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William Legge, 2nd Earl Of Dartmouth

William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth

William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth (June 20,1731 - July 7,1801) was a British statesman who is most remembered for his part in the government before and during the American Revolution. For King George III, Legge was the 2nd Secretary of State for the Colonies, serving from 1772 to 1775. He was a large donor to and the leading trustee for the English trust which would finance the establishment of Dartmouth College, formed to educate the children of the natives and of 'English youth' in the New Hampshire wilderness. It is named in his honor. The Dartmouth family lived at Sandwell Hall (since demolished) in the Sandwell Valley.

Bibliography

His role in Black Country Methodism is mentioned in David Hallam's book Eliza Asbury, the mother of Bishop Francis Asbury. Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd Earl of

June 20

June 20 is the 171st day of the year (172nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 194 days remaining.

Events


- 451- According to some sources, this was the date of the Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius' victory over Attila the Hun.
- 1214 - University of Oxford receives its charter.
- 1631 - The sack of Baltimore: the Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian pirates.
- 1685 - Monmouth Rebellion: The Duke of Monmouth declares himself King of England at Bridgwater.
- 1756 - British garrison imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.
- 1782 - The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.
- 1789 - Deputies of the French Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath
- 1791 - The Flight to Varennes began.
- 1819 - The US vessel Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. She is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, most of the journey was made under sail.
- 1837 - Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.
- 1862 - Barbu Catargiu is assassinated.
- 1863 - West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.
- 1877 - Alexander Graham Bell installs world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
- 1893 - Lizzie Borden is acquitted of murdering her stepmother and father.
- 1919 - 150 die at the Teatro Yaguez fire, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.
- 1939 - Benny Goodman's Song School ends its radio series.
- 1948 - Toast of the Town, later The Ed Sullivan Show, debuts.
- 1956 - A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashed in Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey killing 74 people
- 1960 - Independence of Mali and Senegal.
- 1963 - The so-called "red telephone" was established between Soviet Union and United States following the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- 1966 - Canada sells 336 million bushels (9.14 teragrams) of wheat to Soviet Union.
- 1969 - Jacques Chaban-Delmas becomes Prime Minister of France
- 1969 - Greg Gilbo was born
- 1977 - Oil begins to flow through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS).
- 1980 - Roberto Duran starts his classic boxing trilogy with Sugar Ray Leonard by defeating him in Canada by a decision in 15 rounds, to gain the WBC world Welterweight championship.
- 1983 - LZW patent filed in USA.
- 1990 - Asteroid Eureka discovered.
- 1991 - German parliament decides to move the capital from Bonn back to Berlin.
- 2001 - Pervez Musharraf becomes president of Pakistan
- 2001 - In Texas, USA, Andrea Yates drowns her children in a bathtub and admits to the crime. She would be sentenced to life in prison.
- 2003 - LZW patent expires in USA.
- 2003 - Formation of Wikimedia Foundation announced.
- 2004 - Ken Griffey, Jr. becomes the 20th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri.
- 2005 - Terri Schiavo's remains are buried in Clearwater, Florida.

Births


- 1005 - Ali az-Zahir, caliph (d. 1036)
- 1389 - John, Duke of Bedford, regent of England (d. 1435)
- 1566 (O.S.) - King Sigismund III of Poland (d. 1632)
- 1583 - Jacob De la Gardie, Swedish soldier and statesman (d. 1652)
- 1634 - Charles Emmanuel II of Savoy (d. 1675)
- 1642 (O.S.) - George Hickes, English minister and scholar (d. 1715)
- 1647 - John George III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1691)
- 1717 - Jacques Saly, French sculptor (d. 1776)
- 1723 - Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (d. 1816)
- 1723 - Theophilus Lindsey, English theologian (d. 1808)
- 1756 - Joseph Martin Kraus, Swedish composer (d. 1792)
- 1763 - Wolfe Tone, Irish patriot (d. 1798)
- 1771 - Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, Scottish philanthropist and entrepreneur (d. 1820)
- 1786 - Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, French poet
- 1808 - Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (d. 1888)
- 1819 - Jacques Offenbach, German composer (d. 1880)
- 1860 - Jack Worrall, Australian cricketer, footballer, and coach (d. 1937)
- 1861 - Frederick Hopkins, English biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (d. 1947)
- 1887 - Kurt Schwitters, German painter and writer (d. 1948)
- 1891 - John A. Costello, second Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland (d. 1976)
- 1899 - Jean Moulin, French Resistance leader (d. 1943)
- 1905 - Lillian Hellman, American playwright (d. 1984)
- 1906 - Catherine Cookson, British novelist (d. 1998)
- 1909 - Errol Flynn, Australian actor (d. 1959)
- 1912 - Anthony Buckeridge, English author (d. 2004)
- 1924 - Chet Atkins, American guitar player
- 1928 - Jean-Marie Le Pen, French politician
- 1930 - Magdalena Abakanowicz, Polish artist
- 1931 - Olympia Dukakis, American actress
- 1931 - Martin Landau, American actor
- 1936 - Danny Aiello, American actor
- 1940 - Eugen Drewermann, German theologian
- 1940 - John Mahoney, English actor
- 1941 - Ulf Merbold, German physicist and astronaut
- 1942 - Brian Wilson, American bass player and singer (The Beach Boys)
- 1944 - Cheryl Holdridge, American actress
- 1945 - Anne Murray, Canadian singer
- 1946 - Xanana Gusmão, President of East Timor
- 1947 - Dolores "LaLa" Brooks, American singer the Crystals
- 1947 - Candy Clark, American actress
- 1948 - Ludwig Scotty, President of Nauru
- 1949 - Lionel Richie, American musician and singer The Commodores
- 1951 - Tress MacNeille, American voice actress
- 1952 - John Goodman, American actor
- 1954 - Michael Anthony, American musician
- 1956 - Ace Andres, American musician
- 1958 - Chuck Wagner, American actor
- 1960 - John Taylor, English musician, Duran Duran
- 1960 - Jeremy Monteiro, Singaporean pianist
- 1963 - Viktor Kožený, Czech businessman
- 1967 - Nicole Kidman, Australian actress
- 1968 - Robert Rodríguez, American Film-maker
- 1970 - Russell Garcia, British field hockey player
- 1970 - Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco
- 1971 - Jeordie White, American bassist
- 1977 - Stefán H. Ófeigsson, Icelandic space engineer
- 1978 - Frank Lampard, English footballer
- 1981 - Ardian Gashi, Norwegian footballer

