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In the wake of the Reformation, two countries experienced a century of great change, and whether growth or decline, this change was drastic. After Elizabeth I died at the turn of the century, James I took the throne of England and took absolutism with him. He and the next five successors would oversee the growth of England from an erratic, absolutist monarchy to a working, stable Constitutional monarchy. France was not fortunate enough to experience …

…that was nonexistent in France. In each country, however, the peasants were treated horribly. Absolutism did not work in England for several reasons, which worked to their eternal benefit. The development of the first Constitutional Monarchy was the first step toward Democracy and modern day governing. France accepted absolutism and even revered it in the form of Louis XIV, which led them to a much slower and harder transformation to any type of modern government.