Editing Kingdom of Great Britain (section)

== History ==

=== Merging of Scottish and English Parliaments ===
<div style="float:right;clear:right">
[[File:Queen Anne.jpg|thumb|180px|[[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], who reigned from 1702 to 1714]]</div>
The deeper political integration of her kingdoms was a key policy of [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], the last Stuart monarch of England and Scotland and the first monarch of Great Britain. A [[Treaty of Union]] was agreed in 1706, following negotiations between representatives of the parliaments of England and Scotland, and each parliament then passed separate Acts of Union to ratify it. The Acts came into effect on 1 May 1707, uniting the separate Parliaments and uniting the two kingdoms into a kingdom called Great Britain. Anne became the first monarch to occupy the unified British throne, and in line with Article 22 of the [[Treaty of Union]] Scotland and England each sent members to the new [[House of Commons of Great Britain]].<ref>[http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/union.html The Treaty or Act of the Union] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527074630/http://www.scotshistoryonline.co.uk/union.html |date=27 May 2019 }} scotshistoryonline.co.uk, accessed 2 November 2008</ref>{{Sfn|Williams|1962|pages=271–287}} The Scottish and English [[ruling class]]es retained power, and each country kept its legal and educational systems, as well as its established Church. United, they formed a larger economy, and the Scots began to provide soldiers and colonial officials to the new British forces and Empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allan |first=David |title=Scotland in the Eighteenth Century: Union and Enlightenment |date=2001 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-582-38247-3}}</ref> However, one notable difference at the outset was that the new Scottish members of parliament and representative peers were elected by the outgoing Parliament of Scotland, while all existing members of the Houses of Commons and Lords at Westminster remained in office.

===Queen Anne, 1702–1714===
{{Further|Anne, Queen of Great Britain}}
During the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1702–14) England continued its policy of forming and funding alliances, especially with the [[Dutch Republic]] and the [[Holy Roman Empire]] against their common enemy, [[King Louis XIV]] of France.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Falkner |first=James |title=The War of the Spanish Succession 1701–1714 |date=2015 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1-78159-031-7 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=UX0ACwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 22–25]}}</ref> [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], who reigned 1702–1714, was the central decision maker, working closely with her advisers, especially her remarkably successful senior general, [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough]]. The war was a financial drain, for Britain had to finance its allies and hire foreign soldiers. Stalemate on the battlefield and war weariness on the home front set in toward the end. The anti-war Tory politicians won control of Parliament in 1710 and forced a peace. The concluding [[Treaty of Utrecht]] was highly favourable for Britain. Spain lost its empire in Europe and faded away as a great power, while working to better manage its colonies in the Americas. The First British Empire, based upon the [[English overseas possessions]], was enlarged. From France, Great Britain gained [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] and [[Acadia]], and from Spain [[Gibraltar]] and [[Menorca]]. Gibraltar became a major naval base which allowed Great Britain to control the entrance from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.{{Sfn|Hoppit|2000|loc=chapters 4, 8}} The war marks the weakening of French military, diplomatic and economic dominance, and the arrival on the world scene of Britain as a major imperial, military and financial power.<ref>{{Citation |title=Readers Guide to British History |date=2003 |volume=2 |pages=1219–1221 |editor-last=Loades |editor-first=David |editor-link=David Loades}}</ref> British historian [[G. M. Trevelyan]] argued:
:That Treaty [of Utrecht], which ushered in the stable and characteristic period of Eighteenth-Century civilization, marked the end of danger to Europe from the old French monarchy, and it marked a change of no less significance to the world at large,—the maritime, commercial and financial supremacy of Great Britain.<ref>{{Citation |last=Trevelyan |first=G.M. |title=A shortened history of England |date=1942 |page=363 |author-link=G. M. Trevelyan}}</ref>

===Hanoverian succession: 1714–1760===
{{Further| History of the United Kingdom|Georgian era|House of Hanover}}
In the 18th century England, and after 1707 Great Britain, rose to become the world's dominant [[colonialism|colonial power]], with France as its main rival.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pagden |first=Anthony |title=Peoples and Empires: A Short History of European Migration, Exploration, and Conquest, from Greece to the Present |date=2003 |publisher=Modern Library |isbn=0-812-96761-5 |page=90 |ol=3702796M |author-link=Anthony Pagden}}</ref> The pre-1707 [[English overseas possessions]] became the nucleus of the [[British Empire|First British Empire]].

"In 1714 the ruling class was so bitterly divided that many feared a civil war might break out on Queen Anne's death", wrote historian [[W. A. Speck]].{{Sfn|Speck|1977|pp=146–149}} A few hundred of the richest [[ruling class]] and [[landed gentry]] families controlled parliament, but were deeply split, with Tories committed to the legitimacy of the [[James Francis Edward Stuart|Stuart "Old Pretender"]], then in exile. The Whigs strongly supported the Hanoverians, in order to ensure a Protestant succession. The new king, George I was a foreign prince and had a small English [[standing army]] to support him, with military support from his native Hanover and from his allies in the Netherlands. In the [[Jacobite rising of 1715]], based in Scotland, the [[John Erskine, Earl of Mar (1675–1732)|Earl of Mar]] led eighteen Jacobite peers and 10,000 men, with the aim of overthrowing the new king and restoring the Stuarts. Poorly organised, it was decisively defeated. Several of the leaders were executed, many others dispossessed of their lands, and some 700 prominent followers deported to forced labour on sugar plantations in the West Indies. A key decision was the refusal of the Pretender to change his religion from Roman Catholic to Anglican, which would have mobilised much more of the Tory element. The Whigs came to power, under the leadership of [[James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope|James Stanhope]], [[Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend|Charles Townshend]], the [[Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland|Earl of Sunderland]], and [[Robert Walpole]]. Many Tories were driven out of national and local government, and new laws were passed to impose greater national control. The right of [[habeas corpus]] was restricted; to reduce electoral instability, the [[Septennial Act 1715]] increased the maximum life of a parliament from three years to seven.<ref>{{Harvnb|Marshall|1974|pp=72–89}}; {{Harvnb|Williams|1962|pages=150–165}}; {{Harvnb|Hoppit|2000|pages=392–398}}; {{Harvnb|Speck|1977|pages=170–187}}.</ref>

