The administration of George Grenville, 1763-1765, continues to divide historians. The passage of his American Stamp Act was widely debated by his contemporaries, damned by nineteenth-century Whig historians, and criticized by many historians well into the twentieth-century. The Stamp Act proved to be a political blunder which helped precipitate the outbreak of the American Revolution, and it is this, together with Grenville’s own forbidding personality, which has coloured how he has been largely remembered. Indeed, as one of his more recent biographers has noted, Grenville’s political career has been mainly judged on the comments made by his contemporary political enemies. Grenville, however, came to the premiership after spending twenty years in office and was perceived by many as an efficient and energetic minister; a capable and conscientious man who got things done. This present study adds to the recent reappraisal of Grenville’s career by investigating how he and his followers interacted with, and attempted to influence, the activities of the increasing political press during the first decade of the reign of George III. The Grenvillite pamphleteers were both well-organized and effective in their defence of their political patron, and the press activities of Thomas Whately, William Knox, Augustus Hervey, and Charles Lloyd are fully investigated here within the larger context of the political debates from 1763 to 1770. The impact East Indian issues, Irish affairs, John Wilkes, and American colonial problems had on shaping British public opinion are also examined. The book concludes, with regard to the American colonies at least, that the Grenvillite vision of empire was essentially traditional and mainstream. Stubborn, peevish, and argumentative he may have been, but Grenville was hardly the scourge of the American colonies as previously portrayed; nor was he the lone author of all the trouble between Britain and her American colonies as some American historians have suggested. George Grenville will remain a controversial figure in eighteenth-century British political history, but this study offers an examination of his political activities from a different perspective, and thus helps broaden our estimation of a minister who has been considered for too long as one of the worst prime ministers during the long reign of George III.

The administration of George Grenville, 1763-1765, continues to divide historians. The passage of his American Stamp Act was widely debated by his contemporaries, damned by nineteenth-century Whig historians, and criticized by many historians well into the twentieth-century. The Stamp Act proved to be a political blunder which helped precipitate the outbreak of the American Revolution, and it is this, together with Grenville� (TM)s own forbidding personality, which has coloured how he has been largely remembered. Indeed, as one of his more recent biographers has noted, Grenville� (TM)s political career has been mainly judged on the comments made by his contemporary political enemies. Grenville, however, came to the premiership after spending twenty years in office and was perceived by many as an efficient and energetic minister; a capable and conscientious man who got things done. This present study adds to the recent reappraisal of Grenville� (TM)s career by investigating how he and his followers interacted with, and attempted to influence, the activities of the increasing political press during the first decade of the reign of George III. The Grenvillite pamphleteers were both well-organized and effective in their defence of their political patron, and the press activities of Thomas Whately, William Knox, Augustus Hervey, and Charles Lloyd are fully investigated here within the larger context of the political debates from 1763 to 1770. The impact East Indian issues, Irish affairs, John Wilkes, and American colonial problems had on shaping British public opinion are also examined. The book concludes, with regard to the American colonies at least, that the Grenvillite vision of empire was essentially traditional and mainstream. Stubborn, peevish, and argumentative he may have been, but Grenville was hardly the scourge of the American colonies as previously portrayed; nor was he the lone author of all the trouble between Britain and her American colonies as some American historians have suggested. George Grenville will remain a controversial figure in eighteenth-century British political history, but this study offers an examination of his political activities from a different perspective, and thus helps broaden our estimation of a minister who has been considered for too long as one of the worst prime ministers during the long reign of George III.

By giving rise to new ideologies that in time transformed the political structure of much of the world, the American and French Revolutions stand as two of the most important political events in global history. The American establishment of a Republican government, and the gradual expansion of democracy that ensued, altered traditional political and social thought, thus shaping the later French Revolution and creating the core ethic of later American political values. The Enlightenment ideals of the French Revolution, as later spread by the armies of Napoleon, dissolved most traditional European notions of political authority. This encyclopedia offers current, detailed information on the people, events, movements, and ideas that defined the revolutions in France and America, as well as in other parts of the world during the late eighteenth-century Age of Revolutions. Besides numerous entries on various countries of Europe whose histories were affected by the French Revolution, such as Austria, Belgium, Germany, Poland, and Russia, the many entries covering the people, events, groups, and ideologies of Revolutionary and Napoleonic France include the following: Civil Constitution of the Clergy, Georges Jacques Danton, The Directory, Guillotine, Josephine, Empress of France, Law of Suspects, The Mountain, Prairial Insurrection, Tennis Court Oath, White Terror. Besides various entries covering American colonies/states, such as Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia, the numerous entries covering the figures, events, and ideologies of the American Revolution and Early Federal Period of the United States include the following: Abigail Adams, Boston Massacre, Constitutional Convention, William Franklin, Lexington and Concord, Actions at Loyalists, Massachusetts Government Act, Edmund Randolph, Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Finally, the encyclopedia offers various entries covering important revolutionary figures and movements that were active in other parts of the world during the period 1760-1815, including the following: Simon Bolivar, Dutch Revolutions, Haitian Revolution, Hispaniola, Latin American Revolutions, Mexican Revolution, Pugachev Rebellion, Toussaint l'Ouverture. Besides over 450 clearly written and highly informative entries, the encyclopedia also includes primary documents, a chronology, an extensive introductory essay, a bibliography, a guide to related topics, and a series of useful maps.

