Lady Jane Grey should have been allowed to rule England as Queen instead of Mary.

FINAL REBUTTALThis round might be a bit rushed as I am running a bit late on a variety of things at the moment. Apologies in advance. I comprehend my opponents argument completely. That since Mary was Catholic it is likely that she would have destroyed all the work that Henry VIII and Edward VI had done in restoring the Church of England. Therefore since Jane Grey was a viable Protestant she should have been queen so that England would not have to go through another religious upheaval. This point is legitimate, however I would like to remind my opponent that this is all irrelevant because it utterly violates the Third Act of Succession. Had Edward VI been able to get his will passed by parliament, this would not be an issue whatsoever, however he did not and therefore Jane still should not be allowed to become queen. If my opponent is trying to convey that it would be better for the English people to have Jane as queen we must once again disagree. The purpose of having Jane Grey as queen was partially about the Protestant (or Anglican) reformation in England, but it was much more related to having John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, be the de facto ruler of England. Dudley's plan was to have Jane queen, but keep her as merely a figurehead while he truly ran the country. Sound familiar may happy monarchical friend? His plan nearly worked too as Jane was married to the Dukes younger son, Lord Guilford Dudley, by the time she became queen [1]. Unfortunately for Dudley, Mary arrived to show him who the true ruler of England was.My opponent argues that due to the fact that Edward VI's will was signed by "many prominent figures in government" it should be considered legitimate. This, of course, completely ignores all laws about both parliament and the powers of the king. This is similar to saying that we should repeal Obamacare because a few prominent Republicans say so. In England, Edward VI would have had to have his will ratified by the parliament for it to become law. This did not happen, despite the many prominent figures who approved of it. My opponent then goes on to claim that Mary was committing high treason by rebelling against the rule of Jane Grey (or John Dudley, truly the same thing). This is ridiculous because I have shown that Jane had no right nor reason to become Queen of England given that there were at least three more legitimate candidates a head of her in the succession. Therefore Jane is the one who ought to be considered a traitor because she, albeit unknowingly and unwillingly, ascended to the throne of England illegally and without consent of parliament. Jane solely became queen because of the will of John Dudley, and that is not in any way a legitimate way to claim the throne of England. The final argument about the Hanovers is somewhat off topic, I must admit. However, I believe that my opponent is attempting to show that the legality of a person's rule is not important as long as the person who wants to be ruler has the most support. I find this to be an absurd comparison. Jane simply did not have more support than Mary, who had a massive army of followers at the time. Jane solely had the support of John Dudley, who was able to use his influence to slip Jane onto the throne without any major objections from parliament. The Hannovers had far more support than Jane ever could of dreamed of having. Another issue with the Hanover argument is that their rise to the throne of England was legal, while Jane's was not. While admittedly, Queen Anne had not wanted George I to be king, she had preferred the Old Pretender James Edward Stuart. However, the Hannovers were given power due to the Act of Settlement in 1701 which stated that only a Protestant may ascend to the throne of England [2]. Since the Hannovers were the closest related Protestants to Queen Anne, they legally were allowed to become the royal family of England. Jane's rise to the throne, on the other hand, was not legal as I have showed countless times in this argument. I would like to thank my opponent for partaking in this fun, and incredibly nerdy, debate with me. Sources: [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk...[2] http://www.britroyals.com...