====George I: 1714–1727====
During his reign, George I spent only about half as much of his time overseas as had William III, who also reigned for thirteen years.<ref name="ODNBGeorgeI">{{Cite ODNB|title=George I|last=Gibbs|first=G. C.|date=21 May 2009|volume=1|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/10538}}</ref> [[Jeremy Black (historian)|Jeremy Black]] has argued that George wanted to spend even more time in Hanover: "His visits, in 1716, 1719, 1720, 1723 and 1725, were lengthy, and, in total, he spent a considerable part of his reign abroad. These visits were also occasions both for significant negotiations and for the exchange of information and opinion....The visits to Hanover also provided critics with the opportunity...to argue that British interests were being neglected....George could not speak English, and all relevant documents from his British ministers were translated into French for him....Few British ministers or diplomats...knew German, or could handle it in precise discussion."{{Sfn|Black|2016|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=XdQGDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT44 44–45]}}

George I supported the expulsion of the Tories from power; they remained in the political wilderness until his great-grandson George III came to power in 1760 and began to replace Whigs with Tories.{{Sfn|Williams|1962|pages=11–44}} George I has often been caricatured in the history books, but according to his biographer [[Ragnhild Hatton]]:
{{Blockquote|...on the whole he did well by Great Britain, guiding the country calmly and responsibly through the difficult postwar years and repeated invasions or threatened invasions... He liked efficiency and expertise, and had long experience of running an orderly state... He cared for the quality of his ministers and his officers, army and naval, and the strength of the navy in fast ships grew during his reign... He showed political vision and ability in the way in which he used British power in Europe.<ref>{{Citation |last=Hatton |first=Ragnhild |title=England's Rise to Greatness |date=1983 |pages=213–255, quoting p. 241 |editor-last=Baxter |editor-first=Stephen B. |chapter=New Light on George I |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-04572-9 |ol=3505103M |author-link=Ragnhild Hatton |editor-link=Stephen Baxter (author)}}</ref>}}

====Age of Walpole: 1721–1742====
{{Further|Robert Walpole|History of the United Kingdom}}
[[File:Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford by Arthur Pond.jpg|thumb|180px|Walpole, by [[Arthur Pond]]]]
Robert Walpole (1676–1745) was a son of the [[landed gentry]] who rose to power in the House of Commons from 1721 to 1742. He became the first "prime minister", a term in use by 1727. In 1742, he was created [[Earl of Orford]] and was succeeded as prime minister by two of his followers, [[Henry Pelham]] (1743–1754) and Pelham's brother the [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle|Duke of Newcastle]] (1754–1762).{{Sfn|Williams|1962|pages=180–212}} Clayton Roberts summarises Walpole's new functions:
{{Blockquote|He monopolised the counsels of the King, he closely superintended the administration, he ruthlessly controlled patronage, and he led the predominant party in Parliament.{{Sfn|Taylor|2008}}}}

=====South Sea Bubble=====
{{Main|South Sea Bubble}}
Corporate stock was a new phenomenon, not well understood, except for the strong gossip among financiers that fortunes could be made overnight. The South Sea Company, although originally set up to trade with the Spanish Empire, quickly turned most of its attention to very high risk financing, involving £30&nbsp;million, some 60 per cent of the entire British national debt. It set up a scheme that invited stock owners to turn in their certificates for stock in the Company at a par value of £100—the idea was that they would profit by the rising price of their stock. Everyone with connections wanted in on the bonanza, and many other outlandish schemes found gullible takers. South Sea stock peaked at £1,060 on 25 June 1720. Then the bubble burst, and by the end of September it had fallen to £150. Hundreds of prominent men had borrowed to buy stock high; their apparent profits had vanished, but they were liable to repay the full amount of the loans. Many went bankrupt, and many more lost fortunes.<ref name="bubble">{{Cite book |last=Cowles |first=Virginia |url=https://archive.org/details/greatswindlestor01edunse |title=The Great Swindle: The Story of the South Sea Bubble |date=1960 |publisher=Harper |location=New York |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Confidence in the entire national financial and political system collapsed. Parliament investigated and concluded that there had been widespread fraud by the company directors and corruption in the Cabinet. Among Cabinet members implicated were the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], the [[Postmaster General]], and a Secretary of State, as well as two other leading men, [[James Stanhope, 1st Earl Stanhope|Lord Stanhope]] and [[Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland|Lord Sunderland]]. Walpole had dabbled in the speculation himself but was not a major player. He rose to the challenge, as the new [[First Lord of the Treasury]], of resolving the financial and political disaster. The economy was basically healthy, and the panic ended. Working with the financiers he successfully restored confidence in the system. However, public opinion, as shaped by the many prominent men who had lost so much money so quickly, demanded revenge. Walpole supervised the process, which removed all 33 company directors and stripped them of, on average, 82% of their wealth.<ref name="Kleer165">{{Cite web |last=Kleer |first=Richard |date=2014 |title=Riding a wave the Company's role in the South Sea Bubble |url=https://www.ehs.org.uk/dotAsset/380e0bd9-47d1-4878-87a1-6bfb013ad21c.pdf |access-date=16 January 2020 |website=Economic History Society |publisher=University of Regina |page=2}}</ref> The money went to the victims. The government bought the stock of the South Sea Company for £33 and sold it to the Bank of England and the East India Company, the only other two corporations big enough to handle the challenge. Walpole made sure that King George and his mistresses were not embarrassed, and by the margin of three votes he saved several key government officials from impeachment.<ref name="bubble" />