Deaths


- 451 - Theodorid, King of the Visigoths
- 840 - Louis the Pious, King of the Franks, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (b. 778)
- 1597 - Willem Barentsz, Dutch navigator
- 1668 - Heinrich Roth, German Sanskrit scholar (b. 1620)
- 1776 - Benjamin Huntsman, English inventor and manufacturer (b. 1704)
- 1787 - Karl Friedrich Abel, German composer (b. 1723)
- 1800 - Abraham Gotthelf Kästner, German mathematician (b. 1719)
- 1820 - Manuel Belgrano, Argentine lawyer and politician (b. 1770)
- 1837 - William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1765)
- 1866 - Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician (b. 1826)
- 1925 - Josef Breuer, Austrian psychologist (b. 1842)
- 1945 - Bruno Frank, German author (b. 1878)
- 1947 - Bugsy Siegel, American gangster (whacked) (b. 1906)
- 1958 - Kurt Alder, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
- 1993 - Vince Foster, Deputy White House Counsel (suicide) (b. 1945)
- 1995 - Emil Cioran, Romanian-born French philosopher and essayist (b. 1911)
- 1998 - Conrad Schumann, East German border guard (b. 1942)
- 1999 - Clifton Fadiman, American author (b. 1902)
- 2002 - Erwin Chargaff, Austrian biochemist (b. 1905)
- 2002 - Tinus Osendarp, Dutch runner (b. 1916)
- 2003 - Bob Stump, U.S. Congressman from Arizona (b. 1927)
- 2005 - Jack Kilby, American electrical engineer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances


- Day of The Royal Victorian Order
- Roman Empire – Festival in honor of Summanus
- Ancient Latvia – Zalu Diena
- UNHCR World Refugee Day
- Flag Day in Argentina (1938)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/20 BBC: On This Day] ---- June 19 - June 21 - May 20 - July 20 – listing of all days ko:6월 20일 ms:20 Jun ja:6月20日 simple:June 20 th:20 มิถุนายน

July 7

July 7 is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 177 days remaining.

Events


- 1456 - Joan of Arc is acquitted of heresy (having been executed in 1431).
- 1534 - European colonization of the Americas: First known exchange between Europeans and natives of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in New Brunswick.
- 1543 - French troops invade Luxembourg.
- 1798 - Quasi-War: The U.S. Congress rescinds treaties with France sparking the 'war.'
- 1799 - Ranjit Singh's men take up their positions outside Lahore.
- 1807 - Napoleonic Wars: Peace of Tilsit between France, Prussia and Russia ends the Fourth Coalition.
- 1846 - Mexican War: American troops occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena, thus beginning the United States annexation of California.
- 1863 - United States begins first military draft; exemptions cost $100
- 1865 - American Civil War: Four conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln are hanged.
- 1898 - History of United States imperialism: President of the United States William McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution annexing Hawaii as a territory of the United States.
- 1917 - Russian Revolution: Prince Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov forms Provisional Government in Russia after the deposing of the tsar.
- 1930 - Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser begins construction of the Boulder Dam (now known as Hoover Dam).
- 1937 - Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Lugou Bridge - Japanese forces invade Beijing, China.
- 1941 - World War II: American forces land in Iceland to forestall an invasion by Germany.
- 1946 - Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini becomes the first American to be canonized.
- 1947 - Downed UFO believed to be found in the Roswell UFO incident.
- 1954 - In Memphis, Tennessee, WHBQ becomes the first radio station to air an Elvis Presley record.
- 1958 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into United States law.
- 1959 - 14:28 UT Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event was used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.
- 1969 - In Canada, the Official Languages Act is adopted making the French language equal to the English language throughout the Federal government.
- 1978 - The Solomon Islands become independent from the United Kingdom.
- 1983 - Cold War: Samantha Smith, a U.S. schoolgirl, flies to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Premier Yuri Andropov
- 1991 - Yugoslav Wars: Brioni Agreement ended ten-day independence war in Slovenia against the rest of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
- 1994 - Aden is occupied by troops from North Yemen, completing the reunification of Yemen.
- 2003 - The United Communist Party of Armenia was formed.
- 2004 - The last patent on the LZW compression algorithm (in Canada) expires.
- 2005 - Terrorist explosions occur on the London Underground network and on a London Bus.

Births


- 1053 - Emperor Shirakawa of Japan (d. 1129)
- 1119 - Emperor Sutoku of Japan (d. 1164)
- 1586 - Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, English statesman (d. 1646)
- 1752 - Joseph-Marie Jacquard, French inventor (d. 1834)
- 1843 - Camillo Golgi, Italian physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1926)
- 1848 - Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, President of Brazil
- 1855 - Ludwig Ganghofer, German writer (d. 1920)
- 1860 - Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer (d. 1911)
- 1884 - Lion Feuchtwanger, German dramatist and narrator (d. 1958)
- 1887 - Marc Chagall, Russian-born painter (d. 1985)
- 1893 - Miroslav Krleža, Croatian writer (d. 1981)
- 1899 - George Cukor, American director (d. 1983)
- 1901 - Vittorio De Sica, Italian director (d. 1974)
- 1901 - Sam Katzman, American film producer (d. 1973)
- 1902 - Ted "Double Duty" Radcliffe, baseball player (d. 2005)
- 1906 - William Feller, Croatian mathematician (d.1970)
- 1906 - Leroy "Satchel" Paige, baseball player (d. 1982)
- 1907 - Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer (d. 1988)
- 1911 - Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-born composer
- 1915 - Yul Brynner, Russian-born actor (d. 1985)
- 1917 - Fidel Sánchez Hernández, President of El Salvador (d. 2003)
- 1919 - Jon Pertwee, British actor (d. 1996)
- 1922 - Pierre Cardin, French fashion designer
- 1927 - Doc Severinsen, American composer and musician
- 1932 - Josef Zawinul, Austrian musician and composer
- 1933 - Murray Halberg, New Zealand runner
- 1937 - Tung Chee-Hwa, Hong Kong administrator
- 1940 - Ringo Starr, English drummer and singer (The Beatles)
- 1941 - Michael Howard, British politician
- 1941 - Bill Oddie, English comedian and ornithologist
- 1942 - Carmen Duncan, Australian actress
- 1943 - Toto Cutugno, Italian singer
- 1945 - Michael Ancram, British politician
- 1947 - Howard Rheingold American author
- 1949 - Shelley Duvall, American actress
- 1959 - Ben Linder, American engineer (murdered) (d. 1987)
- 1966 - Gundula Krause, German folk violinist
- 1967 - Jackie Neal, American singer
- 1969 - Joe Sakic, Canadian hockey player
- 1974 - Karlis Skrastins, Latvian-born hockey player
- 1975 - Michael Voss, Australian footballer
- 1980 - Deidre Downs, American beauty queen
- 1980 - Michelle Kwan, American figure skater
- 1988 - Kaci Brown, Singer Songwriter

