The British Empire

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to the British Empire, colonial debate, and the Navigation Acts.

Emergence of British Imperialism

From 1700 to 1820 Britain went from a fairly minor player to a global hegemon due to colonial and trade expansion and major wars.

Treaties of 1713 (Utrecht) and 1763 (Paris)

Spain ceded Gibralter, Minorca, and a slave monopoly (Asiento); France ceded Newfoundland, Rupert’s Land, Acadia, Saint Kitts and the fur trade

Emergence of British Imperialism

From 1700 to 1820 Britain went from a fairly minor player to a global hegemon due to colonial and trade expansion and major wars.

Treaties of 1713 (Utrecht) and 1763 (Paris)

Spain ceded Gibralter, Minorca, and a slave monopoly (Asiento); France ceded Newfoundland, Rupert’s Land, Acadia, Saint Kitts and the fur trade

Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815)

Dutch lost Asian and African territories (except Indonesia); French lost Saint-Dominique (Haiti) and most of their Asian trading posts; Brazil established its independence; Spain lost the rest of its colonial empire (except Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines); Britain gained much of India and Australia

Maddison's Argument

Argued that the rise of the British Empire was partly due to Britain’s beggar-thy-neighbour mercantilist approach in the 18th century.

Edmund Burke's View (1775)

Colonies were vital to empire trade and commerce, allowing Britain to extract large rents and reinvest profits.

Adam Smith's View (1776)

Colonies were a drain on resources, diverting trade and capital from non-colonial opportunities, with profits captured by interest groups.

Navigation Acts (1651)

Governed colonial trade and commerce, including the Currency Act, Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Declaratory Act, Townshend Act, Tea Act, and Coercive or Intolerable Act.

Economic Regulation of the Colonies (Navigation Acts)

Goods could only be carried on empire ships, foreign trade had to be conducted through England, and selected colonial commodities could only be exported to England.

Nettels (1952) View on British Policy

British policy after 1763 was restrictive, injurious, negative

Dickerson (1951) View on British Policy

No case can be made that such laws were economically oppressive

Economic Historians (Harper, Thomas, Ransom, etc.)

Quantitatively assessed whether the Navigation Acts were exploitative, measuring the burden using cost-benefit analysis and a counter-factual of American Independence

Thomas (1965) on Direct Costs of Navigation Acts

Calculating trade costs, including the cost of enumerated goods exported to England and imported from England, to estimate the direct trade burden.

Thomas (1965) on Indirect Costs of Navigation Acts

Preferential duties, restrictions on shipping services, benefits of defence, and benefits of bounties for producing vital goods.

Benefits of Preferential Duties

Colonies faced lower tariffs on select goods, generating benefits on goods England would have purchased regardless.

Burden to the 13 Colonies

Estimates imply a small cost per capita for empire, with revisionists questioning data but failing to overturn the findings.

Currency Act and Colonial Money Supply

Colonial money supply was an issue, and attempts to solve shortages and issue colonial notes were blocked.