[[File:Houghton Hall 01.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Walpole's [[Houghton Hall]] ]]
Stanhope and Sunderland died of natural causes, leaving Walpole alone as the dominant figure in British politics. The public hailed him as the saviour of the financial system, and historians credit him with rescuing the Whig government, and indeed the Hanoverian dynasty, from total disgrace.<ref name="Kleer165" />{{Sfn|Marshall|1974|pages=127–130}}

====Patronage and corruption====
[[Robert Walpole|Walpole]] was a master of the effective use of patronage, as were Pelham and Lord Newcastle. They each paid close attention to the work of bestowing upon their political allies high places, lifetime pensions, honours, lucrative government contracts, and help at election time. In turn the friends enabled them to control Parliament.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Browning |first=Reed |url=https://archive.org/details/dukeofnewcastle0000brow |title=Duke of Newcastle |date=1975 |isbn=978-0-300-01746-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dukeofnewcastle0000brow/page/254 254–260] |publisher=Yale University Press |ol=5069181M |url-access=registration}}</ref> Thus in 1742, over 140 members of parliament held powerful positions thanks in part to Walpole, including 24 men at the royal court, 50 in the government agencies, and the rest with [[sinecure]]s or other handsome emoluments, often in the range of £500 – £1000 per year. Usually there was little or no work involved. Walpole also distributed highly attractive ecclesiastical appointments. When the Court in 1725 instituted a new order of chivalry, the [[Order of the Bath]], Walpole immediately seized the opportunity. He made sure that most of the 36 men honoured were peers and members of parliament who would provide him with useful connections.<ref>{{Citation |last=Hanham |first=Andrew |title=The Politics of Chivalry: Sir Robert Walpole, the Duke of Montagu and the Order of the Bath |date=2016 |journal=Parliamentary History |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=262–297 |doi=10.1111/1750-0206.12236}}</ref> Walpole himself became enormously wealthy, investing heavily in his estate at [[Houghton Hall]] and its large collection of European master paintings.<ref>{{Citation |last=Roberts |first=Clayton |title=A History of England |date=1985 |volume=2, 1688 to the present |pages=449–450 |edition=3rd |isbn=978-0-13-389974-0 |ol=2863417M |display-authors=etal}}</ref>

Walpole's methods won him victory after victory, but aroused furious opposition. Historian [[John H. Plumb]] wrote:
{{Blockquote|Walpole's policy had bred distrust, his methods hatred. Time and time again his policy was successful in Parliament only because of the government's absolute control of the Scottish members in the Commons and the Bishops in the Lords. He gave point to the opposition's cry that Walpole's policy was against the wishes of the nation, a policy imposed by a corrupt use of pension and place.{{Sfn|Plumb|1950|page=68}}}}

The opposition called for "patriotism" and looked at the Prince of Wales as the future "Patriot King". Walpole supporters ridiculed the very term "patriot".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carretta |first=Vincent |title=George III and the Satirists from Hogarth to Byron |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-8203-3124-9 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=xQqs0qxcnJMC&pg=PA44 44]–51 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |ol=29578545M}}</ref>

The opposition [[Country Party (Britain)|Country Party]] attacked Walpole relentlessly, primarily targeting his patronage, which they denounced as corruption. In turn, Walpole imposed censorship on the London theatre and subsidised writers such as [[William Arnall]] and others who rejected the charge of political corruption by arguing that corruption is the universal human condition. Furthermore, they argued, political divisiveness was also universal and inevitable because of selfish passions that were integral to human nature. Arnall argued that government must be strong enough to control conflict, and in that regard Walpole was quite successful. This style of "court" political rhetoric continued through the 18th century.<ref>{{Citation |last=Horne |first=Thomas |title=Politics in a Corrupt Society: William Arnall's Defense of Robert Walpole |date=October–December 1980 |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=601–614 |doi=10.2307/2709276 |jstor=2709276}}</ref> [[Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham|Lord Cobham]], a leading soldier, used his own connections to build up an opposition after 1733. Young [[William Pitt the Elder|William Pitt]] and [[George Grenville]] joined [[Cobhamite|Cobham's faction]]—they were called "Cobham's Cubs". They became leading enemies of Walpole and both later became prime minister.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leonard |first=Dick |title=Eighteenth-Century British Premiers: Walpole to the Younger Pitt |date=2010 |isbn=978-0-230-30463-5 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JpiIDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 94] |publisher=Springer |ol=37125742M |author-link=Dick Leonard}}</ref>

