The British retreat: 1760-1770
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: History, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Norris, John MacKenzie
issued: 2012-03-16T19:04:45Z
issued: 1949
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: In the years between 1760 and 1770 the British nation and empire underwent a profound change in structure and function. Some of the change was made necessary by the survival of old institutions and of old forms of still vital institutions beyond the point of obsolescence, while some came as a result of contemporary disruption in the life of the nation. Obsolescence was particularily apparent in the administrative structure of the Empire, the so-called mercantilist system. The beliefs of mercantilism were largely inherited from the ecclesiastical society of the Middle Ages. Thus, while individualism and nationalism triumphed over Church in the sixteenth century, the idea of regulation, now adopted by the national state, continued to suppress economic individualism for two centuries longer. Imperial self-sufficiency was the ideal of the mercantilist theorists, and in an attempt to achieve this end, direct control by the mother country of the political and economic activities of all parts of the Empire was instituted. As the Empire expanded, however, it became increasingly more difficult to maintain this control. Special local complications, particularily in the cases of Ireland and India, aggravated the problem. Finally, the challenge of political and economic independence in America was successful in fringing to an end the old imperial system. In the mother country public life was dominated by the Revolution Settlement of 1688, and needed reforms were neglected. Parliament was unrepresentative of the majority of the nation and local government and local interests were far too powerful in relation to national government and national interests. In politics, party differences had been dissolved in 1688 as a result of the nation’s need for tranquility, political life became a struggle, not for principles, but for patronage and place, between factions of the now-predominant Whig Party. The corruption in politics at this juncture was without precedent in English history. I…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/41486
note: The B r i t i s h Retreat; 1760-1770. by John Mackenzie N o r r i s . ABSTRACT of a t h e s i s submitted i n p a r t i a l f u l f i l m e n t of the requirements f o r the degree of MASTER OF ARTS i n the department of HISTORY U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia September, 1949. • THe British Retreat: 1763-1770^ b y John g&efewrale Morris. iiBB2R&GT i thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requireaients for the degree of BASTKS. of mis in the department of rnmmm 0M varsity of British Columbia September, 194d« The B r i t i s h R e t r e a t : 1760-1770. ABSTRACT. In the y e a r s between 1760 and 1770 the B r i t i s h n a t i o n and empire underwent a prof o u n d change i n s t r u c t u r e and f u n c t i o n . Some o f the change was made n e c e s s a r y by the s u r v i v a l o f o l d i n s t i t u t i o n s and o f o l d forms o f s t i l l v i t a l i n s t i t u t i o n s beyond the p o i n t o f o b s o l e s c e n c e , w h i l e some came as a r e s u l t o f contemporary d i s r u p t i o n i n the l i f e o f the n a t i o n . Obsolescence was p a r t i c u l a r i l y apparent i n the a d m i n i s t r a t i v e s t r u c t u r e o f the Empire, the s o - c a l l e d m e r c a n t i l i s t system. The b i l i e f s o f m e r c a n t i l i s m were l a r g e l y i n h e r i t e d from the e c c l e s i a s t i c a l s o c i e t y o f t h e M i d d l e Ages. Thus, w h i l e i n d i v i d u a l i s m and n a t i o n a l i s m triumphed o v e r Church i n the s i x t e e n t h c e n t u r y , the i d e a o f r e g u l a t i o n , now adopted by the n a t i o n a l s t a t e , c o n t i n u e d to suppress economic i n d i v i d -u a l i s m f o r two c e n t u r i e s l o n g e r . I m p e r i a l s e l f - s u f f i c i e n c y was the i d e a l o f the m e r c a n t i l i s t t h e o r i s t s , and i n an attempt to a c h i e v e t h i s end, d i r e c t c o n t r o l by the mother c o u n t r y o f the p o l i t i c a l and eco…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
spatial: Great Britain
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0106951
language: eng
degree discipline: History
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/41486