Editing British Empire (section)

== British Empire (1707–1783) ==
[[File:Lord Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey.jpg|thumb|[[Robert Clive]]'s victory at the [[Battle of Plassey]] established the [[East India Company]] as both a military and commercial power.]]
The 18th century saw the [[Acts of Union 1707|newly united]] Great Britain rise to be the world's dominant colonial power, with France becoming its main rival on the imperial stage.{{Sfn|Pagden|2003|p=90}} Great Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire continued the War of the Spanish Succession, which lasted until 1714 and was concluded by the [[Treaty of Utrecht]]. [[Philip V of Spain]] renounced his and his descendants' claim to the French throne, and Spain lost its empire in Europe.{{Sfn|Shennan|1995|pp=11–17}} The British Empire was territorially enlarged: from France, Britain gained [[Newfoundland Colony|Newfoundland]] and [[Acadia]], and from Spain, [[Gibraltar]] and [[Menorca]]. Gibraltar became a [[Gibraltar Squadron|critical naval base]] and allowed Britain to control the [[Strait of Gibraltar|Atlantic entry and exit point]] to the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]]. Spain ceded the rights to the lucrative ''[[asiento]]'' (permission to sell African slaves in [[Spanish America]]) to Britain.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=58}} With the outbreak of the Anglo-Spanish [[War of Jenkins' Ear]] in 1739, Spanish privateers attacked British merchant shipping along the [[Triangle Trade]] routes. In 1746, the Spanish and British began peace talks, with the King of Spain agreeing to stop all attacks on British shipping; however, in the [[Treaty of Madrid (5 October 1750)|1750 Treaty of Madrid]] Britain lost its slave-trading rights in [[Latin America]].{{Sfn|Anderson|Combe|1801|p=277}}

In the East Indies, British and Dutch merchants continued to compete in spices and textiles. With textiles becoming the larger trade, by 1720, in terms of sales, the British company had overtaken the Dutch.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=19}} During the middle decades of the 18th century, there were [[Carnatic Wars|several outbreaks of military conflict]] on the [[Indian subcontinent]], as the English East India Company and its [[French Indies Company|French counterpart]], struggled alongside local rulers to fill the vacuum that had been left by the decline of the [[Mughal Empire]]. The [[Battle of Plassey]] in 1757, in which the British defeated the [[Nawab of Bengal]] and his French allies, left the British East India Company in control of [[Bengal]] and as a major military and political power in India.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=17}} France was left control of its [[French India|enclaves]] but with military restrictions and an obligation to support British [[client state]]s, ending French hopes of controlling India.{{Sfn|Bandyopādhyāẏa|2004|pp=49–52}} In the following decades the British East India Company gradually increased the size of the territories under its control, either ruling directly or via local rulers under the threat of force from the [[Presidency Armies]], the vast majority of which was composed of Indian [[sepoy]]s, led by British officers.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|pp=18–19}} The British and French struggles in India became but one theatre of the global [[Seven Years' War]] (1756–1763) involving France, Britain, and the other major European powers.{{Sfn|Buckner|2008|p=25}}

The signing of the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris of 1763]] had important consequences for the future of the British Empire. In North America, France's future as a colonial power effectively ended with the recognition of British claims to Rupert's Land,{{Sfn|Buckner|2008|p=25}} and the [[Conquest of New France (1758–1760)|ceding of New France to Britain]] (leaving a sizeable [[French Canadian|French-speaking population]] under British control) and [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]] to Spain. Spain ceded Florida to Britain. Along with its victory over France in India, the Seven Years' War therefore left Britain as the world's most powerful [[maritime power]].{{Sfn|Pagden|2003|p=91}}