Deaths


- 1129 - Emperor Shirakawa, emperor of Japan (b. 1053)
- 1304 - Pope Benedict XI (b. 1240)
- 1307 - King Edward I of England (b. 1239)
- 1537 - Madeleine de Valois, queen of James V of Scotland (b. 1520)
- 1572 - King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland (b. 1520)
- 1573 - Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Italian architect (b. 1507)
- 1647 - Thomas Hooker, Connecticut colonist (b. 1586)
- 1701 - William Stoughton, American judge at the Salem witch trials (b. 1631)
- 1713 - Henry Compton, Bishop of Oxford and privy councillor (b. 1632)
- 1764 - William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, English politician (b. 1683)
- 1776 - Jeremiah Markland, English classical scholar (b. 1693)
- 1790 - François Hemsterhuis, Dutch philosopher (b. 1721)
- 1816 - Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish playwright and politician (b. 1751)
- 1855 - Konstantin Batyushkov, Russian poet (b. 1787)
- 1880 - Lydia Child, American novelist and abolitionist (b. 1802)
- 1901 - Johanna Spyri, Swiss author (b. 1827)
- 1930 - Arthur Conan Doyle, Scottish writer (b. 1859)
- 1932 - Alexander Grin, Russian novelist (b. 1880)
- 1949 - Bunk Johnson, American musician (b. 1879 or 1889)
- 1956 - Gottfried Benn, German poet (b. 1886)
- 1964 - Lillian Copeland, American athlete (b. 1904)
- 1965 - Moshe Sharett, second Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1894)
- 1967 - Vivien Leigh, English actress (b. 1913)
- 1971 - Claude Gauvreau, Canadian writer (b. 1925)
- 1971 - Ub Iwerks, American artist, director, and cartoonist (b1901)
- 1972 - Athenagoras, Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 1886)
- 1972 - King Talal of Jordan (b. 1909)
- 1973 - Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (b. 1895)
- 1973 - Veronica Lake, American actress (b. 1919)
- 1980 - Dore Schary, American film producer and writer (b. 1905)
- 1990 - Bill Cullen, American game show host (b. 1920)
- 2000 - Kenny Irwin, Jr., American race car driver (b. 1969)
- 2003 - Buddy Ebsen, American actor (b. 1908)
- 2003 - Izhak Graziani, Bulgarian-born conductor (b. 1924)
- 2005 - Casualties of the 7 July 2005 London bombings

Holidays and observances


- Bhutan - Guru Rinpoche
- Japan - Tanabata
- Roman Empire - Nonae Caprotinae festival in honor of Juno
- Russia and Ukraine - Ivan Kupala
- Solomon Islands - Independence Day (1978)
- Spain - San Fermín festival or running of the bulls, in Pamplona, Navarre.
- Tanzania - Saba Saba Day (or Peasants' Day, founding of the TANU party, 1954)
- Yemen - Unity Factory Day
- Chicago, Illinois - Smashing Pumpkins Day

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/7 BBC: On This Day] ---- July 6 - July 8 - June 7 - August 7 -- listing of all days ko:7월 7일 ms:7 Julai ja:7月7日 simple:July 7 th:7 กรกฎาคม

Britain

:This article deals with the history of the word Britain. For clarification of terminology and an overview of articles about Britain and Ireland see British Isles (terminology). The word Britain is an informal term used to refer to
- the island of Great Britain which consists of the nations of England, Scotland and Wales.
- the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland or UK,
- sometimes the Roman province called "Britain" or "Britannia" The word British generally means belonging to or associated with Britain in one of the first two senses above (i.e. the United Kingdom or the island of Great Britain). However, the term has a range of related usages, as described in this article. Etymologically, these words are closely related to Brittany, the name of the western French peninsula, and its adjective Breton.

Earliest attested references


- Pretaniké; Pretanikai nesoi (Pretanic isles) - 325 BC
- Britannia - 55 BC (Julius Caesar, Roman invasion of Britain)
- Breten - 855 (Old English Chronicle, introduction)
- Brittisc - 855 (OED)
- Grate Briteigne - 1548 (OED)
- British isles - 1550 (in Latin; map of Sebastian Munster cited in British Isles article)

Etymology

The etymology of the name Britain is thought to derive from a Celtic word, Pritani, "painted people/men", a reference to the inhabitants of the islands' use of body-paint and tattoos. If this is true, there is an interesting parallel with the name Pict, connected with a Latin word of the same meaning. The modern Welsh name for Britain is Prydain. The Q-Celtic form was Cruithin, showing that the Common Celtic singular form was qr[ui]tanos. The root is presumably that of the modern Gaelic/Irish word cruth 'shape, form'. It has also been postulated that Britain may derive from the Celtic goddess Brigid; the form of the word, however, is against this postulation. In 325 BC the Greek explorer Pytheas of Massalia visited a group of islands which he called Pretaniké, the principal ones being Albionon (Albion) and Ierne (Erin). The records of this visit date from much more recent times, so there is room for these details to be disputed, but it does seem to attest pre-Roman use of the name by Celtic-speaking inhabitants of the islands - or the names used by the Phoenecians Pytheas went with. The Roman geographer Ptolemy called the larger island Megale Brettania (Great Britain), and the smaller island Micra Bretannia (Little Britain).

Britain and Brittany

The original reference seems to have been to the territory in which the Brythonic languages were spoken, which more or less coincided with the Roman province of Britannia, an area equivalent to modern England, Wales and southern Scotland. In the Early Middle Ages speakers of a Brythonic language which later evolved into Breton migrated from Cornwall to Armorica, Western France, possibly because of pressure from Saxon invasions. This is why different forms of the same name apply to insular Britain and continental Brittany. In French the similarity is even more obvious: Bretagne and Grande Bretagne. Geoffrey of Monmouth used the names Britannia minor to refer to the Armorican region and Britannia major for the island. The element great in the term Great Britain thus simply means large, to make the distinction from Brittany.

