A-level
HISTORY
AQA A-Level History Component 2E The English Revolution,
1625–1660 (7042/2E) Study Guide 2026
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7042/2E.
• Answer three questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer two questions.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
• You are advised to spend about:
– 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A
– 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B.
7042/2E
, 2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Source A
From a pamphlet by John Lilburne and others imprisoned in the Tower of London as
Levellers, April 1649. This was smuggled out of their prison for distribution to Londoners.
We never had it in our thoughts to level men’s estates, it being our aim that every man
should, with security, enjoy his property.
It is claimed we have been agents for the King, and now, for the Queen; that we are
atheists and indeed anything that is hateful and evil.
All our actions show, when they are rightly considered, that we are for government and 5
against popular confusion. Our aim all along has been to reduce government to as near
perfection as might be. We know well the evil of men’s hearts and that there could be no
life without government. Though tyranny is excessively bad, yet confusion is worse. It is
somewhat strange then, that because we have laboured so earnestly for a good
government, some say we would wish to have none at all. 10
We have been misrepresented to the world, and must suffer till God sees it fitting to clear
such harsh judgements, because of which, many good men keep a distance from us.
Source B
From the ‘Women’s Leveller Petition’ presented to the Rump Parliament, May 1649.
Since we are assured of our creation in the image of God, as equal unto men and worthy
of an equal share in the freedoms of this commonwealth, so, we cannot but wonder and
grieve that we should appear so despicable in your eyes as to be thought unworthy to
represent our grievances to you. Have we not an equal interest with the men of this
nation in those liberties and securities contained in the Petition of Right and other good 5
laws of the land? Are any of our lives, liberties or goods to be taken from us more than
from men? Do you imagine us to be so foolish or not to be wholly aware when daily
those strong defences of our peace and welfare are broken down and trod underfoot by
force and arbitrary power? Would you have us keep in our houses, when honest men
are fetched out of their beds to prison by soldiers? 10
, 3
Source C
From the pamphlet, ‘The Case of the Commonwealth of England Stated, or, the
necessity of a submission to the present government’, by a professional propagandist
employed by Parliament, 1650.
The very settlement the Levellers want, would put the commonwealth into an
utter impossibility of settling the nation. The ignorant multitude do not understand the
Levellers’ Agreement of the People. They only see it as a way to increase their own
fortune, out of other men’s fortunes, and satisfy their natural appetites for envy, greed
and revenge upon the honourable and wealthy. In consideration whereof, I give you the 5
miserable inconveniences of that type of government, or rather confusion, as earnestly
argued for by the Levelling party.
Such a democratic form that puts the whole brutish multitude into an equal exercise of
the supreme authority, under pretence of maintaining liberty, is, in the judgement of all
statesmen, actually the greatest threat to liberty. The Levellers would have uneducated 10
persons without fortune put in authority, with the result that the commonwealth would not
remain safe either in peace or war. The Levellers will proceed to introduce a complete
equality so that we all live in common.
0 1 With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, assess
the value of these three sources to an historian studying the threat posed by the
Levellers in the years 1649 to 1650.
[30 marks]
Turn over for Section B
Turn over ►
HISTORY
AQA A-Level History Component 2E The English Revolution,
1625–1660 (7042/2E) Study Guide 2026
Materials
For this paper you must have:
• an AQA 16-page answer book.
Instructions
• Use black ink or black ball-point pen.
• Write the information required on the front of your answer book. The Paper Reference is
7042/2E.
• Answer three questions.
In Section A answer Question 01.
In Section B answer two questions.
Information
• The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
• The maximum mark for this paper is 80.
• You will be marked on your ability to:
– use good English
– organise information clearly
– use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
Advice
• You are advised to spend about:
– 1 hour on Question 01 from Section A
– 45 minutes on each of the two questions answered from Section B.
7042/2E
, 2
Section A
Answer Question 01.
Source A
From a pamphlet by John Lilburne and others imprisoned in the Tower of London as
Levellers, April 1649. This was smuggled out of their prison for distribution to Londoners.
We never had it in our thoughts to level men’s estates, it being our aim that every man
should, with security, enjoy his property.
It is claimed we have been agents for the King, and now, for the Queen; that we are
atheists and indeed anything that is hateful and evil.
All our actions show, when they are rightly considered, that we are for government and 5
against popular confusion. Our aim all along has been to reduce government to as near
perfection as might be. We know well the evil of men’s hearts and that there could be no
life without government. Though tyranny is excessively bad, yet confusion is worse. It is
somewhat strange then, that because we have laboured so earnestly for a good
government, some say we would wish to have none at all. 10
We have been misrepresented to the world, and must suffer till God sees it fitting to clear
such harsh judgements, because of which, many good men keep a distance from us.
Source B
From the ‘Women’s Leveller Petition’ presented to the Rump Parliament, May 1649.
Since we are assured of our creation in the image of God, as equal unto men and worthy
of an equal share in the freedoms of this commonwealth, so, we cannot but wonder and
grieve that we should appear so despicable in your eyes as to be thought unworthy to
represent our grievances to you. Have we not an equal interest with the men of this
nation in those liberties and securities contained in the Petition of Right and other good 5
laws of the land? Are any of our lives, liberties or goods to be taken from us more than
from men? Do you imagine us to be so foolish or not to be wholly aware when daily
those strong defences of our peace and welfare are broken down and trod underfoot by
force and arbitrary power? Would you have us keep in our houses, when honest men
are fetched out of their beds to prison by soldiers? 10
, 3
Source C
From the pamphlet, ‘The Case of the Commonwealth of England Stated, or, the
necessity of a submission to the present government’, by a professional propagandist
employed by Parliament, 1650.
The very settlement the Levellers want, would put the commonwealth into an
utter impossibility of settling the nation. The ignorant multitude do not understand the
Levellers’ Agreement of the People. They only see it as a way to increase their own
fortune, out of other men’s fortunes, and satisfy their natural appetites for envy, greed
and revenge upon the honourable and wealthy. In consideration whereof, I give you the 5
miserable inconveniences of that type of government, or rather confusion, as earnestly
argued for by the Levelling party.
Such a democratic form that puts the whole brutish multitude into an equal exercise of
the supreme authority, under pretence of maintaining liberty, is, in the judgement of all
statesmen, actually the greatest threat to liberty. The Levellers would have uneducated 10
persons without fortune put in authority, with the result that the commonwealth would not
remain safe either in peace or war. The Levellers will proceed to introduce a complete
equality so that we all live in common.
0 1 With reference to these sources and your understanding of the historical context, assess
the value of these three sources to an historian studying the threat posed by the
Levellers in the years 1649 to 1650.
[30 marks]
Turn over for Section B
Turn over ►