By 1741, Walpole was facing mounting criticism on foreign policy—he was accused of entangling Britain in a useless war with Spain—and mounting allegations of corruption. On 13 February 1741, [[Samuel Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys|Samuel Sandys]], a former ally, called for his removal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kellner |first=Peter |title=Democracy: 1,000 Years in Pursuit of British Liberty |date=2011 |isbn=978-1-907195-85-3 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=bobcxij5UkIC&pg=PT264 264] |publisher=Random House |ol=36708739M}}</ref> He said:
{{Blockquote| Such has been the conduct of Sir Robert Walpole, with regard to foreign affairs: he has deserted our allies, aggrandized our enemies, betrayed our commerce, and endangered our colonies; and yet this is the least criminal part of his ministry. For what is the loss of allies to the alienation of the people from the government, or the diminution of trade to the destruction of our liberties?<ref>{{Citation |title=Great Britain: the lion at home: a documentary history of domestic policy, 1689–1973 |date=1983 |volume=1 |issue=66–67 |editor-last=Wiener |editor-first=Joel H.}}</ref>}}

Walpole's allies defeated a censure motion by a vote of 209 to 106, but Walpole's coalition lost seats in the election of 1741, and by a narrow margin he was finally forced out of office in early 1742.<ref>{{Harvnb|Langford|1989|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=9-b81opKYREC&pg=PA56 54–57]}}; {{Harvnb|Marshall|1974|pp=183–191}}.</ref>

=====Walpole's foreign policy=====
{{Further|International relations (1648–1814)|France–United Kingdom relations}}

Walpole secured widespread support with his policy of avoiding war.<ref>{{Citation |last=Black |first=Jeremy |title=Britain in the Age of Walpole |date=1984 |pages=144–169 |editor-last=Black |editor-first=Jeremy |chapter=Foreign Policy in the Age of Walpole |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-333-36863-3 |ol=2348433M |author-link=Jeremy Black (historian) |editor-link=Jeremy Black (historian)}}</ref> He used his influence to prevent George II from entering the [[War of the Polish Succession]] in 1733, because it was a dispute between the Bourbons and the Habsburgs. He boasted, "There are 50,000 men slain in Europe this year, and not one Englishman."{{Sfn|Robertson|1911|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=OawxAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA66 66]}} Walpole himself let others, especially [[Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend|his brother-in-law Lord Townshend]], handle foreign policy until about 1726, then took charge. A major challenge for his administration was the royal role as simultaneous ruler of Hanover, a small German state that was opposed to Prussian supremacy. George I and George II saw a French alliance as the best way to neutralise Prussia. They forced a dramatic reversal of British foreign policy, which for centuries had seen France as England's greatest enemy.{{Sfn|Black|2016}} However, the bellicose King [[Louis XIV]] died in 1715, and the regents who ran France were preoccupied with internal affairs. King [[Louis XV]] came of age in 1726, and his elderly chief minister [[André-Hercule de Fleury|Cardinal Fleury]] collaborated informally with Walpole to prevent a major war and keep the peace. Both sides wanted peace, which allowed both countries enormous cost savings, and recovery from expensive wars.<ref>{{Citation |last=Wilson |first=Arthur McCandless |title=French Foreign Policy during the Administration of Cardinal Fleury, 1726–1743: A Study in Diplomacy and Commercial Development |date=1936 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=0-837-15333-6 |ol=5703043M |author-link=Arthur McCandless Wilson}}</ref>

Henry Pelham became prime minister in 1744 and continued Walpole's policies. He worked for an end to the [[War of the Austrian Succession]].{{Sfn|Williams|1962|pages=259–270}} His financial policy was a major success once peace had been signed in 1748. He demobilised the armed forces, and reduced government spending from £12&nbsp;million to £7&nbsp;million. He refinanced the national debt, dropping the interest rate from 4% p.a. to 3% p.a. Taxes had risen to pay for the war, but in 1752 he reduced the land tax from four shillings to two shillings in the pound: that is, from 20% to 10%.<ref>{{Harvnb|Brumwell|Speck|2001|page=288}}; {{Harvnb |Marshall|1974|pages=221–227}}.</ref>

=====Lower debt and taxes=====
By avoiding wars, Walpole could lower taxes. He reduced the national debt with a sinking fund, and by negotiating lower interest rates. He reduced the land tax from four shillings in 1721, to 3s in 1728, 2s in 1731 and finally to only 1s (i.e. 5%) in 1732. His long-term goal was to replace the land tax, which was paid by the local gentry, with excise and customs taxes, which were paid by merchants and ultimately by consumers. Walpole joked that the landed gentry resembled hogs, which squealed loudly whenever anyone laid hands on them. By contrast, he said, merchants were like sheep, and yielded their wool without complaint.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Cambridge Modern History |date=1909 |isbn=978-0-521-07814-6 |editor-last=Ward |editor-first=A. W. |editor-link=Adolphus Ward |volume=VI: the Eighteenth Century |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=fMgFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA46 46] |ol=7716876M |display-editors=etal}}</ref> The joke backfired in 1733 when he was defeated in a major battle to [[Excise Bill|impose excise taxes on wine and tobacco]]. To reduce the threat of smuggling, the tax was to be collected not at ports but at warehouses. This new proposal, however, was extremely unpopular with the public, and aroused the opposition of the merchants because of the supervision it would involve. Walpole was defeated as his strength in Parliament dropped a notch.{{Sfn|Langford|1989|pages=28–33}}