Historical evolution of the term Britain

The kingdoms established on the island of Great Britain were perceived to be dominant over the whole archipelago, which thus came to be known as the British Isles. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England, the queen's astrologer and alchemist, John Dee, wrote mystical volumes predicting a British Empire and using the terms Great Britain and Britannia. After Elizabeth's death in 1603 the kingdoms shared one King, James VI of Scotland and I of England. On 20 October 1604 he proclaimed himself "King of Great Brittaine" (thus including Wales and also avoiding the cumbersome title "King of England and Scotland"). This title was eventually adopted formally in 1707 when the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed. Politically, then, British has been used to described someone or something from the United Kingdom, in its various forms, since 1707. Briton or Brit are also used colloquially in this form, though the use of Briton here is incorrect. Since its formation, the kingdom was enlarged in 1801 by the addition of the island of Ireland - already ruled by the British monarchy - to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and was then reduced in 1922 by the independence of the Irish Free State, now the Republic of Ireland. The name of the kingdom changed accordingly, in 1927 becoming The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. British was also used to describe members of nations that formed part of the British Empire. This use now, however, could be seen as justifying the colonial era, even if only applied historically.

Modern use of the term 'British'

The modern use of the term 'British' is as an adjective to describe someone or something from the United Kingdom. It is officially used as the term to describe the nationality of a citizen of the United Kingdom. Irish Nationalists may reject this term as offensive, as it is used to describe Irish people in Northern Ireland. Many people from England, Scotland and Wales also dislike the term, preferring to define themselves as natives of their own particular country. It is also frequently used to describe residents of the United Kingdom's current colonies. This may still offend some people, though since the British Overseas Territories Act 2002 all residents of the United Kingdom's remaining colonies have been eligible for British citizenship, making the term more apt. British occurs in the legal term British Islands . This was coined to describe all of the islands of the British Isles, exlcuding those that form part of the Republic of Ireland, when they act together as a political whole. Geographically, the term can be used in various ways:
- To describe someone from the island of Great Britain
- In the term British Isles, the traditional term for the entire archipelago of islands that lie off the north west coast of France, of which Great Britain and Ireland are the two biggest. Note that this is not intended to imply that all of these islands are part of the United Kingdom, for many of them are part of the Republic of Ireland. However, confusion caused by this term can lead to offense.
- The term has historically been used to describe someone or something from the British Isles. Due to the above mentioned potential for offense, this rarely happens today. For example the British Lions a rugby team which draws players from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland has been renamed to the British and Irish Lions.
- Sometimes British applies to an area or territory currently or formerly governed by or a dependent territory of the United Kingdom, for example the British Virgin Islands, the British Indian Ocean Territory, or British Columbia which is now a province of Canada.

Brutus of Troy

In keeping with the mediaeval penchant for etymologising country names in terms of eponomous heroes, English historians of the late mediaeval and early modern periods charted the history of the nation from Brutus of Troy, supposedly a hero of the Trojan war who founded Britain just as Aeneaus' descendant Romulus founded Rome, Frankus France, and so forth. The life of Brutus, anglicised as Brute, was recorded in the literary tradition of the Prose Brute. This was long accepted as the etymology of Britain.

See also


- List of country name etymologies
- List of United Kingdom topics
- British Isles
- United Kingdom
- Great Britain
- Kingdom of Great Britain
- Constitutional status of Cornwall The Cornish question
- Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542 merging the Kingdom of England and the Principality of Wales
- Act of Union 1707 merging Scotland and England to form Great Britain
- History of Britain
- History of Wales
- History of Scotland
- History of England
- British Kings
- List of British monarchs

Sources and further reading


- A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World, 3000 BC - 1603 AD by Simon Schama, BBC/Miramax, 2000 ISBN 0786866756
- A History of Britain, Volume 2: The Wars of the British 1603-1776 by Simon Schama, BBC/Miramax, 2001 ISBN 0786866756
- A History of Britain - The Complete Collection on DVD by Simon Schama, BBC 2002
- The Isles, A History by Norman Davies, Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN 0195134427
- Shortened History of England by G. M. Trevelyan Penguin Books ISBN 0140233237
- Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English by Eric Partridge, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1966

External links


- [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/ British History Online] Category:British Isles Category:History of Britain Category:Europe simple:Britain

American Revolution

The American Revolution is the series of events, ideas, and changes that resulted in the political separation of thirteen colonies in North America from the British Empire and the creation of the United States of America. The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) was one part of the revolution, but the revolution began before the first shot was fired at Lexington and Concord and continued after the British surrender at Yorktown. "The Revolution was effected before the War commenced," wrote John Adams. "The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people." The precise nature and extent of the revolution is a matter of interpretation. It is generally agreed that the revolution originated around the time of the French and Indian War (1754–1763), and ended with the election of George Washington as the first President of the United States in 1789. Beyond that, interpretations vary. At one end of the spectrum is the view that the American Revolution was not "revolutionary" at all; that it did not radically transform colonial society, but 'simply replaced a distant government with a local one'. The opposite view is that the American Revolution was a unique and radical event, producing significant changes that had a profound impact on world history. Most current interpretations fall somewhere in-between these two positions. 1789, and the orange region was claimed by Spain. Note that this map does not show the bulk of British North America of that time.]]

Origins

In the early 1760s, Great Britain possessed a vast empire on the North American continent. In addition to the thirteen British colonies, victory in the Seven Years' War had given Great Britain claim over New France (Canada), Spanish Florida, and the Native American lands east of the Mississippi River. A war against France's former Indian allies—Pontiac's Rebellion—had, if not conquered, at least 'pacified' the western frontier. At this time, most white colonists in America considered themselves loyal subjects of the British Crown, with the same rights and obligations as Englishmen in Britain

Government

Main article: Colonial government in America Colonial government in America]

Philosophy and radical thought

The Enlightenment elevated natural philosophy, and began to replace arguments born of tradition and authority with those based upon observation and independent reasoning. The implications of the earlier scientific revolution began to have a greater effect on everyday life and in the conscious thought of men everywhere. Increased publication and communications between like-minded people opened up new areas to question and consideration. The early works of thinkers like John Locke became the analysis of men like Montesquieu. The "deist" views of several of the Founding Fathers of the United States, and their views on the proper form of government have roots in this European Enlightenment, and were a source for ideas regarding separation of church and state and other liberties. In addition, the ideas of "social contract" and the "Law of Nature" espoused by John Locke and others, gained wide acceptance in thought.