The Biographical Dictionary of British Prime Ministers is a wide-ranging, comprehensive guide to the political lives of Britain's prime ministers from Sir Robert Walpole to Tony Blair. Written by some of the leading authorities on British politics this authoritative dictionary provides essential information about each premiership, including facts and analytical debate. Each entry has been written to the same formula and contains: * brief biographical information outlining career history and significant dates and events * a brief summary of the significance and peculiarities of a particular prime minister followed by a more descriptive and interpretative account of his or her political life and impact on British politics * references and further reading. The Biographical Dictionary of British Prime Ministers addresses many of the key themes to understanding the role and impact of particular prime ministers such as: the political context; party management and reform; intra-party intellectual debate; and where relevant the evolution of the office of prime minister.

Britain alone could not hope to defeat the might of Napoleonic France which, through enforced conscription, had become a nation in arms. But British leaders had a long history of forging alliances to counter their rivals and when revolution ravaged France in 1793 and a levée en masse raised a huge patriotic army, it was through a coalition of monarchies that French ambitions were restrained – a coalition made possible by British gold and British industry. When Napoleon seized the reins of power in France, he too introduced conscription and, once again, it was a succession of British led and funded coalitions which eventually brought Napoleon to his knees. During the years 1793 to 1815, the British Government formed and underwrote seven coalitions that cost Britain £1,657,854,518 as the national debt tripled from £290,000,000 to £860,000,00. Of that, British subsidies to around thirty allies amounted to £65,830,228, along with staggering amounts of war supplies mass produced by British factories and shipped to allies. Britain’s leading role in Europe did not end with Waterloo. Immediately following the Sixth Coalition, and amidst the Seventh Coalition, Britain constructed, with the other great powers, a security system of cooperation and consultation called the ‘Concert of Europe’ that prevented a serious war among them for two generations. Britain’s power to underwrite those coalitions came from a related series of revolutions – agrarian, mercantile, financial, technological, manufacturing, cultural, and political that developed over the proceeding century. For many reasons that happened in Britain and not elsewhere. Of them, cultural values may be most crucial. Constraints were fewer and incentives greater for enterprising Britons to invest, invent, buy, and sell in ways that enriched themselves and their nation more than elsewhere. During the eighteenth century, Britain’s leaders mastered a virtuous power cycle of victorious wars, expanding production, captured territories and markets, and more income. During a speech before Congress in December 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called on Americans to be an ‘arsenal of democracy’ to aid Britain and other countries threatened by the imperialistic fascist powers. Britain played exactly the same role during the Napoleonic era. The Coalitions Against Napoleon explores how Britain developed and asserted the financial, manufacturing, and military power to achieve that goal.

In this, the second part of his history of the Industrial Revolution, Richard Brown examines the political and religious developments which took place in Britain between the 1780s and 1840s in terms of the aristocratic elite and through the expression of alternative radical ideologies. Opening with a discussion of the nature of history, and of Britain in 1700, it goes on to consider Britain's foreign policy, the emergence of the modern state and the mid-century 'crisis' of the 1840s. Unlike many previous works, it emphasises British not just English history. It is this diversity of experience and the focus on continuity as well as change, women as well as men, that makes this a distinctive text. Students will also find the theoretical foundations of historical narrative and analysis clearly explained.

Between 1808 and 1830, the Whigs made a remarkable transition from opposition to office that highlights important trends in early Nineteenth-Century Britain. The Whig Revival examines how a coalition between provincial interest groups and the parliamentary party established them as a viable governing party by 1830. Where earlier studies have focused on the Whigs experience in government or liberal reform movements, this work examines their years in opposition and how the struggle for power broadened the political nation beyond metropolitan elites.