Download No taxation without representation

In 1700 Charles II of Spain died leaving his
crown and Empire to Philippe, grandson
of the French king.
England could not stand by and watch
France and Spain become one empire so
in 1701 they sided with Portugal and the
Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire
in the War of Spanish Succession.
This war lasted until 1714, concluding in
the Treaty of Utrecht. Philippe fell from
power and the British Empire grew
enormously.
In 1756 the Seven Years War was the first global war
fought in North America, India, Europe, the Caribbean,
Coastal Africa and the Philippines.
The Treaty of Paris
in 1763 again
added to the
British Empire and
left Britain as the
most powerful
maritime nation.
This effectively guaranteed its imperial position for
over a century.
In India The East India Company gradually increased its
influence through trade and through the use of the
British India Army.
The Mughals declined and the Company struggled with
its French counterpart, the Compagnie française des
Indes orientales, during the Carnatic Wars in the 1740s
and 1750s.
In 1757 at The Battle of Plassey the British, led by
Robert Clive, defeated the Nawab of Bengal and his
French allies, leaving the Company in control of Bengal
and as the major military and political power in India.
In the 1760s and 1770s, relations between the
Thirteen Colonies and Britain was strained, primarily
over unfair taxes.
The slogan "No
taxation without
representation"
was used to
demand their
rights as rights
as Englishmen.
It eventually
resulted in
revolution and
the outbreak of
the American War
of Independence
in 1775.
In 1776 the colonists declared independence and the
United States was born. Supported by France, Spain, and
the Netherlands they went on to win the war in 1783.
Since 1718, transportation of
roughly a thousand to the
American colonies had been a
penalty for various criminal
offences in Britain.
In 1770 James Cook discovered
the eastern coast of Australia
while on a scientific voyage to
the South Pacific Ocean.
He claimed the whole
continent for Britain, naming it
New South Wales.
In 1778, Joseph Banks, Cook's botanist on the voyage,
provided evidence that Botany Bay was ideal for the
establishment of a penal settlement.
In 1787 the first shipment of convicts set sail, arriving in
1788. Britain continued to transport convicts to New
South Wales until 1840.
The Australian colonies became profitable exporters of
wool and gold, making its capital Melbourne the richest
city in the world and the largest city after London in the
British Empire.
The Caribbean
prospered in
the 18th
century in
spite of
periodic
recession.
After the Seven Years’ War, the islands under British
control were Jamaica, Antigua, Saint Kitts, Nevis,
Montserrat, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands,
Dominica, Saint Vincent, Grenada, and Tobago.
Historian Eric Williams argued that the wealth of Europe
came from the slave trade, especially Caribbean slavery.
British West Indian production was pivotal to the
formation of capital in Britain, laying the foundations for
the Industrial Revolution in Europe.
So he placed the
Caribbean at the
centre of the
Atlantic economic
system.
He asserted that the abolition of
the slave trade and emancipation
of slaves was less due to the role
of the abolitionists.
It was more down to the overall
decline of the British West Indian
sugar economy at the end of the
18th century.
With the loss of America separation of the United
States there emerged the belief that slave labour was
inefficient, unprofitable, and an impediment to
economic growth.
British producers and
manufacturers still
controlled the American
markets but by the 1790s,
colonies were considered
burdens.
The sugar planters, who
were economically
dependent, were a
principal contributor to
the decline of the
Caribbean economy.
So for the family historian these are among the
questions to ask:
• How, if at all, did the growing empire affect the
lives of my ancestors?
• Have I any evidence of direct involvement in the
empire of my own forebears?
• How did my relatives feel about slavery, warfare
and those in power?
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire#Changing
_status_of_the_white_colonies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Williams
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy_in_the_Caribbean
http://home.earthlink.net/~gfeldmeth/lec.col2.html