Religious trends

The Great Awakening was the American extension to the earlier religious revivals in Europe. It called into question the authority of established religious institutions; especially, but not exclusively, the Church of England, whose authority many of the colonists had come to New England to escape. The revival placed emphasis upon individual conscience and experience as the source of value in religious experience. Socially, there was also a strong element of 'class' revolt: God worked through grace that was given to every man or woman, regardless of station or level of education. This was a direct challenge to upper-class, aristocratic assumptions about the deference due to authority— it was a model of revolutionary thought to come; it was also the first event that swept through all the colonies, from New England to the Carolinas, as a generally common experience.

Road to rebellion

After the French and Indian War and Pontiac's Rebellion, the British government sought to overhaul its expansive North American possessions. In order to make the Empire more stable and profitable, new economic and land distribution policies were implemented. Specifically, the new British policies included the understandable desire of the crown that the colonists would shoulder a greater share of the burdens of war and the cost of their own defense, as well as the curtailment of smuggling with the colonies of the West Indies, the payment of royal tariffs and the exclusive trade with the British homeland. Colonial resentment of these new policies grew steadily throughout the decade, and had a significant impact on the emergence of "Americanism" and the outbreak of the American Revolution.

Economic disputes, 1760-70

The British national debt had risen to alarming levels during the war years and so in 1760 the Crown began a series of economic initiatives designed to extract more revenue from the colonies. These policies were 'justifiable', the reasoning went, because the colonists were enjoying the benefits of the peace that had been won. the Crown In theory, Great Britain already regulated the economies of the colonies through the Navigation Acts, but widespread evasion of these laws had long been tolerated. Now, through the use of open-ended search warrants (Writs of Assistance), strict enforcement became the practice. In 1761, Massachusetts lawyer James Otis argued that the writs violated the constitutional rights of the colonists. He lost the case, but John Adams later wrote, "American independence was then and there born." In 1763, Patrick Henry argued the Parson's Cause case. Clerical pay had been tied to the price of tobacco by Virginia legislation. When the price of tobacco skyrocketed after a bad crop in 1758, the Virginia legislature passed the Two-Penny Act to stop clerical salaries from inflating as well. In 1763, King George III vetoed the Two-Penny Act. Patrick Henry defended the law in court and argued "that a King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his people, degenerated into a Tyrant and forfeits all right to his subjects' obedience." In 1764, British Prime Minister George Grenville's Sugar Act and Currency Act created economic hardship in the colonies. Protests led to the boycott of British goods, and to the emergence of the popular slogan "no taxation without representation," in which colonists argued that only their colonial assemblies, and not Parliament, could levy taxes on them. Committees of correspondence were formed in the colonies to coordinate resistance to paying the taxes. In previous years, the colonies had shown little inclination towards collective action. Grenville's policies were bringing them together. A milestone in the Revolution occurred in 1765, when Grenville passed the Stamp Act as a way to finance the quartering of troops in North America. The Stamp Act required all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards in the colonies to carry a tax stamp. Colonial protest was widespread. Secret societies known as the Sons of Liberty were formed in every colony, and used propaganda, intimidation, and mob violence to prevent the enforcement of the Stamp Act. The furor culminated with the "Stamp Act Congress", which sent a formal protest to Parliament in October of 1765. Parliament responded by repealing the Stamp Act, but pointedly declared its legal authority over the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.” declared its legal authority was designed to inflame opposition to the military occupation of Boston.]] The sequel was not long in coming. In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, placing taxes on a number of common goods imported into the colonies, including glass, paint, lead, paper, and tea. In response, colonial leaders organized boycotts of these British imports. The Liberty, a ship belonging to colonial merchant John Hancock, was suspected of smuggling and was seized by customs officials in Boston on June 10, 1768. Angry protests on the street led customs officials, fearing for their safety, to report to London that Boston was in a state of insurrection. British troops began to arrive in Boston in October of 1768. Tensions continued to mount; culminating in the "Boston Massacre" on March 5, 1770, when British soldiers of the 29th Regiment of Foot fired into an angry mob, killing five. Revolutionary agitators like Samuel Adams used the event to stir up popular resistance, but after the trial of the soldiers, who were defended by John Adams, tensions diminished. The Townshend Acts were repealed in 1770 after much protesting, and it was still theoretically possible that further bloodshed in the colonies might be avoided. However, the British government had left one tax from the Townshend Acts in place as a symbolic gesture of their right to tax the colonies—the tax on tea. For the revolutionaries, who stood firm on the principle that only their colonial representatives could levy taxes on them, it was still "one tax too many". This resulted in the Boston Tea Party.

Western land dispute

The Proclamation of 1763 sought to limit the conflicts between Native Americans and the English settlers by restricting settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. However, groups of settlers, led for example by Daniel Boone, continued to move into the region beyond the Proclamation Line and fought violently with the Shawnees and other peoples inhabiting the area. Furthermore, the Quebec Act of 1774 extended Quebec's boundaries to the Ohio River, reestablished French civil law, and instituted toleration for Roman Catholics in that territory, an action which horrified some colonials, who had come to New England to establish their own protestant sects. Proposals to post British regulars to man forts in the west further disquieted Americans eager to occupy Indian land. protestant

Crises, 1772-75


- Gaspée Affair
- Tea Act of 1773.
- Boston Tea Party - December 16, 1773
- "Intolerable Acts" of 1774.
- The First Continental Congress convened on September 5, 1774 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and endorsed the Suffolk Resolves, which declared the Intolerable Acts to be unconstitutional, called for the people to form militias, and for Massachusetts to form a revolutionary government. Joseph Galloway's Plan of Union is defeated.
- Battle of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775
- Second Continental Congress convenes on May 10, 1775. :
- Olive Branch Petition -- July 5, 1775, one final attempt by the Continental Congress to appeal to King George to redress their grievances and avoid more bloodshed. The King refuses even to receive the petition.

