Four such acts were passed by the English parliament—from the reigns of Edward VI to Charles II—to consolidate the reformation of the Church of England.
While the specific circumstances of each of the acts were different enough to require their re-enactments, all of them essentially revolved around consent to and use of the various revisions of the Book of Prayer. It is in the nature of sovereigns to seek conformity in their management of the nation's affair; hence the purpose of the Book of Prayer and the acts. It is also in the nature of the Reformation that there will always be those who dissent. Hence, the problem.
The first Act of Uniformity was passed in 1349. Among the penalties for clergies who would not conform were fines and imprisonment for the first offence, deprivation of living and imprisonment for the second, and life-imprisonment for the third. In line with the spirit of the Book of Common Prayer, this act required all services to be conducted in English. A second Act of Uniformity was passed in 1552 to enforce the use of the newly revised Prayer Book. Penalties for non-observances were extended to include absence from church services. Both Acts were repealed when Mary I became queen.
A new—the third—Act of Uniformity (1559) was needed when Elizabeth I succeeded Mary I and restored the evangelical faith to the Church of England, and the Book of Prayer was revised again. Making it difficult for many, such as the Puritans was the new proviso that the Queen, as head of the church, reserved the right to introduce further ceremonies and rites when appropriate.
England went through a cataclysmic season after the death of James I, Elizabeth's successor. The nation descended into civil war when the king, Charles I fought Puritan parliamentarians who dissented from his rule. Charles lost the war and was beheaded in 1649. When the monarchy was restored in 1660, a new Act became a necessity. The effect of this Act was more serious, and led one of the other major events of the English Reformation known as the Great Ejection.
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