BRITISH HISTORY THE STORY of
1st CENTURY BC - 17th CENTURY 1600-1644 » 17th CENTURY 1645-1699 »
Four crucial ideas emerge as Brits fight for freedom.
"The majority of people who came to America in the 17th and 18th centuries were from the British Isles. They shared a common language, a common political tradition, and the Common Law. America benefited from a debate about liberty, which had gone on in England for some 150 years," says For UK orders:
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An interesting guide to everyday life in the American colonies. For UK orders:
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"SUNBURNT AMERICA" FIGHTS FOR RIGHTS OF BRITS, STARTS A REVOLUTION Photo: kickstand @istockphoto.com 1702 - 1706 BRITS & ALLIES BRING MILITARISTIC FRANCE TO STANDSTILL Beginning in 1688 Brits fight in Europe and America to contain Louis XIV’s despotic French state, which has pitilessly and methodically attacked other European peoples, even attacking Austria's German allies when they were fighting desperately against the invasion of the Ottoman Turks in 1683. Brits are determined to protect their commercial interests, and to prevent Louis XIV from dominating Europe. In particular Brits intend to stop him from threatening invasion of Britain on behalf of the Catholic claimant to the British throne. This is called the War of the Spanish Succession. Standing against the "Sun King" is one remarkable man, John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. It is said Churchill learned military strategy from a book in his school library, but it seems somewhat doubtful that his military genius was taught. Protecting the Netherlands from a French invasion, Churchill learns that Louis has united a second army with his Bavarian allies and is threatening Austria. Concealing his plans, he marches his men south from the Netherlands through appalling weather. Skilled at arranging supplies, an essential and often overlooked component to military success, he executes a series of brilliant feints that deceive the French, and takes a position south of them to protect Austria. Churchill and Prince Eugene of Savoy, who leads the Austrian army, attack the French on the Danube. Eugene commands the right wing, and Churchill, the centre and left wing. Their army falters, but Eugene presses the attack on the right wing, and late in the day Churchill, whose cool-headed courage in the thick of battle is legendary, succeeds in crossing the Nebel River, and breaks the French centre. Their famous victory at Blenheim destroys Louis' army, but nine months later he fields another army in what is now Belgium. For a second time, at the battle of Ramillies, Churchill takes the field, leading Brits, Dutch, and Danes. He makes a heavy but feigned attack on the French right then hurls the Dutch, British, and Danish cavalry against the French horse. After furious fighting, Churchill and his cavalry break the French line, and after several more battles, including the Battle of Oudenarde in 1708, put an end to Louis' imperial ambitions to dominate Europe. 1712 TWO COLONIES BAN SLAVERY In 1652, Brits in Rhode Island had banned slavery. In 1712 the Pennsylvania Assembly bans the import of slaves into their colony. 1713 PLAY IS GODFATHER TO A REVOLUTION Joseph Addison’s play Cato: A Tragedy opens in London with a heroic Roman senator, Cato the Younger, defending the republic and defying the tyranny of Julius Caesar. Samuel Johnson remarks that no one gives a hoot what Cato’s characters are doing, only what they have to say. Among those who care are revolutionaries in America. Decades after the first American productions, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry quote Cato in letters and speeches. George Washington, who sees the play sometime in the 1750s, can quote lines from memory, and has it performed for his army at Valley Forge in the icy winter of 1777-78. 1720 – 1723 ‘ANONYMOUS’ CATO DEFIES GOVERNMENT; DESCRIBES PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY Inspired by Addison’s play, two friends in London conceal their identities behind the name Cato and publish newspaper articles condemning tyranny and advancing the principles of liberty. They call for limited government and freedom of speech. Later identified as John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, they publish 144 “Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious” as Cato's Letters. Along with Addison’s play, their essays become one of the most popular and quoted sources of political ideas in the American colonies. 