The Rump Parliament abolished the monarchy and House of Lords and declared England a Commonwealth in London during early 1649. Executive authority passed to a Council of State, although the army remained politically dominant. England was formally governed without a king for the first time in its history.

Republican government required writers to invent a language of civic virtue, popular sovereignty and non-monarchical authority. Milton, Marchamont Nedham and James Harrington became major voices in this experimental political literature.