Today in the United States we live in a country that separates church and state. A few months ago we experienced another presidential election in which United States citizens were aloud to voice their opinions freely. Citizens were able to place their vote on who would become the next president. In return the president elect is supposed to be for the people. It is important that the president try to relate to the people and remember that he is also a regular person. .
Citizens of the United States after reading the opening paragraph would hopefully agree with that vague statement, but if you were an Elizabethan you would probably strongly disagree with this statemen. The Elizabethan era was much different, they had no choice on who their king would be. Elizabethans believed that God appointed their king and even if the Elizabethans did not feel that the chosen king was fit to rule or that he was corrupt, the Elizabethans felt that God chose this king to punish them. .
The King ruled by divine rights, "The Divine Right of Kings, indicates that this theory involved the following propositions: .
(1) Monarchy is a divinely ordained institution.
(2) Hereditary right is indefeasible. The succession to monarchy is regulated by the law of primogeniture. The right acquired by birth cannot be forfeited through any acts of usurpation, of however long continuance, by any incapacity in the heir, or by any act of deposition. So long as the heir lives, he is king by hereditary right, even though the usurping dynasty has reigned for a thousand years.
(3) Kings are accountable to God alone. Monarchy is pure, the sovereignty being entirely vested in the king, whose power is incapable of legal limitation. All law is a mere concession of his will, and all constitutional forms and assemblies exist entirely at his pleasure. He cannot limit or divide or alienate the sovereignty, so as in any way to prejudice the right of his successor to its complete exercise.
