| Contents |
An Empire of Liberty: Whig Identity in the Reign of George II -- Maintaining the Balance of Power -- A Matchless Constitution -- The Liberties of Britain and Europe -- The Blue Water Vision: British Imperialism and the Seven Years' War -- "The Sepulchre of British Interest" -- Oceans, Indians, and Colonists -- The Legacy of William Pitt -- Patriotism Established: The Creation of a "National Militia" in England -- The Power of Popularity -- The Militia Riots of 1757 -- The Price of Victory -- The Nation Abroad: The Atlantic Debate over Colonial Taxation -- The Origins of the Stamp Act (1765) -- An American Theory of Empire -- The Plunge of Lemmings -- The Revolution in British Patriotism: The Friends of Government and the Friends of America -- Ambivalent Patriots -- The County Associations (1780) -- A People above Reproach -- The Experience of Defeat: The British Legacy of the American Revolution -- The Limits of Greater Britain -- "The Isle of Liberty and Peace" -- A Multiracial Empire. |
| Review |
"The Persistence of Empire examines an important yet surprisingly understudied aspect of British and America history: the British public's predominantly loyal response to its government's handling of the American Revolution. Despite a deepening interest in the British dimensions of the Revolution, historians have so far focused largely on British expressions of sympathy for the colonists' resistance. In contrast, Eliga Gould uses sources that include nearly one thousand political pamphlets as well as broadsides, private memoirs, and popular cartoons to explore why most Britons actually supported the American politics of George III and his ministers. In the process, he enriches our understanding of what the American Revolution meant to people on both sides of the Atlantic."--Jacket. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-251) and index. |
| LCCN | 99034607 |
| ISBN | 0807825298 (cloth : alk. paper) |
| ISBN | 0807848468 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
