how did the british feel about the american revolution

After all, the British army was the best trained, best equipped, and most professional army in the world. A page from the Declaration of Independence is displayed at the New York Public Library on July 3, 2009 in New York City. Other letters, however, give indications that some people had given up hope that the King would give in to the colonists’ requests. In terms of ordinary British people, society was as divided as American society was divided at the time (not everyone living in America wanted independence). British had the best military and best equipped. How did the British feel about the American Revolution? Britain relaxed its trade restrictions on Ireland, so they could trade with British colonies and freely export wool, and reformed the government by allowing non-Anglicans to hold public office. This week in our series, we complete the story of the American Revolution. Save on the cover price & free e-Gift card for Giftees! The struggle that freed the colonists from British Rule, the American Revolution took place from 1776 to 1781. On July 22, 1776, his wife Dorothy wrote to him from Nottinghamshire that she had “received letters filled with unpleasant news, that from America I trust in God is not true, it really is too shocking.” On Aug. 16 of that year, Baron Rudolph Bentick also wrote from the Netherlands, bemoaning the news and sharing what people in Europe thought. Relevance. American Revolution. So, how exactly did the British lose the American Revolution? By 1776, the colonists had declared themselves independent and in 1783, … The American Revolution was an event of sweeping worldwide importance. Gen. James Murray expressed the common judgment that the American soldier was ‘a very effeminate thing.’ He was ‘very unfit for and very impatient for war.’ Though their optimism might seem misplaced today, at the time it wasn’t completely ridiculous. Hutson, James H. John Adams and the Diplomacy of the American Revolution. Prudence prevents me from saying any more as this letter is to go by the post.”. NPR’s sites use cookies, similar tracking and storage technologies, and information about the device you use to access our sites (together, “cookies”) to enhance your viewing, listening and user experience, personalize content, personalize messages from NPR’s sponsors, provide social media features, and analyze NPR’s traffic. He worried that, despite his point of view “we shall have a difficult task to support the Americans declaring for separation” among the British political establishment. Answer Save. But in 1776, when news reached Britain of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the atmosphere was anything but celebratory. When news finally broke that the Americans had, in fact, declared their independence—that they planned on being their own country, no longer part of the British empire—many in the English aristocracy were horrified. British Redditors, how is the American Revolutionary War perceived in your country? One 1775 letter from a group of merchants and traders in the southwestern port city of Bristol sheds light on the economic concerns provoked by the burgeoning revolution. You may click on “Your Choices” below to learn about and use cookie management tools to limit use of cookies when you visit NPR’s sites. Townshend dismissed concerns about his letter being read by censors, writing “I have no objection to any one knowing my opinion on this subject.”. “I cannot for one, on any condition, give my assent to any of their measures in the prosecution of it,” he wrote, worrying that many such measures would be proposed at Parliament’s next session. In the United States, the Fourth of July is time to launch some fireworks and eat some hot dogs in celebration of American independence. All Rights Reserved. “As to people’s opinion here of Great Britain’s disputes with America,” he wrote, “the well meaning all agree no doubt that it is a most unhappy business for both countries and probably will prove a mortal blow to the liberties of the people of England.”, He warned that the influence of certain ambassadors might lead the Dutch to take advantage of Britain’s loss, and “prevent this country from acting a part most consistent and honourable to themselves, as well as beneficial to the liberties of Europe. During the Revolution, the British hoped these people would remain loyal. The British felt that the American Revolution was a simple conflict that they would not have a problem winning. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know now on politics, health and more, © 2020 TIME USA, LLC. British armies would demand horses, feed, food, wagons and shelter from the colonists but usually deny them the right to defend themselves. Great Britain Before the American Revolution: The British Empire was one of the most extensive empires in world history and was a product of the European Age of Discovery in the late 15 th century. When the colonies met in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774 for the First Continental Congress, Georgia did not send delegates. “Up until then, each colony had its own government which decided which taxes they would have, and collected them,” explainsWillard Sterne Randall, a professor emeritus of history at Champlain College and author of numerous works on … Honourable Thomas Townshend wrote to the Duke of Portland complaining that “the Government and Majority have drawn us into a war, that in our opinions is unjust in its Principle and ruinous in its consequences.”, As he prepared for a meeting of Parliament, of which he was a longstanding member, Townshend told the Duke the British authorities “by their violence […] have driven the Americans to extremitys.”. The American Patriots in the Thirteen Colonies defeated the British in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), gaining independence from the British Crown and establishing the United States of America, the first modern constitutional liberal democracy. “It is very melancholy to think,” Brudenell wrote, “that we must sacrifice so many brave lives, in order to put an end, to such an unnatural Rebellion.”. Brudenell wrote from London, to H.F.C. Stanley Weintraub discusses Iron Tears, his recently published history of the American Revolution from the British perspective. “[Our] fellow subjects in that part of the world are very far from having lost their affection and regard to their mother country or departed from the principles of commercial honour,” they wrote. The time is December seventeen seventy-six. The British were afraid a full-blown revolution would emerge in Ireland and made concessions. They supported the taxes since the money was going to help the British government and help pay for their own defense. We have in this single city received no less than one million bushels of wheat […].”, While they were confident that “none can profit by the continuance of this war,” the traders remained optimistic that the Americans would stay friendly if the British adopt a more conciliatory approach, despite things having been “carried to unfortunate lengths of hostility on both sides.”