=====Walpole's reputation=====
[[File:The Stature of a Great Man or the English Colossus cph.3b03411.jpg|thumb|1740 political cartoon depicting a towering Walpole as the [[Colossus of Rhodes]]]]

Historians hold Walpole's record in high regard, though there has been a recent tendency to share credit more widely among his allies. [[W. A. Speck]] wrote that Walpole's uninterrupted run of 20 years as Prime Minister

{{Blockquote|is rightly regarded as one of the major feats of British political history...&nbsp;Explanations are usually offered in terms of his expert handling of the political system after 1720, [and] his unique blending of the surviving powers of the crown with the increasing influence of the Commons.{{Sfn|Speck|1977|page=203}}
}}

He was a [[Whigs (British political party)|Whig]] from the gentry class, who first arrived in Parliament in 1701, and held many senior positions. He was a country squire and looked to country gentlemen for his political base. Historian Frank O'Gorman said his leadership in Parliament reflected his "reasonable and persuasive oratory, his ability to move both the emotions as well as the minds of men, and, above all, his extraordinary self-confidence."{{Sfn|O'Gorman|1997|page=71}} [[Julian Hoppit]] has said Walpole's policies sought moderation: he worked for peace, lower taxes, growing exports, and allowed a little more tolerance for Protestant Dissenters. He avoided controversy and high-intensity disputes, as his middle way attracted moderates from both the Whig and Tory camps.{{Sfn|Hoppit|2000|page=410}} H.T. Dickinson summed up his historical role:
{{Blockquote
| Walpole was one of the greatest politicians in British history. He played a significant role in sustaining the Whig party, safeguarding the Hanoverian succession, and defending the principles of the [[Glorious Revolution]] (1688)&nbsp;... He established a stable political supremacy for the Whig party and taught succeeding ministers how best to establish an effective working relationship between Crown and Parliament.<ref>{{Citation |last=Dickinson |first=H. P. |title=Walpole, Sir Robert |date=2003 |work=Readers Guide to British History |volume=2 |issue=1338 |editor-last=Loades |editor-first=David |editor-link=David Loades}}</ref>
}}

===Age of George III, 1760–1820===
{{Further|George III of the United Kingdom}}

====Victory in the Seven Years' War, 1756–1763====
{{Main|Seven Years' War}}
The [[Seven Years' War]], which began in 1756, was the first war waged on a global scale and saw [[Great Britain in the Seven Years' War|British involvement]] in Europe, [[Company rule in India|India]], North America, the Caribbean, the Philippines, and coastal Africa. The results were highly favourable for Britain, and a major disaster for France. Key decisions were largely in the hands of [[William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham|William Pitt the Elder]]. The war started poorly. Britain [[Siege of Fort St Philip (1756)|lost the island of Minorca in 1756]], and suffered a series of defeats in North America. After years of setbacks and mediocre results, British luck turned in the "miracle year" ("Annus Mirabilis") of 1759. The British had entered the year anxious about a [[planned French Invasion of Britain (1759)|French invasion]], but by the end of the year, they were victorious in all theatres. In the Americas, they [[Battle of Ticonderoga (1759)|captured Fort Ticonderoga (Carillon)]], [[Forbes Expedition|drove the French out of the Ohio Country]], captured [[Quebec City]] in Canada as a result of the decisive [[Battle of the Plains of Abraham]], and [[Invasion of Guadeloupe (1759)|captured the rich sugar island of Guadeloupe]] in the West Indies. In India, the John Company [[Siege of Madras|repulsed French forces besieging Madras]].

In Europe, British troops partook in a decisive Allied victory at the [[Battle of Minden]]. The victory over the French navy at the [[Battle of Lagos]] and the decisive [[Battle of Quiberon Bay]] ended threats of a French invasion, and confirmed Britain's reputation as the world's foremost naval power.<ref>{{Cite book |last=McLynn |first=Frank |title=1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World |date=2004 |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press |isbn=9780871138811 |ol=24769108M}}</ref> The [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris of 1763]] marked the high point of the First British Empire. France's future in North America ended, as [[New France]] (Quebec) came under British control. In India, the [[Carnatic Wars#Third Carnatic War (1756–1763)|third Carnatic War]] had left France still in control of several small [[French India|enclaves]], but with military restrictions and an obligation to support the British client states, effectively leaving the future of India to Great Britain. The British victory over France in the Seven Years' War therefore left Great Britain as the world's dominant colonial power, with a bitter France thirsting for revenge.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anderson |first=Fred |title=The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War |date=2005 |publisher=Viking |isbn=0670034541 |ol=3426544M}}</ref>

====Evangelical religion and social reform====
{{Further|Church of England}}
The evangelical movement inside and outside the [[Church of England]] gained strength in the late 18th and early 19th century. The movement challenged the traditional religious sensibility that emphasised a code of honour for the upper class, and suitable behaviour for everyone else, together with faithful observances of rituals. [[John Wesley]] (1703–1791) and his followers preached revivalist religion, trying to convert individuals to a personal relationship with Christ through Bible reading, regular prayer, and especially the revival experience. Wesley himself preached 52,000 times, calling on men and women to "redeem the time" and save their souls. Wesley always operated inside the Church of England, but at his death, it set up outside institutions that became the [[Methodism|Methodist Church]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Armstrong |first=Anthony |title=The Church of England: the Methodists and society, 1700–1850 |date=1973}}</ref> It stood alongside the traditional nonconformist churches, Presbyterians, Congregationalist, Baptists, Unitarians and Quakers. The nonconformist churches, however, were less influenced by revivalism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Briggs |first=Asa |title=The age of improvement, 1783–1867 |date=1959 |publisher=Longman |pages=66–73 |author-link=Asa Briggs}}</ref>