Choosing sides

1775) originally appeared during the French and Indian War, but was recycled to encourage the American colonies to unite against British rule.]] The American revolutionaries, known as Patriots (or Whigs or rebels), included many shades of opinion. Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and George Washington represented a socially conservative faction that would later take shape as the Federalist party and are traditionally characterized as preoccupied with preserving the wealth and power of the "better sorts" of colonial society. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine are usually portrayed as representing the less economically affluent side of society, and political equality. Among other dissenting minorities, a party known as the "anti-federalists", led by George Mason, considered the Constitution of the United States to be a dangerously flawed document, one which would cause greater tyranny than either Parliament or the British Crown; they walked out of the Constitutional Convention without signing it. A great many American colonists remained loyal to the British Crown; these became known as Loyalists (or 'Tories', or 'King's men'). Loyalists were often of the same well-to-do social circle that produced the right wing of the Patriots (for example Thomas Hutchinson); however, the Scottish highlanders of the Mohawk Valley and the frontiersmen of Georgia included a large number of poorer King's men. Some Loyalists were American Indians, notably Joseph Brant, who led a mixed band of Indians and white farmers and laborers in the Loyalist cause. After the war, United Empire Loyalists became a central component of the populations of the Abaco islands (in the Bahamas), the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Ontario, and Freetown, Sierra Leone, where many of them fled to escape persecution in the colonies.

Class differences among the Patriots

Just as there were rich and poor Loyalists, the Patriots were a 'mixed lot', and often had different aims for the revolution. Wealthy Patriots viewed independence as a means of freeing themselves from British taxation and limitations on taking western land, but had every intention of remaining in control of the resulting nation. Many craftsmen, small merchants and small farmers, however, were looking at independence as a means of reducing the power and privilege of the elite. Wealthy Patriots knew that they needed the support of the lower classes, but were fearful of their more radical democratic aims. John Adams (an elite more by education than by wealth) attacked Thomas Paine's Common Sense for the "absurd democratical notions" it proposed.

Women

Common Sense] The boycott of British goods would have been entirely unworkable without the willing participation of American women: women made the bulk of household purchases, and the boycotted items were largely household items such as tea and cloth. And as cloth was still a basic necessity, for the boycott to work, women would have to return to spinning and weaving, skills that had fallen into disuse. In 1769, the women of Boston produced 40,000 skeins of yarn, and 180 women in Middletown, Massachusetts wove 20,522 yards of cloth. As the Revolution progressed and economic disruption deepened, women participated directly in the food riots and tar and feathering that was the people's response to price gouging by merchants, Loyalist and Patriot alike. On July 24, 1777, Thomas Boyleston, a Patriot merchant who was withholding coffee and sugar from the market waiting for prices to rise, was confronted by a crowd of 100 or more women, who seized the keys to his warehouse and distributed the coffee themselves while a large crowd of men stood by and watched, dumbfounded.

Writing the state constitutions

By 1776, the colonies had overthrown their existing government, closing courts and driving British agents and governors from their homes, and they had elected conventions and "legislatures" that existed outside of any legal framework whatsoever— new constitutions were desperately needed in each colony to replace the superseded royal charters. On January 5, 1776, New Hampshire ratified the first state constitution, six months before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Then, in May, 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority. Virginia, South Carolina, and New Jersey created their constitutions before July 4. Rhode Island and Connecticut simply took their existing royal charters and deleted all references to the crown. The new states had to decide not only what form of government to create, they first had to decide how to select those who would craft the constitutions and how the resulting document would be ratified. This would be just the start of a process that would pit conservatives against radicals in each state. In states where the wealthy exerted firm control over the process, such as Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New York and Massachusetts, the result was constitutions that featured:
- substantial property qualifications for voting and even more substantial requirements for elected positions (though New York and Maryland lowered property qualifications);
- bicameral legislatures, with the upper house as a check on the lower;
- strong governors, with veto power over the legislature and substantial appointment authority;
- few or no restraints on individuals holding multiple positions in government;
- the continuation of state-established religion. In states where the less affluent had organized sufficiently to have significant power, especially Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Vermont, the resulting constitutions embodied:
- universal manhood suffrage, or minimal property requirements for voting or holding office (New Jersey went so far as to enfranchise women, a radical step that they retracted 25 years later); Vermont
- strong, unicameral legislatures;
- relatively weak governors, without veto powers, and little appointing authority;
- prohibition against individuals holding multiple government posts;
- disestablishment of religion. Naturally, the fact that conservatives or radicals held sway in a state did not mean that the side with less power accepted the result quietly. In Pennsylvania, the propertied class was horrified by their new constitution (Benjamin Rush called it "our state dung cart"), while in Massachusetts, voters twice rejected the constitution that was presented for ratification; it was ultimately ratified only as a result of the legislature tinkering with the third vote. The radical provisions of Pennsylvania's constitution were to last only fourteen years— in 1790, conservatives gained power in the state legislature, called a new constitutional convention, and wrote a new constitution that substantially reduced universal white-male suffrage, gave the governor veto power and patronage appointment authority, and added an upper house with substantial wealth qualifications to the unicameral legislature. Thomas Paine called it a constitution unworthy of America.

War for independence, 1775-83

Benjamin Rush Main article: American Revolutionary War Thomas Paine produced a pamphlet entitled Common Sense arguing that the only solution to the problems with Britain would be republicanism and independence from Great Britain.
- United States Declaration of Independence
- Articles of Confederation Articles of Confederation

America after the war


- Shays' Rebellion - 1786
- Northwest Indian War (1785-1795)
- The Constitutional Convention of 1787 The American Revolution entrenched several noteworthy innovations: the separation of church and state, which ended the special privileges of the Anglican Church in the South and the Congregationalist Church in New England; a discourse of liberty, individual rights and equality which would prove highly appealing in Europe; the idea that government should be by consent of the governed (including the right of rebellion against tyranny); the delegation of power through written constitutions; and the notion that colonial peoples of the Americas could become self-governing nations in their own rights.

The impact on British North America

For tens of thousands of inhabitants of the Thirteen Colonies, the victory of the revolutionaries was followed by exile. Approximately fifty thousand United Empire Loyalists fled to the remaining British colonies in North America, such as the Province of Quebec, concentrating in the Eastern Townships, and also Upper Canada (now known as Ontario), as well as in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia - where their presence would result in the creation of New Brunswick. Thus, the seeds of the French-English duality in British North America, which has been arguably the most prominent political and cultural feature of what would one day become Canada were sown.