=== Loss of the Thirteen American Colonies ===
{{Main|American Revolution|American Revolutionary War|Decolonization of the Americas|British North America|History of Canada (1763–1867)|War of 1812|}}
During the 1760s and early 1770s, relations between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain became increasingly strained, primarily because of resentment of the British Parliament's attempts to govern and tax American colonists without their consent.{{Sfn|Ferguson|2002|p=84}} This was summarised at the time by the colonists' slogan "[[No taxation without representation]]", a perceived violation of the guaranteed [[Rights of Englishmen]]. The [[American Revolution]] began with a rejection of Parliamentary authority and moves towards self-government. In response, Britain sent troops to reimpose direct rule, leading to the outbreak of war in 1775. The following year, in 1776, the [[Second Continental Congress]] issued the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] proclaiming the colonies' sovereignty from the British Empire as the new [[United States of America]]. The entry of [[France in the American Revolutionary War|French]] and [[Spain and the American Revolutionary War|Spanish forces]] into the war tipped the military balance in the Americans' favour and after a decisive defeat at [[Siege of Yorktown|Yorktown]] in 1781, Britain began negotiating peace terms. American independence was acknowledged at the [[Peace of Paris (1783)|Peace of Paris]] in 1783.{{Sfn|Marshall|1996|pp=312–223}}

The loss of such a large portion of [[British America]], at the time Britain's most populous overseas possession, is seen by some historians as the event defining the transition between the first and second empires,{{Sfn|Canny|1998|p=92}} in which Britain shifted its attention away from the Americas to Asia, the Pacific and later Africa.<ref>For a review of the historiography of the concepts of the first and second British Empires, see: Robin Winks and Wm. Roger Louis (eds.), [https://academic.oup.com/book/7007 ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume V: Historiography'' (Oxford Academic:  1999)], chapter 2 ([[P. J. Marshall]], "The First British Empire"), and chapter 3 ([[Christopher Bayly|C.A. Bayley]], "The Second British Empire").</ref> [[Adam Smith]]'s ''[[The Wealth of Nations|Wealth of Nations]]'', published in 1776, had argued that colonies were redundant, and that [[free trade]] should replace the old [[Mercantilism|mercantilist]] policies that had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, dating back to the [[protectionism]] of Spain and Portugal.<ref>{{Harvnb|Pagden|2003|p=91}}; {{Harvnb|James|2001|p=120}}.</ref> The growth of trade between the newly independent [[United States]] and Britain after 1783 seemed to confirm Smith's view that political control was not necessary for economic success.<ref>{{Harvnb|James|2001|p=119}}; {{Harvnb|Marshall|1998|p=585}}.</ref>

The war to the south influenced British policy in Canada, where between 40,000 and 100,000{{Sfn|Zolberg|2006|p=496}} defeated [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] had migrated from the new United States following independence.{{Sfn|Games|2002|pp=46–48}} The 14,000 Loyalists who went to the [[Saint John River (New Brunswick)|Saint John]] and [[Saint Croix River (Maine – New Brunswick)|Saint Croix river]] valleys, then part of [[Nova Scotia]], felt too far removed from the provincial government in [[Halifax, Nova Scotia|Halifax]], so London split off [[New Brunswick]] as a separate colony in 1784.{{Sfn|Kelley|Trebilcock|2010|p=43}} The [[Constitutional Act 1791]] created the provinces of [[Upper Canada]] (mainly [[English Canada|English speaking]]) and [[Lower Canada]] (mainly [[French Canadians|French-speaking]]) to defuse tensions between the French and British communities, and implemented governmental systems similar to those employed in 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.{{Sfn|Smith|1998|p=28}}

Tensions between Britain and the United States escalated again during the [[Napoleonic Wars]], as Britain tried to cut off American trade with France and boarded American ships to [[Impressment|impress]] men into the [[Royal Navy]]. The [[United States Congress]] declared war, the [[War of 1812]], and invaded Canadian territory. In response, Britain invaded the US, but the pre-war boundaries were reaffirmed by the 1814 [[Treaty of Ghent]], ensuring Canada's future would be separate from that of the United States.<ref>{{Harvnb|Latimer|2007|pp=8, 30–34, 389–392}}; {{Harvnb|Marshall|1998|p=388}}.</ref>