The Church of England remained dominant, but it had a growing evangelical, revivalist faction in the "Low Church". Its leaders included [[William Wilberforce]] and [[Hannah More]]. It reached the upper class through the [[Clapham Sect]]. It did not seek political reform, but rather the opportunity to save souls through political action by freeing slaves, abolishing the duel, prohibiting cruelty to children and animals, stopping gambling, and avoiding frivolity on the Sabbath; evangelicals read the Bible every day. All souls were equal in God's view, but not all bodies, so evangelicals did not challenge the hierarchical structure of English society.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rule |first=John |title=Albion's People: English Society 1714–1815 |date=1992 |chapter=Chapters 2–6}}</ref>

===First British Empire===
{{Further|Historiography of the British Empire}}
[[File:University, Glasgow, Scotland, ca. 1895.jpg|thumb|right|[[Glasgow]] in Scotland was commonly referred to as the "second city of the empire" during the Victorian era<ref>{{cite web |title=BBC - History - Scottish History |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/scottishhistory/victorian/intro_victorian.shtml#:~:text=Victorian%20Scotland%20%2D%20An%20Introduction,second%20city%20of%20the%20Empire%22. |website=www.bbc.co.uk |access-date=27 February 2025}}</ref>]]
The first British Empire was based largely in mainland North America and the West Indies, with a growing presence in India. Emigration from Britain went mostly to the [[Thirteen Colonies]] and the West Indies, with some to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Few permanent settlers went to [[British India]], although many young men went there in the hope of making money and returning home.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Simms |first=Brendan |url=https://archive.org/details/threevictoriesan00simm |title=Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire |date=2008 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=9780465013326 |author-link=Brendan Simms}}</ref>

====Mercantilist trade policy====
[[Mercantilism]] was the basic policy imposed by Great Britain on its overseas possessions.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Savelle |first=Max |title=Seeds of Liberty: The Genesis of the American Mind |date=1948 |publisher=University of Washington Press |pages=204–211 |ol=5951089M}}</ref> Mercantilism meant that the government and the merchants became partners with the goal of increasing political power and private wealth, to the exclusion of other empires. The government protected its merchants—and kept others out—by trade barriers, regulations, and subsidies to domestic industries to maximise exports from and minimise imports to the realm. The government had to fight smuggling—which became a favourite American technique in the 18th century to circumvent the restrictions on trading with the French, Spanish or Dutch. The goal of mercantilism was to run trade surpluses, so that gold and silver would pour into London. The government took its share through duties and taxes, with the remainder going to merchants in London and other British ports. The government spent much of its revenue on a superb Royal Navy, which not only protected the British colonies but threatened the colonies of the other empires, and sometimes seized them. Thus the Royal Navy captured [[New Amsterdam]] (later [[New York City]]) in 1664. The colonies were captive markets for British industry, and the goal was to enrich the mother country.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nester |first=William R. |title=The Great Frontier War: Britain, France, and the Imperial Struggle for North America, 1607–1755 |date=2000 |publisher=Praeger |isbn=0275967727 |page=54 |ol=40897M}}</ref>

====Loss of the 13 American colonies====
{{Main|American Revolution}} 
{{See also|American Revolutionary War|United States Declaration of Independence}}
During the 1760s and 1770s, relations with the [[Thirteen Colonies]] turned from benign neglect to outright revolt, primarily because of the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British Parliament]]'s insistence on taxing colonists without their consent to recover losses incurred protecting the American Colonists during the [[French and Indian War]] (1754–1763). In 1775, the [[American Revolutionary War]] began at the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]], and the Americans then trapped the [[British Army during the American Revolutionary War|British Army]] in [[Boston]] in the [[Siege of Boston]] and suppressed the Loyalists who supported [[The Crown]].

On 4 July 1776, the [[Second Continental Congress]], representing the [[Thirteen Colonies]], unanimously adopted and issued the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]. The Second Continental Congress charged the [[Committee of Five]] with authoring the Declaration, but the committee, in turn, largely relied on [[Thomas Jefferson]], who authored its first draft.

Under the military leadership of [[Continental Army]] general [[George Washington]] and with some economic and military assistance from [[Kingdom of France|France]], the [[Dutch Republic]], and [[Kingdom of Spain|Spain]], the United States held off successive British invasions. The Americans captured two main British armies in 1777 and 1781. After that, King [[George III]] lost control of Parliament and was unable to continue the war, which was brought to an end with the signing of the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] in 1783, which acknowledged the independence and sovereignty of the thirteen colonies and recognised the [[United States]].