Revolution beyond America

The American Revolution was the first wave of the Atlantic Revolutions that would also take hold in the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Latin American wars of liberation. Aftershocks would also be felt in Ireland in the 1798 rising, in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and in the Netherlands. The Revolution had a strong immediate impact in Great Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, and France. Many British and Irish Whigs had been openly indulgent to the Patriots in America, and the Revolution was the first lesson in politics for many European radicals who would later take on active roles during the era of the French Revolution. Jefferson's Declaration had [http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/chap3a.html an immediate impact] on the French Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen of 1789. The American Revolution affected the rest of the world. The thinkers of the Enlightenment only wrote that common people had the right to overthrow unjust governments. The American Revolution was a case of practical success, which provided the rest of the world with a 'working model'. The American Revolution set an example to the people in Europe and other parts of the world. It encouraged the people to realize they had rights independent of the sovereign; it promoted republicanism to overthrow monarchs. It incited people to fight for their rights, and it showed them that it was possible to win even against the world's foremost power, Great Britain. Nowhere was the influence more profound than in Latin America, where American writings and the model of a colony that actually broke free and thrived decisively shaped the struggle for independence. Historians of Latin America have identified many links to the U.S. model . See [http://books.google.com/books?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&id=0QghsDsSCB4C&pg=PA45&lpg=PA45&dq=jefferson&prev=http://books.google.com/books%3Fq%3Djefferson%2Bindependence%2Blatin%2Bamerica&sig=v0afdyhrNgB42XLqhBEB9IQhCDU John Lynch, "The Origins of Spanish American Independence," in Cambridge History of Latin America Vol. 3 (1985), pp 45-46]

Legacy and interpretations


- American exceptionalism, Exceptionalism

See also


- British colonization of the Americas
- Founding Fathers of the United States
- Industrial Revolution
- List of important people in the era of the American Revolution
- Second American Revolution
- Timeline of United States revolutionary history (1760-1789)

Further reading

Origins: :
- Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution. Harvard University Press, 1967. ISBN 0674443012. :
- Hawke, David. The Colonial Experience. Bobbs-Merrill, 1966. ISBN 0023518308. :
- Miller, John C. Origins of the American Revolution. Little, Brown, 1943; reprinted Stanford University Press, 1959. ISBN 0804705933; 1991 paperback edition: ISBN 0804705941. :
- Nash, Gary B. The Urban Crucible: The Northern Seaports and the Origins of the American Revolution. Harvard University Press, 1986. ISBN 0674930592. :
- Nash, Gary B. The Unknown American Revolution: The Unruly Birth of Democracy and the Struggle to Create America. Viking, 2005. ISBN 0670034207. :
- Wood, Gordon S. The Radicalism of the American Revoluiton: How a Revolution Transformed a Monarchical Society into a Democratic One Unlike Any That Had Ever Existed. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. ISBN 0679404937.
- Purcell, L. Edward. "Who Was Who in the American Revolution" (1993)

External links


- [http://www.americanrevolution.com The American Revolution at americanrevolution.com] - historical information, documents, pictures, and more
- [http://www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/ PBS Television Series] ja:アメリカ独立戦争 ko:미국 독립전쟁 Category:American Revolution Category:Rebellions in the United States Category:The Enlightenment Category:Revolutions

George III

George III (George William Frederick) (4 June 1738 – 29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain, and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. He was concurrently Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and thus Elector (and later King) of Hanover. The Electorate became the Kingdom of Hanover on 12 October 1814. George was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover, but the first to be born in Britain and use English as his first language. During George III's reign, Britain lost many of its colonies in North America, which became the United States. Also during his reign, the realms of Great Britain and Ireland united to form the United Kingdom. Later in his reign George III suffered from recurrent and eventually permanent mental illness. It is thought now that he suffered from mental and nervous disorders as a consequence of the blood disease porphyria, which has struck several British monarchs. Recently, owing to studies showing high levels of the poison arsenic in King George's hair, arsenic is also thought to be a possible cause of King George's insanity and health problems. After a final relapse in 1811, George's eldest son, The Prince George, Prince of Wales governed as Prince Regent. Upon George's death, the Prince of Wales succeeded his father to become George IV. George III has been nicknamed Farmer George, for "his plain, homely, thrifty manners and tastes".

Early life

HRH Prince George of Wales was born prematurely at Norfolk House in London at 07:45 on 4 June 1738. He was the son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and therefore the grandson of George II. Prince George's mother was Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. George II and the Prince of Wales had an extremely poor relationship. Prince George of Wales was consequently isolated from court in his early years. In 1751, the Prince of Wales died from a head injury, leaving Prince George the Dukedom of Edinburgh. The new Duke of Edinburgh was Heir Apparent to the Throne, and was subsequently created Prince of Wales. His mother, the then-Dowager Princess of Wales, mistrusted her father-in-law; thus, she kept the Prince of Wales separate from his grandfather. An important influence on the new Prince of Wales' childhood was John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, who would later serve as Prime Minister.

Marriage

George, Prince of Wales inherited the Crown when his grandfather, George II, died on 25 October 1760. After his accession, a search throughout Europe ensued for a suitable wife. On 8 September 1761, the King married Princess Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, London. A fortnight later, both were crowned at Westminster Abbey. It is said that George was smitten with Lady Sarah Lennox, daughter of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, and actually winced when he first saw the homely Charlotte, whom he met on their wedding day. However, he gamely went ahead with his marriage vows, and, remarkably, never took a mistress (in contrast with both his Hanoverian predecessors). They had fifteen children—nine sons and six daughters—more than any other monarch in British history. Two of his sons became Kings of the United Kingdom; another became King of Hanover; a daughter became Queen of Württemberg. George was, falsely, said to have married a Quakeress named Hannah Lightfoot on 17 April 1759, prior to his marriage to Charlotte. If such a marriage had existed, then his marriage to Charlotte would have been bigamous and all of George's successors would have been usurpers. But no legal marriage to Lightfoot could have occurred. Hannah Lightfoot was already married to Isaac Axelford in 1753; she died in 1759, and therefore could not have produced legitimate children from a marriage in April of 1759. George's marriage to Charlotte was therefore clearly not bigamous. The "marriage" to Hannah Lightfoot was mentioned in the 1866 trial of the daughter of impostress Olive Wilmot, who claimed to be "Princess Olive." A forged marriage certificate produced at her trial was impounded in 1866 and studied by the Attorney General. It is now in the Royal Archives in Windsor Castle.

