Imperial Reform in Britian from 1815 to 1870 The period 1815 to 1870 was characterized by radical change in the character of the British Empire, to the extent that, by the end of the period, the empire consisted of two distinct parts: one made up of ‘dependent’ colonies, experiencing direct formal rule; and the other made up of self-governing ‘settlement’ colonies. This development occurred as a result of a series of social, political and economic reforms. In order to judge whether economic factors dominated imperial reform during this period, an assessment of the causes and nature of reforms is necessary. However, while imperial reform was multicausal, great weight can be given to the argument …show more content…
In turn, the abolitionist movement, consisting of humanitarian reformers, church missionaries etc exerted political pressure on government ministers, creating a climate in government circles which led directly to the passing of the abolition acts. Therefore, the first major imperial reform of the 19th century, the abolition of slavery, was primarily motivated by social and political factors, rather than merely economic ones. Nevertheless, underlying economic factors, such as the cost of the slave system in regions experiencing economic decline, as well as the economic advantages of industrialisation which caused the emergence of a new middle class with differing views, may have contributed to the change. Political reforms of the period focus mainly on the development of self-government within the colonies of settlement. The granting of self-government was sparked by an armed rebellion in Canada in 1837 following the failure of the British Governor to grant greater democracy, and the resulting emergence of an oppressed minority of French settlers of Lower Canada. The Canadian rebellion was a catalyst for political reforms, stemming from the 1839 Durham Report which reprimanded the British administration and called for the uniting of Upper and Lower Canada to form a single
The Antebellum period from 1800 to 1850 marked a time of sectionalism in American history. Furthermore, new territories gained during western expansion added to this conflict between different sections of America. Southern states wanted new slave territories, while the North wanted to contain the spread of slavery. While Western expansion contributed to growing sectional tensions between the North and South from 1800-1820, sectionalism intensified significantly from 1820-1850.
“During the 150 years after the settlement of Jamestown, the colonies grew apart from the motherland”. – (Lecture). Colonies were beginning to support themselves economically and politically without British input. This of course meant they had and were exercising different economic and political views than England. Colonies that failed in the beginning were being restored. While Britain was dealing with issues in England, no new English colonies were established in America for nearly thirty years since Lord Baltimore received the charter for Maryland in 1632. – (Page 26) “The English colonies eventually united, expanded, and became the beginnings of a great nation”. – (Page 28). The colonies became independent minded and created their own governments, and operated separately from the crown. “The growing colonial ventures were producing pressure in England for a more uniform structure to the empire. The English government began trying to regulate colonial trade in the 1650s.” – (Page 32) England imposed the Navigation Acts. This didn’t go well because most colonial governments except Virginia operated independently of the crown. Additionally, although the Navigation Acts were passed - they were not enforced. While Parliament was crashing, “the colonial assemblies, taking advantage of the weak imperial administration, had asserted their own authority to levy taxes, make appropriations, approve appointments, and pass laws for their respective colonies.” – (Page 37). “The British took little notice. England pursued polices of Salutary neglect, leaving the colonist fairly free to conduct their own internal
In the early 1600s, people began to migrate from Europe to the English colonies established by royal charters. These settlers were usually self-governed as their monarch, being across the ocean, did not preside over their colonies. However, the king did dispatch some authorities to regulate trade and to watch over the colonies. But while British agents were present in the colonies, they were mostly lax in enforcing policies and were often corrupted. From 1607 to 1745, events such Enlightenment, the Great Awakening, and the Zenger case moved the colonies in a democratic direction of self-government through the spread of new thoughts and ideas.
In the 19th century, a considerable number of reforms took place in America which helped in its shaping because, in order to develop the country, the Americans wanted changes. Some of these changes concerned the abolition of slavery, the opening of public schools and improving the terrible conditions in American prisons, all for the purpose of creating a better country and better living. The crucial reform was the abolition of slavery, which had the most impact on the American society, and was definitely the most important reform in the 19th century. Slavery, which was one of the biggest issues, which caused a lot of havoc, had to end.