. After all, the Declaration of Independence was not the beginning of the American Revolution; the riot-provoking Stamp Act was passed in 1765, the Boston Tea Party took place in 1773 and the famous “shot heard ’round the world” that is seen as the start of the war was fired in 1775. Many factors played a role in the colonists' desires to fight for their independence. First, the American Revolution secured the independence of the United States from the dominion of Great Britain and separated it from the British Empire. “It is with an affliction not to be expressed and with the most anxious apprehensions for ourselves and our Posterity that we behold the growing distractions in America threaten, unless prevented by the timely interposition of your Majesty’s Wisdom and Goodness, nothing less than a lasting and ruinous Civil War,” they wrote. And on Oct. 18 1776, the Rt. Colonists in this frontier land remained threatened by Native American attacks. The “constrained voice” is a good synopsis of how the British viewed the American Revolutionary War. Not only did these issues lead to war, but they also shaped the foundation of the United States of America. Unsurprisingly, others were less sympathetic to the American rebels. The colony had prospered under royal rule, and many Georgians thought that they needed the protection of British troops against a possible Indian attack. By signing up you are agreeing to our. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, What British People in 1776 Really Thought of American Independence. “We still find among us souls who are sensitive to freedom, souls that have not been swallowed by the insulting dominion of priests, the barbarous constriction of the inquisition and the blind, despotic monarchy,” he wrote. What we do know is that Burke, when pushed, supported the American cause for independence, though he very much lamented the breakdown and breakup of the British commonwealth. Some, though, blamed the British government for what was happening, and willed their leaders to give up and abandon the war with the Americans. In 1775, war broke out between the British and the American colonists. Since the colonists refused to buy the British products, it began to affect their businesses. Again, it is possible that Burke actively disliked the principles of the American Revolution, but there exists no such evidence one way or another. Why Did the British Lose the American Revolution? Regulator Warns of Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Allergy, How People Celebrated Halloween During the 1918 Flu Pandemic. So, the British merchants urged Parliament to the repeal of the Stamp Act. So do Canadians west of Quebec – thanks to loyalists to the Crown fleeing north during the American Revolution. Favorite Answer. A petition from the Merchants, Traders, Manufacturers and other citizens of Bristol to George III; c.1775, You can unsubscribe at any time. Though Georgians opposed British trade regulations, many hesitated to join the revolutionary movement that emerged in the American colonies in the early 1770s and resulted in the American Revolutionary War (1775–83). British citizens living in England paid more taxes than the American colonists. After all, this was the same year that Americans’ Second Continental Congress sent the crown the Olive Branch Petition, a last-ditch attempt to convince the King to back off so that the British subjects in the colonies could continue to live happily under his rule alongside their counterparts in England. On Dec. 30 1776, one G.B. The American Revolution was a huge event for the United States and continues to inform politics there to this day. Therefore, Britain is a very gentle country, this culture and the way they treat the colonies which are in northern America might impact the result of revolution as well. The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution which occurred in colonial North America between 1765 and 1783. Two Reflections on the American Revolution I recapitulate why it's important that the American Revolution was not an ethno … The colonists had begun to boycott British goods. Stinchcombe, William C. The American Revolution … It was all caused by many different wars and conflicts between the British and the American Colonists. For example, in March of 1775, Chevalier Renaud Boccolari—whose own homeland of France would see a massive anti-monarchical uprising just over a decade later—wrote to peers from Modena, Italy, warning of the “awful despotism [of the English king]” and the “crowd of blind and ugly [people] with whom he has shared his unjust power for some time. A look through letters from the period, now held in the archives of the U.K.’s Nottingham University, shows that British people were divided about the outbreak of war with what was then their colony—over how bad it was, whose fault it was and what to do about it. From anxiety to a foreboding sense of the conflict being a civil war, to some admiration, and to a hardened resolve most present in their monarchy. “And tho we think America is lost: yet we wish to preserve this country,” he wrote. ... the virtual elimination of a second American army just three months after their triumph at Charleston did the British little lasting good. See details. American Revolution - American Revolution - French intervention and the decisive action at Virginia Capes: The entrance of France into the war, followed by that of Spain in 1779 and the Netherlands in 1780, effected important changes in the naval aspect of the war. They felt that they had more advantages than the colonists did. Blue L. 1 decade ago. Anyone in the United States can agree with me in saying that when we learn about the American Revolution, the British are viewed as evil, tyrannical and greedy oppressors and our Founding Fathers were portrayed as selfless and brave freedom fighters. I have a debate tomorrow and I'm on the British side, I am supposed to say how I felt about it and stuff, any help would be appreciated! Since a lot of people in the states consider it the single greatest moment in our history and it's discussed relatively frequently, I was curious to how the subject is treated across the pond. This information is shared with social media, sponsorship, analytics, and other vendors or service providers. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. On Sept. 7, 1776, Stephen Sayre of Harley Street, London, wrote to the Duke of Portland urging him and others to come to a meeting to figure out how to cut Britain’s losses. In New York Public Library on July 3, 2009 in New York City thinking them fools cowards... Was the best trained, best equipped, and most professional army in the colonies if the Stamp Act Celebrated. ’ fighting ability, thinking them fools and cowards an event of sweeping worldwide importance help the British army the. 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