Conflict in North America

The rest of the 1760s was marked by bureaucratic instability, which led to denunciations of George III by the Whigs as an autocrat in the manner of Charles I. The incompetent Lord Bute (who had probably been appointed only because of his favourability to George's views on royal power) resigned in 1763, allowing the Whigs to return to power. Later that year, the British government under George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763 that placed a boundary upon the westward expansion of the American colonies. The Proclamation's goal was to force colonists to negotiate with the Native Americans for the lawful purchase of the land and, therefore, to reduce the costly frontier warfare that had erupted over land conflicts. The Proclamation Line, as it came to be known, was incredibly unpopular with the Americans and ultimately became another wedge between the colonists and the British government which would eventually lead to war. With the American colonists generally unburdened by British taxes, it was becoming increasingly difficult for the crown to pay for its military excursions and the defense of the American colonies from native uprisings. So, after George Grenville became Prime Minister, he introduced the Stamp Act, which levied a stamp duty on all printed paper in the British colonies in North America. Grenville attempted to reduce George III to a mere puppet. The King requested William Pitt the Elder to accept the office of Prime Minister, but was unsuccessful. George then settled on Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, and dismissed Grenville in 1765. Lord Rockingham repealed Grenville's unpopular Stamp Act. He faced considerable internal dissent, and was replaced in 1766 by William Pitt, whom George created Earl of Chatham. Lord Chatham proved to be pro-American, criticising his colleagues' harsh attitudes towards the American colonists. George III, however, deemed that the chief duty of the colonists was to submit to him and to Great Britain and he resented the Americans' rebellious attitude. Lord Chatham fell ill 1767, allowing Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton to take over government (although he did not formally become Prime Minister until 1768). Political attacks led him to leave office in 1770, once again allowing the Tories to return to power. The government of the new Prime Minister, Frederick North, Lord North, was chiefly concerned with the American Revolution. The Americans grew increasingly hostile to British attempts to levy taxes in the colonies. In the Boston Tea Party in 1773, a Boston mob threw more than 340 crates of tea into Boston Harbour as a political protest. In response, Lord North introduced the Punitive Acts (also known as the Coercive Acts or the Intolerable Acts by the colonists). The Port of Boston was shut down and legislative elections in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay were suspended. Armed conflict broke out in America in 1775. Some delegates to the Second Continental Congress drafted a peace proposal known as the Olive Branch Petition, but fighting had already erupted when the document arrived in England. On July 4 1776 (American Independence Day), the colonies declared their independence from the Crown. The Declaration of Independence made several political charges against the British king, legislature, and populace. Amongst George's other offences, the Declaration charges, "He has abdicated Government here … He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people." George III was indignant when he learnt of the opinions of the colonists. Although in the subsequent American Revolutionary War Great Britain fared well to begin with, the tide turned after the surrender of the British Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga. In 1778, France signed a treaty of friendship with the new United States. Lord North asked to resign power to William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, whom he thought more capable. George III, however, would hear nothing of such suggestions; he suggested that Lord Chatham serve as a subordinate minister in Lord North's administration. Lord Chatham refused to cooperate, and died later in the same year. George III was then at war with France, and in 1779 he was also at war with Spain. George III obstinately tried to keep Great Britain at war with the rebels in America, despite the opinions of his own ministers. Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Gower and Thomas Thynne, 3rd Viscount Weymouth both resigned rather than suffer the indignity of being associated with the war. Lord North advised George III that his opinion matched that of his ministerial colleagues, but stayed in office. In 1781, the news of Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis' capitulation reached London; the Tory Lord North subsequently resigned in 1782. George III accepted the defeat in North America, and authorised the negotiation of a peace. The Treaty of Paris and the associated Treaty of Versailles were ratified in 1783. The former treaty provided for the recognition of the new United States by Great Britain. The latter required Great Britain to give up Florida to Spain and to grant access to the waters of Newfoundland to France.

Constitutional struggle

Newfoundland Several changes were made to the structure of the British government after the loss of the colonies. Since 1660, there had been two chief cabinet officials, known as the Secretary of State for the Southern Department and the Secretary of State for the Northern Department. The former was responsible for Southern England, Ireland, and relations with non-Protestant European nations, and the latter for Northern England, Scotland, and relations with Protestant European nations. The Secretary of State for the Southern Department was formerly responsible for the colonies, but this responsibility was transferred to the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1768. All three positions were abolished after the British lost in North America. They were replaced with two new positions, those of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Secretary of State for the Home Department. In 1782, after twelve years in office, the ministry of Lord North ended. The Whig Lord Rockingham became Prime Minister for the second time, but died within months. The King then chose William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne to replace him. Charles James Fox, however, refused to serve under Lord Shelburne, and demanded the appointment of William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. In 1783, the House of Commons forced Lord Shelburne from office and was replaced by the Fox-North Coalition. The Duke of Portland became Prime Minister; Fox and Lord North, who held the offices of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Secretary of State for the Home Department, respectively, were the individuals who truly held power, with the Duke of Portland acting as a figurehead. George III was distressed by the attempts to force him to appoint ministers not of his liking. But the Portland ministry quickly built up a majority in the House of Commons, and could not be easily displaced. He was, however, extremely dissatisfied when the government introduced the India Bill. Immediately after the House of Commons passed it, George informed the House of Lords that he would regard any peer who voted for the bill as his enemy. On 17 December 1783, the bill was rejected by the Lords; on the next day, the Portland ministry was dismissed, and William Pitt the Younger was appointed Prime Minister. George III dissolved Parliament in March 1784; the subsequent elections gave Pitt a firm mandate.

William Pitt

For George III, Pitt's appointment was a great victory. The King felt that the scenario proved that he still had the power to appoint Prime Ministers without having to rely on any parliamentary group. Throughout Pitt's ministry, George eagerly supported many of his political aims. To aid Pitt, George created new peerage dignities at an unprecedented rate. The new peers flooded the House of Lords and allowed Pitt to maintain a firm majority. During Pitt's ministry, George III was extremely popular. The public supported the exploratory voyages to the Pacific Ocean which he sanctioned. George also aided the Royal Academy with large grants from his private funds. The British people admired their King for remaining faithful to his wife, unlike the two previous Hanoverian monarchs. Great strides were made in