The American Revolutionary War, which lasted from 1775 to 1783, was expensive but the British financed it successfully. Approximately 8,500 British troops were killed in action during the war.<ref>{{Citation |last=Black |first=Jeremy |title=War for America: The Fight for Independence, 1775–1783 |date=1991 |publisher=Alan Sutton |isbn=978-0-862-99725-0 |author-link=Jeremy Black (historian)}}</ref>

===Second British Empire===
The loss of the [[Thirteen Colonies]] marked the transition between the "first" and "second" empires, in which Britain shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific and later Africa.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pagden |first=Anthony |title=The Origins of Empire, The Oxford History of the British Empire |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=92 |author-link=Anthony Pagden}}</ref> [[Adam Smith]]'s ''[[Wealth of Nations]]'', published in 1776, had argued that colonies were redundant, and that [[free trade]] should replace the old [[mercantilist]] policies that had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, dating back to the protectionism of Spain and Portugal. The growth of trade between the newly independent United States and Great Britain after 1781{{Sfn|James|1994|page=119}} confirmed Smith's view that political control was not necessary for economic success.

====Canada====
{{Main|History of Canada}}
After a series of "French and Indian wars", the British took over most of France's North American operations in 1763. [[Canada (New France)|New France]] became [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Quebec]]. Great Britain's policy was to respect Quebec's Catholic establishment as well as its semi-feudal legal, economic, and social systems. By the [[Quebec Act]] of 1774, the province of Quebec was enlarged to include the western holdings of the American colonies. In the [[American Revolutionary War]], [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]] became Britain's major base for naval action. They repulsed an American revolutionary invasion in 1776, but in 1777 a British invasion army was captured in New York, encouraging France to enter the war.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Reid |first1=John G. |title=Canada and the British Empire |last2=Mancke |first2=Elizabeth |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-927164-1 |editor-last=Buckner |editor-first=Phillip |chapter=From Global Processes to Continental Strategies: The Emergence of British North America to 1783 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KmXnLGX7FvEC&pg=PA22}}</ref>

After the American victory, between 40,000 and 60,000 [[United Empire Loyalist|defeated Loyalists]] migrated, some bringing their slaves.<ref>Maya Jasanoff, ''Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World'' (2012)</ref> Most families were given free land to compensate their losses. Several thousand free blacks also arrived; most of them later went to [[Sierra Leone]] in Africa.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winks |first=Robin |title=The Blacks in Canada: A History |date=1997 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press |isbn=978-0-7735-6668-2}}</ref> The 14,000 Loyalists who went to the Saint John and Saint Croix river valleys, then part of Nova Scotia, were not welcomed by the locals. Therefore, in 1784 the British split off [[History of New Brunswick|New Brunswick]] as a separate colony. The Constitutional Act of 1791 created the provinces of Upper Canada (mainly English-speaking) and Lower Canada (mainly French-speaking) to defuse tensions between the French and English-speaking communities, and implemented governmental systems similar to those employed in Great Britain, with the intention of asserting imperial authority and not allowing the sort of popular control of government that was perceived to have led to the American Revolution.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Morton |first=Desmond |title=A short history of Canada |date=2001 |publisher=McClelland & Stewart |isbn=978-0-7710-6508-8}}</ref>

====Australia====
{{Main|History of Australia (1788–1850)|History of Australia|History of New Zealand}}
In 1770, British explorer [[James Cook]] had discovered the eastern coast of Australia whilst on a scientific [[First voyage of James Cook|voyage]] to the South Pacific. In 1778, [[Joseph Banks]], Cook's botanist on the voyage, presented evidence to the government on the suitability of [[Botany Bay]] for the establishment of a penal settlement. Australia marks the beginning of the Second British Empire. It was planned by the government in London and designed as a replacement for the lost American colonies.<ref>{{Cite book |title=[[The Oxford History of the British Empire]] Companion Series |date=2010 |editor-last=Schreuder |editor-first=Deryck |chapter=Chapter 1. Australia's Empire |editor-last2=Ward |editor-first2=Stuart}}</ref> The American Loyalist [[James Matra]] in 1783 wrote "A Proposal for Establishing a Settlement in New South Wales" proposing the establishment of a colony composed of American Loyalists, Chinese and South Sea Islanders (but not convicts).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carter |first=Harold B. |chapter=Banks, Cook and the Eighteenth Century Natural History Tradition |date=1988 |title=Interpreting Australia: British Perceptions of Australia since 1788 |publisher=Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies |editor-last=Delamotte |editor-first=Tony |location=London |pages=4–23 |author-link=Harold Burnell Carter |editor-last2=Bridge |editor-first2=Carl |isbn=978-0-902499-98-0}}.</ref> Matra reasoned that the land was suitable for plantations of sugar, cotton and tobacco; New Zealand timber and hemp or flax could prove valuable commodities; it could form a base for Pacific trade; and it could be a suitable compensation for displaced American Loyalists. At the suggestion of Secretary of State [[Lord Sydney]], Matra amended his proposal to include convicts as settlers, considering that this would benefit both "Economy to the Publick, & Humanity to the Individual". The government adopted the basics of Matra's plan in 1784, and funded the settlement of convicts.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Atkinson |first=Alan |date=1990 |title=The first plans for governing New South Wales, 1786–87 |journal=Australian Historical Studies |volume=24 |issue=94 |pages=22–40, 31|doi=10.1080/10314619008595830 |s2cid=143682560 }}</ref>

In 1787 the [[First Fleet]] set sail, carrying the first shipment of [[Convicts in Australia|convicts]] to the colony. It arrived in January 1788.

