The Toleration Act 1688 ( 1 Will. & Mar. c. 18), also referred to as the Act of Toleration or the Toleration Act 1689, was an act of the

Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the Great Council of England, great council of Lords Spi ...

. Passed in the aftermath of the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

, it received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

on 24 May 1689. The act allowed for freedom of worship to nonconformists who had pledged to the oaths of

Allegiance An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed, or freely committed, by the people, subjects or citizens to their state or sovereign. Etymology The word ''allegiance'' comes from Middle English ' (see Medieval Latin ', "a liegance"). The ...

and Supremacy and rejected

transubstantiation Transubstantiation (; Greek language, Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of sacramental bread, bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and ...

, i.e., to

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

who dissented from the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

such as

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Congregationalists Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently a ...

or English Presbyterians, but not to

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. Nonconformists were allowed their own places of worship and their own schoolteachers, so long as they accepted certain oaths of allegiance. The act intentionally did not apply to Roman Catholics, Jews, nontrinitarians, and atheists. Further, it continued the existing social and political disabilities for

dissenters A dissenter (from the Latin , 'to disagree') is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc. Dissent may include political opposition to decrees, ideas or doctrines and it may include opposition to those things or the fiat of ...

, including their exclusion from holding political offices and also from the universities. Dissenters were required to register their meeting houses and were forbidden from meeting in private homes. Any preachers who dissented had to be licensed. Between 1772 and 1774, Edward Pickard gathered together dissenting ministers, to campaign for the terms of the act for dissenting clergy to be modified. Under his leadership, Parliament twice considered bills to modify the law, but both were unsuccessful and it was not until Pickard and many others had ended their efforts that a new attempt was made in 1779.John Stephens, ‘Pickard, Edward (1714–1778)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 18 February 2010
/ref> The act was amended in 1779 by the

Nonconformist Relief Act 1779 The Nonconformist Relief Act 1779 ( 19 Geo. 3. c. 44) was act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The act allowed any Dissenter to preach and teach on the condition that he declared he was a Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Chri ...

( 19 Geo. 3. c. 44), which substituted belief in the Christians' Scriptures for belief in the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Anglican churches, but some penalties on holding property remained. Penalties against Unitarians were finally removed in the Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813 ( 53 Geo. 3. c. 160).

Background

During both the

English Commonwealth The Commonwealth of England was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when Kingdom of England, England and Wales, later along with Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, were governed as a republi ...

and the reign of Charles II, nonconforming

including

, were subject to religious persecution and precluded from holding official office. Following the restoration of Charles II, Anglican leaders debated in correspondence and public sermon the extent to which the Anglican church should allow doctrinal latitude; this debate was related to the corresponding debate on broadening church membership and tolerating dissenters. The succession of the Roman Catholic James II was challenged on religious grounds prior to his accession in what became known as the

Exclusion Crisis The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1679 until 1681 in the reign of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. Three Exclusion Bills sought to exclude the King's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, ...

and after he took the crown in 1686 in the

Monmouth Rebellion The Monmouth Rebellion in June 1685 was an attempt to depose James II of England, James II, who in February had succeeded his brother Charles II of England, Charles II as king of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and ...

. However, the Tory leadership of the Anglican church initially supported his right to rule based on the theology of active obedience to the monarch. James II sought a repeal of the Test Acts, which imposed various civil disabilities on both Catholics and Protestant non-conformists, to broaden his political support and allow for the appointment of Roman Catholics to civilian and military roles. Failing to secure parliamentary support, James II's attempt to dispense with the Test Acts through the 1687 and 1688 Declarations of Indulgence helped spark the constitutional crises that culminated in the

and the accession of

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

and Mary, who became joint sovereigns. A series of acts of parliament assured a new constitutional settlement of this situation; these include the

Bill of Rights 1689 The Bill of Rights 1689 (sometimes known as the Bill of Rights 1688) is an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of England that set out certain basic civil rights and changed the succession to the Monarchy of England, Engl ...

( 1 Will. & Mar. Sess. 2. c. 2), the Crown and Parliament Recognition Act 1689 ( 2 Will. & Mar. c. 1), the Mutiny Act 1689, the Toleration Act 1688, and later the

Act of Settlement 1701 The Act of Settlement ( 12 & 13 Will. 3. c. 2) is an act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catho ...

( 12 & 13 Will. 3. c. 2) and the

Act of Union 1707 The Acts of Union refer to two acts of Parliament, one by the Parliament of Scotland in March 1707, followed shortly thereafter by an equivalent act of the Parliament of England. They put into effect the international Treaty of Union agree ...

( 6 Ann. c. 11). The historian Kenneth Pearl sees the Act of Toleration as "in many ways a compromise bill. To get nonconformists' (Protestants who were not members of the Church of England) support in the crucial months of 1688". Both the Whig and

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

parties that had rallied around William and Mary had promised nonconformists that such an act would be enacted if the revolution succeeded. James II had himself issued a declaration of indulgence that suspended the laws against religious nonconformity, but nonconformists believed James II's efforts to undermine their civil liberties and circumvent parliament placed the religious liberties provided via the Declarations of Indulgence at risk. Catholics and Unitarians were not hunted down after the act was passed but they still had no right to assemble and pray. As there still remained a Test Act, non-Anglicans (including all Protestant non-Conformists, Jews, Catholics, and Unitarians) could not sit in Parliament even following the passage of the act.Jeremy Black, ''Eighteenth-Century Britain, 1688–1783'' (2nd ed. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), p. 131. The Scottish Episcopalians Act 1711 ( 10 Ann. c. 10), passed following the union between Scotland and England, granted limited toleration, specifically the right to worship for Scottish Episcopalians who prayed for the monarch and used the English ''

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...

