, they were more lenient than the Newcastle Propositions, particularly in their religious provisions.

[9] However, with the majority of the New Model now based in or around London, the influence of the Levellers was strengthened; with their support, the Agitators prepared a revolutionary new constitution called the Agreement of the People.

This contained demands for almost universal male suffrage, reform of electoral boundaries, supreme power to rest with the Parliament, religious freedom and an end to imprisonment for debt.

At the Putney Debates in late October and early November, Agitators discussed adoption of the 'Agreement' and the 'Proposals', with Cromwell's son-in-law Henry Ireton representing the Army Council.

They used the delay to ensure adoption of the 'Proposals' by demanding every soldier sign a declaration of loyalty, to Fairfax and the Army Council, with signature signifying acceptance of the 'Proposals'.