1700s GREAT AWAKENING INSPIRES REASON AND RIGHT ACTION In America, Christians are looking for inspiration, and they find it in reason, in Scripture, and in John Locke's description of natural law. In "Concerning Human Understanding" Locke describes every person as having a natural right to life and liberty. To safeguard their rights, people loan some of their freedom to government in order to better protect their liberty and property. Locke's ideas about liberty and belief in reason as a God-given gift to be used combine with the inspiration of Scripture to create a passionate interest in self-improvement and responsive government. Over the next six decades great religious awakenings will help to wash away an old unresponsive government, and create something new. 1710 STATUTE OF ANNE PROTECTS AUTHOR'S COPYRIGHT Parliament creates what we now know as copyright protections by giving exclusive copyrights to authors, rather than publishers. Parliament also set a 28-year limit to the duration of exclusive rights, after which the work would pass into the public domain. This limitation on copyright might be viewed as a setback to property rights. It was done because it was feared that otherwise works that were part of the British cultural inheritance would become too expensive to purchase. 1720s TRADE OPENS DOORS Novelist and pamphleteer Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) observes that in Britain, "After a generation or two the tradesmen’s children, or at least their grand-children, come to be as good Gentlemen, Statesmen, Parliament-men, Privy Counsellors, Judges, Bishops and Noblemen as those of the highest birth and the most ancient families.” Increasing prosperity inspired silversmiths and coffee drinkers. Sardonic Defoe is correct: The freedom to trade in 1762 Coffee Pot from London 1735 ARTIST WILLIAM HOGARTH FIGHTS FOR PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY The artist or scientist who cannot protect his intellectual property is not free. Audacious William Hogarth experiences financial success with paintings and engravings depicting a harlot whose debauchery ruins her life, but the popularity of the series attracts pirates. Hogarth finds other men stealing his intellectual property, reproducing his engravings, and depriving him of his right to profit from his own work. He fights fiercely for a copyright law that will protect designers and engravers. Parliament agrees, and a day after "Hogarth's Act" is passed, he finishes A Rake's Progress, the male counterpart to his unhappy harlot. The series sells out, and is still being reproduced. 1754-1763 SEVEN YEARS WAR WINS AMERICA FOR THE BRITS Better known as the French and Indian War in America, the Seven Years War against the French is fought on three continents – America, India, and Europe. Brits win due to the superiority of the British Navy, their adept use of financial instruments like credit, their technology, the audacity of their merchants, and the refusal of Brits in America to be ruled by an autocratic French government. Without this victory it is doubtful whether America, Canada, or India would exist today. 1760s – 1770s WILKES JAILED; PITT DEFENDS HIM; PRESS FREEDOM LEAPS FORWARD William Pitt the Elder, a hard-working MP and Prime Minister who has a bad case of gout, successfully leads the Brits in the Seven Years War. Pitt is also incorruptible, but many others in Parliament are not. They represent pocket boroughs – and are ‘in the pocket’ of the rich family that owns them. John Wilkes is an MP, a newspaper publisher, a rake and a wit. (When the Earl of Sandwich remarks that Wilkes will die of the pox or on the gallows, Wilkes famously responds, “That depends, my lord, on whether I embrace your mistress or your principles.”) Wilkes publishes an article accusing government ministers of corruption and despotism, and the government jails him. His arrest on a General Warrant flies in the face of the right to habeas corpus, freedom of speech as an MP, and freedom of the press. Lord Chief Justice Pratt frees him, declaring General Warrants are illegal and contrary to the Bill of Rights. The Earl of Sandwich has Wilkes charged with libel, and expelled from Parliament. Wilkes takes refuge in Paris, returns to fight a Parliamentary election, is reelected, but is denied his seat and is once again jailed. The Society for Supporters of the Bill of Rights protests. Pitt, who has never been afraid to criticise the powers-that-be, stands up in Parliament and launches a blistering attack against unlawful arrest and political corruption. Eventually freed, Wilkes' appetite for controversy remains keen. With a drive to write and publish that will be familiar to modern bloggers, Wilkes takes his revenge by publishing daily reports of Parliament’s speeches verbatim. Members of Parliament are incensed, but cannot stop him. The freedom of the press that many today take for granted and others want to destroy comes roaring into life here, with Wilkes’ transcripts, comments, and criticism of Parliament published for all Brits to read. When you contribute to this website, |
Just a play, they say, but London is so fond of CATO "that the orange wenches and fruit women in the Park offer the books at the side of the coaches, and the Prologue and Epilogue are cried about the streets by the common hawkers." For UK orders: For US orders:
Hogarth's art skewers hedonism. Hogarth the artist defends intellectual property rights. For UK orders:
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To read more about the unsinkable Wilkes. For UK orders:
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