''. Unitarians were only granted toleration after the Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813 ( 53 Geo. 3. c. 160); prior to that time, denying the Trinity was a capital offence in Scotland. The act remained in force until the nineteenth century.

Influences

Historians (such as John J. Patrick) see

John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...

's '' A Letter Concerning Toleration'' advocating religious toleration (written in 1685 and published in 1689) as "the philosophical foundation for the English Act of Toleration of 1689". While Locke had advocated coexistence between the Church of England (the established church) and dissenting Protestant denominations (including Congregationalists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Quakers) he had excluded Catholics from toleration – the same policy that the Act of Toleration enacted.

Implementation in the overseas colonies

The terms of the Act of Toleration within the English colonies in America were applied either by charter or by acts by the royal governors. The ideas of toleration as advocated by Locke (which excluded Roman Catholics) became accepted through most of the colonies, even in the Congregational strongholds within New England which had previously punished or excluded dissenters. The colonies of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

went further than the Act of Toleration by outlawing the establishment of any church and allowing a greater religious diversity. Within the colonies in the year 1700 Roman Catholics were allowed to practice their religion freely only in Rhode Island.

Provisions

Section 5

This section, from "bee it" to "aforesaid that" was repealed by section 1 of, and Part I of the schedule to, the

Statute Law Revision Act 1888 A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

( 51 & 52 Vict. c. 3). In this section, the words "as aforesaid" were repealed by section 1 of, and schedule 1 to, the

Statute Law Revision Act 1948 The Statute Law Revision Act 1948 ( 11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 62) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Section 5(3) of the Statute Law Revision Act 1950 provided that this act, so far as it repealed chapter 34 of the Statute of West ...

( 11 & 12 Geo. 6. c. 62).

Section 8

This section, from "bee it" to "aforesaid that" was repealed by section 1 of, and Part I of the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1888.

Section 15

This section, from "bee it" to "aforesaid" was repealed by section 1 of, and Part I of the schedule to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1888. In this section, the words "after the tenth day of June" were repealed by section 1 of, and schedule 1 to, the Statute Law Revision Act 1948.

Section 18

Section 6 of the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860 ( 23 & 24 Vict. c. 32) provided that nothing contained thereinbefore in that act was to be taken to repeal or alter section 18 of the Toleration Act 1688.

Repeal

The whole act, except section 5 and so much of section 8 as specified the service and offices from which certain persons were exempt and section 15, was repealed by section 1 of, and Part II of Schedule 1 to, the Promissory Oaths Act 1871 ( 34 & 35 Vict. c. 48). The whole act, so far as unrepealed, was repealed by section 1 of, and Part II of the schedule to, the

Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969 The Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1969 (c. 52) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act implemented recommendations contained in the first report on statute law revision made by the Law Commission. The enactments which were re ...

Later developments

Toleration of worship was later extended to Protestants who did not believe in Trinitarian doctrine in the Unitarians Relief Act 1813 ( 53 Geo. 3. c. 160). Catholics were allowed to worship under strict conditions through the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 ( 31 Geo. 3. c. 32). As time went on, oaths and tests that barred non-conformists and Roman Catholics from holding public offices, keeping schools, and owning land were rescinded by laws such as

Roman Catholic Relief Act 1778 Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

( 18 Geo. 3. c. 60), the

Roman Catholic Charities Act 1832 Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

( 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 115), the

Test Abolition Act 1867 The Test Acts were a series of Penal law (British), penal laws originating in Restoration England, passed by the Parliament of England, that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Catholic Church i ...

( 30 & 31 Vict. c. 62), the Promissory Oaths Act 1868 ( 31 & 32 Vict. c. 72), the Promissory Oaths Act 1871 ( 34 & 35 Vict. c. 48) and the

Oaths Act 1978 The Oaths Act 1978 (c. 19) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Part I of the act applies to England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Section 1 provides that an oath may be administered by the person taking the oath holding the New ...

. The

Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 ( 10 Geo. 4. c. 7), also known as the Catholic Emancipation Act 1829, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that removed the sacramental tests that barred Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom f ...

allowed followers of that religion to be elected to Parliament and to hold most offices under the Crown, while the

Jews Relief Act 1858 The Jews Relief Act 1858 ( 21 & 22 Vict. c. 49), also called the Jewish Disabilities Act, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which removed previous barriers to Jews entering Parliament, a step in Jewish emancipation in the United ...

( 21 & 22 Vict. c. 49) had a similar effect for adherents of Judaism. The Religious Disabilities Act 1846 ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. 59) ended restrictions on Roman Catholics for education, charities, and owning property, although Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham universities were allowed to continue to exclude Roman Catholics until

Universities Tests Act 1871 The Universities Tests Act 1871 (34 & 35 Vict. c. 26) was an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It abolished religious "Tests" and allowed Roman Catholics, Nonconformist (Protestantism), non-conformists and non- ...

( 34 & 35 Vict. c. 26) took effect. By the passage of the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 ( 18 & 19 Vict. c. 81), an optional system of registration for non-Anglican places of worship was passed which gave certain legal and fiscal advantages for those that registered, and "alternative religion was not only lawful, but was often facilitated by the law."