However Cromwell died the next year, and his nominated successor as Lord Protector, his son Richard, proved unable to govern effectively as various political parties strove to gain power.
The Protectorate came to an end in May 1659 when the Grandees recalled the Rump Parliament, which authorised a Committee of Safety to replace Richard's Council of State.
This ushered in a period of unstable government, which did not come to an end until February 1660 when General George Monck, the English military governor of Scotland, marched to London at the head of his troops, and oversaw the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II.
After the Parliamentarian victory in the English Civil War, the Puritan views of the majority of Parliament and its supporters began to be imposed on the rest of the country.
Parliament had, to a large degree, encouraged the radical political groups which emerged when the usual social controls broke down during the civil war.
In the 1649 An Agreement of the People, they asked for a more representative and accountable Parliament, to meet every two years; a reform of law so it would be available to and fair to all; and religious toleration.
They advocated a lifestyle that bore many similarities to later understandings of communism and anarchism, with communal ownership of land, and equality for males and females in law and education.
Despite greater toleration, extreme sects were opposed by the upper classes as they were seen as a threat to social order and property rights.
In the former, the Rump Parliament was anxious not to offend the traditional ruling class whose support it needed for survival, so it opposed radical ideas.
In 1657, Silius Titus called for Cromwell's assassination in a co-authored pamphlet Killing No Murder under the pseudonym of William Allen.
High taxes required by the large standing army, kept due to the constant threats of Scottish and Irish rebellion, added to public resentment of Cromwell.