A Remonstrance against King Charles I was first proposed by George Digby, MP for Dorset, soon after the Long Parliament assembled in November 1640. The idea was taken up by John Pym in 1641. Pym planned to use it as part of his campaign to transfer control of the armed forces to Parliament by undermining confidence in the King and his ministers and demonstrating that they were not to be trusted.
Drafted by Pym and his supporters between August and November 1641, the Grand Remonstrance was a long, wide-ranging document that listed all the grievances perpetrated by the King's government in Church and State since the beginning of his reign. It emphasised the role of "malignant" ministers and advisers rather than the King himself, but it also presented Parliament's demands for reform. The Remonstrance called for the setting up of an Assembly of Divines, nominated by Parliament, to supervise reform of the Church, and it demanded that the King's ministers should first be approved by Parliament.
On 22 November 1641, after a stormy debate that lasted long into the night, Parliament passed the Remonstrance by a narrow margin of 159 votes to 148. The King's supporters who tried to enter a protest were shouted down in a bad-tempered confrontation that almost ended in a riot. Oliver Cromwell is said to have remarked that if the Remonstrance had not been passed he would have sold all he had and gone overseas to America.
Opponents of the Remonstrance, who included Viscount Falkland and Edward Hyde, formed a recognisable Royalist party in Parliament for the first time. The Remonstrance was presented to the King on 1 December 1641. He ignored it for as long as possible, so Parliament took the unprecedented step of having it printed and circulated in order to rally outside support. On 23 December, the King finally presented his reply. Drafted by Edward Hyde, it rejected the Remonstrance but in reasoned and conciliatory tones calculated to appeal to patriotism and loyalty.