After the French and Indian War ended in 1954, the British government was in a huge debt by the cost of the war spending. In order to pay for this debt, the Parliament set up a system policy that using the colonies as a source to pay for their massive debt. They passed many act like Tea act, Intolerable acts, and Stamp act to increase the paying tax on the colonies which provoked strong antagonism from the colonies people. From 1763-1783, the colonies blindly accepted the tyranny rule by the British which represented the idea of the colony always loyal to them. However, the British didn’t too much to help their colonies instead forced the colony accepted unequal laws which only bring benefits to their homeland, and this problem will never change
The most important aspect of this proposal deals with the aftermath of the Canadian insurrections. This will be of extreme to significance to the reader as the aftermath of the rebellion would change the destiny of Canada. After learning of the uprisings in the Canadian colonies the British parliament sent a commission to study the causes. Lord Durham was named governor on May of 1839 and was in placed in charge of establishing an inquiry into the rebellions. From this inquiry came a list of recommendations submitted to the parliament in London (Outlett, 275). Two recommendations in this report became extremely significant to Canadian history.
During this period of time from 1783 to 1800 there was a lot of financial instability among the colonies because of the debt that had been garnered from the Revolutionary War. There were also riots, i.e., the Whiskey and Shays Rebellions, which resulted from Americans who were upset about government taxation. The government was also undergoing huge amounts of change such as the change from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution as well as the development of separate political parties. Though American’s fight for independence had long since passed by the time they began to develop the system by which they would govern themselves as a sovereign country, many of the things they experienced under British rule, such as military use and
When a country feels superior to another and decides to take it over, that is called imperialism. Imperialism was occurring through a major part of the late 1800s and early 1900s, mainly taking a toll on Africa. During imperialism a country is able to gain government, trade, or the culture that has been adopted. The concept and action of imperialising can destroy many people's values and the their way of life for them personally. Imperialism was a selfish and negative concept towards certain cultural groups during the time of its reign.
The Quebec Act was lumped in the Coercive Acts to achieve this list of Intolerable Acts and the reaction to the Quebec Act was unanimously negative and they felt bitter about not being able to have the lands they helped to secure in the French and Indian War. However, for the closing of the Boston port they could do nothing and their reaction to that situation was mixed. They became more politically involved than before, organizing the First Continental Congress to deal with colonial grievances and decide how they would deal with how Great Britain continued to mistreat them. Ultimately America became polarized in how they viewed loyalty to Great Britain, and it was shockingly different compared to how the imperial reform began. In the opinion of some, you only had to be loyal to the King to be loyal to Great Britain, but in others they still had no issue accepting parliamentary control, which few had no problems with it in the first place. Although they did not all agree on how to deal with the threat of Parliament, they still rebelled against it together, as Americans. Ultimately the British and the colonies started separated, but became closer as a little time went on, but as even more years slid by, they began to split in ideology at an incredible rate, leading to the build-up of the
During the eighteenth century the British colonies began to enjoy the benefits of colonial life. The barrier created from the distance between their mother country allowed them greater freedom to govern themselves as they saw fit. As their need for agricultural labour increased, they welcomed and even forced different ethnic groups to help populate the colonies. Advancement in trade and agriculture encouraged the colonist to partake in leisure activities and even engage in superfluous spending. Colonist became more active politically as more gained the freedom to vote. These three factors simultaneously helped British colonist gain a new sense of pride and would be the determinate factors that encouraged colonist to seek complete independence
British colonies acquired self-rule from the beginning starting with the Puritans. Spanish colonies were suppressed by the Catholic Church and they instituted slavery. Colonist settled British North American for many reasons. Some traveled for profits; others came to venturing or in investment of stock companies. But, the reason for coming are the type of colony, when the colony and when the English settler arrived they came in encountered with the natives population, Spanish and the French settlements. African slavery changed the new worlds demographic in the early 1600’s. During the late seventeenth century, religion gave the Puritans the opportunity to begin a new life, achieve social class, gain respect in the colonies, and have individual morality.
The Colonies and Great Britain's relationship went from one of salutary neglect to that of a centralized controlling British government. Before the Seven Years War the British did not strictly enforce their laws upon the colonies,
Chapter Thesis: Between 1750 and 1914, Atlantic revolutions inspired efforts to eradicate slavery, to give women more rights, and extend the franchise in many countries.
It was once believed that the British plotted in destroying American liberty. The British imperial crisis helped in the development to the explosion of tensions within American society. The imperial crisis encouraged a range of parties with included tenants, slaves, artisans, and women even those who loved the Crown and in part the of the definition of liberty, which means the condition or state of people who then are able to act and speak freely or the power to choose what they want to do and have no limitation to themselves or despotic government or control, in whole new ideas. Some things that led the way to the independence of the United States of America
Great Britain’s increasing inequitable treatment of the colonies began to resemble more of a tyrannical regime that the colonists escaped from when they left Europe . Ultimately, the more unjustified legislative acts Britain tried to enforce, the more the colonists realized their need to separate from them in order to become a more exceptional