====India====
[[File:Lord Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Lord Clive]] of the East India Company meeting his ally [[Mir Jafar]] after their decisive victory at the [[Battle of Plassey]] in 1757]]

[[India]] was not directly ruled by the British government, instead certain parts were seized by the [[East India Company]], a private, for-profit corporation, with its own army. The "John Company" (as it was nicknamed) took direct control of half of India and built friendly relations with the other half, which was controlled by numerous local princes. Its goal was trade, and vast profits for the Company officials, not the building of the British empire. Company interests expanded during the 18th century to include control of territory as the old [[Mughal Empire]] declined in power and the East India Company battled for the spoils with the [[Louis XIV's East India Company|French East India Company]] (''Compagnie française des Indes orientales'') during the [[Carnatic Wars]] of the 1740s and 1750s. Victories at the [[Battle of Plassey]] and [[Battle of Buxar]] by [[Robert Clive]] gave the Company control over [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]] and made it the major military and political power in India. In the following decades it gradually increased the extent of territories under its control, ruling either directly or in cooperation with local princes. Although Britain itself only had a small standing army, the company had a large and well trained force, the [[presidency armies]], with British officers commanding native Indian troops (called [[sepoys]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lawson |first=Philip |title=The East India Company: A History |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge}}; {{Cite journal |first=Philip J. |last=Stern |title=History and historiography of the English East India Company: Past, present, and future! |journal=History Compass |volume=7 |issue=4 |date=2009 |pages=1146–1180|doi=10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00617.x }}</ref>

===Battling the French Revolution and Napoleon===
{{Further|French Revolutionary Wars|War of the First Coalition|War of the Second Coalition}}
[[File:The House of Commons 1793-94 by Karl Anton Hickel.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[William Pitt the Younger|Pitt]] addressing the [[House of Commons of Great Britain|Commons]] in [[Anton Hickel]]'s painting ''[[The House of Commons, 1793–94]]'']]
With the regicide of King Louis XVI in 1793, the [[French Revolution]] represented a contest of ideologies between conservative, royalist Britain and radical Republican France.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Knight |first=Roger J. B. |title=Britain against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory, 1793–1815 |date=2013 |isbn=978-0-141-97702-7 |pages=61–62 |publisher=Penguin UK |ol=30961773M |author-link=R. J. B. Knight}}</ref> The long bitter wars with France 1793–1815, saw anti-Catholicism emerge as the glue that held the three kingdoms together. From the upper classes to the lower classes, Protestants were brought together from England, Scotland and Ireland into a profound distrust and distaste for all things French. That enemy nation was depicted as the natural home of misery and oppression because of its inherent inability to shed the darkness of Catholic superstition and clerical manipulation.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Marjule Anne |last=Drury |title=Anti-Catholicism in Germany, Britain, and the United States: A Review and Critique of Recent Scholarship | journal =Church History |date=2001 |volume=70 |issue=1|pages=98–131 |doi=10.2307/3654412 |jstor=3654412 |s2cid=146522059 }}; {{Cite book |last=Colley |first=Linda |title=Britons: Forging the Nation 1707–1837 |date=1992 |isbn=0-300-05737-7 |pages=35, 53–54 |publisher=Yale University Press |ol=1711290M |author-link=Linda Colley}}</ref>

====Napoleon====
It was not only Britain's position on the world stage that was threatened: Napoleon, who came to power in 1799, threatened invasion of Great Britain itself, and with it, a fate similar to the countries of continental Europe that his armies had overrun. The [[Napoleonic Wars]] were therefore ones in which the British invested all the moneys and energies it could raise. French ports were blockaded by the [[Royal Navy]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andress |first=David |title=The Savage Storm: Britain on the Brink in the Age of Napoleon |date=1960 |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |isbn=978-1-405-51321-0 |ol=34606684M}}; {{Cite journal |last=Simms |first=Brendan |author-link=Brendan Simms |year=1998 |title=Britain and Napoleon |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=885–894 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X98008048 |jstor=2639908 |s2cid=162840420}}</ref>

====Ireland====
The French Revolution revived religious and political grievances in [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]]. In 1798, Irish nationalists, under Protestant leadership, plotted the [[Irish Rebellion of 1798]], believing that the French would help them to overthrow the British.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 November 2009 |title=British History – The 1798 Irish Rebellion |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/irish_reb_01.shtml |access-date=23 April 2010 |publisher=BBC}}; {{Cite book |last=Gahan |first=Daniel |title=Rebellion!: Ireland in 1798 |date=1998 |publisher=O'Brien Press |isbn=978-0-86278-541-3 |ol=403106M}}</ref> They hoped for significant French support, which never came. The uprising was very poorly organised, and quickly suppressed by much more powerful British forces. Including many bloody reprisals, the total death toll was in the range of 10,000 to 30,000.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rose |first=John Holland |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028005803 |title=William Pitt and the Great War |date=1911 |isbn=0-837-14533-3 |pages=339–364 |publisher=Greenwood Press |ol=5756027M |author-link=John Holland Rose}}</ref>

Prime Minister [[William Pitt the Younger]] firmly believed that the only solution to the problem was a union of Great Britain and Ireland. The union was established by the [[Act of Union 1800]]; compensation and [[patronage]] ensured the support of the [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]]. Great Britain and Ireland were formally united on 1 January 1801. The Irish Parliament was closed down.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ehrman |first=John |title=The Younger Pitt: The Consuming Struggle |date=1996 |isbn=0-094-75540-X |pages=158–196 |publisher=Constable |ol=21936112M |author-link=John Ehrman}}</ref>