Page "Act of Toleration 1689" Paragraph 8

With fears that James II of England and his male heir would establish a Catholic dynasty the previous violent divisions among different English Protestant sects were put aside to focus on their common enemy-Roman Catholicism.

A political and religious elite among this coalition invited William, the Stadholder of the Netherlands who was married to James ' daughter Mary ( whom had been raised Protestant ) to invade the nation and seize the crown.

The resulting Revolution of 1688 ( commonly referred to as the Glorious Revolution ) resulted in success for William and Mary who became sovereigns.

A series of legal acts assured a constitutional settlement of this new situation, these include The Bill of Rights ( 1689 ), The Mutiny Act ( 1689 ), the Act of Toleration ( 1689 ), and later the Act of Settlement ( 1701 ) and the Act of Union ( 1707 ).