This dissertation explores and analyzes anti-imperial sentiments in Britain throughout the long eighteenth century. During this period of major British state formation and imperial expansion, there were a surprisingly large number of observers who voiced notable and varied concerns and opposition towards numerous overseas ventures, yet who have not since received significant attention within the historical record. Indeed, many critics of British imperialism and empire-building, from within Britain itself, formed extensive and thoughtful assessments of their own nation’s conduct in the world. Criticism ranged widely, from those who opposed the high economic costs of imperial expansion to those worried that a divine retribution would rain down upon Britain for injustices committed by Britons abroad. Such diversity of anti-imperial perspectives came from a clearly enlightened minority, whose limited influences upon broader public opinions had little effect on policies at the time. Successive British administrations and self-interested Britons who sought their fortunes and adventures abroad, often with little regard for the damage inflicted on those whom they encountered, won the political debate over empire-building. However, in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, the perspectives of many of these individuals would increasingly become highly regarded. Later generations of reformers, particularly “Little Englanders”, or classical liberals and radicals, would look back reverently to these critics to draw inspiration for refashioning the empire and Britain’s position in the world. These eighteenth century ideas continued to present powerful counter-arguments to the trends then in place and served to inspire those, in the centuries that followed, who sought to break the heavy chains of often despotic colonial rule and mitigate the ravages of war and conquest.

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This dissertation explores the point and process by which American colonists transformed from subjects to citizens. Upon learning of Boston radicals’ destruction of East India tea, Parliament passed the Coercive Acts, a collection of punitive measures designed to rein in that seaport town. In response, American communities from Massachusetts to Georgia drafted resistance resolutions calling on colonists to refrain from importing British merchandise, exporting American resources, and partaking in frivolous pastimes. Boston’s suffering, these communities declared, presented a threat to every colonist. Grassroots activists next called for a Continental Congress to coordinate and enforce a pan-colonial resistance movement to pressure Parliament’s repeal of the Coercive Acts. Once convened, delegates of the First Continental Congress drafted the Articles of Association which incorporated many directives already circulating in the town and county resolutions. Traditionally presented as a colonial boycott of British manufactures, the Association regulated cultural as well as commercial practices. It advised colonists to avoid waste and extravagance and singled out horse racing, cockfighting, theatergoing, and other displays of leisure as examples of moral decay. Echoing the grassroots resolutions, Congress also urged colonists to commit to nonimportation and non-consumption of British wares and nonexportation of American goods. Through these directives, Congress sought to achieve imperial reconciliation and colonial moral regeneration, yet its commitment to self-preservation reveals it focused more on restoring American virtue than returning harmony to the empire. To enforce the Articles of Association, Congress recommended towns and counties to create Committees of Inspection and Observation. Composed of locally elected men, these committees regulated their neighbors’ behavior and condemned violators of the Association as enemies of America. Using colonial newspapers, private letters, pamphlets, Congress’s official journals, Peter Force’s American Archives, and a wealth of other primary and secondary literature, this dissertation reveals how the Continental Association organized local communities of suffering. Members of these communities voluntarily suspended cultural and commercial practices to protect political identities they felt were in danger. In the process, those sacrificing in the common cause separated from the broader imperial community and formed an American political community. / History

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My thesis examines the background and significance of the women who participated in the Edenton Tea Party, which took place in 1774. By examining this important event and the community that supported it, I illuminate the common political and domestic struggles of white women in the American Revolution as well as how they changed. The time period includes Edenton's part in the colony's participation in the war, the women's demonstration, their subsequent wartime experiences, and the legacy of their unprecedented rebellion, all of which place women on the path to attain the right to participate in American government. I analyze county data from archives, published collections, correspondence, government documents, maps, and other photos. My thesis fills the gap in the historiography of the Edenton Tea Party and the women in Chowan County in the revolutionary period. The demonstration set a precedent for women's subsequent participation in the United States.

Historians have long claimed that the newspaper printers of the American Revolution were instrumental in bringing about Independence. By focusing solely on the written words left behind by these men, however, researchers have erroneously believed the printers belonged exclusively to either the patriot or Tory camps. The masthead symbols chosen by the printers to represent their newspapers offer a more objective measure of their partisan affiliations than a textual analysis of the content. The printers marked major changes in their political ideologies by inserting and deleting political symbols in their newspaper mastheads. This study examines the use and meanings of these engravings, arguing that the symbols best represent the personal views of the printers. The study of masthead designs will help historians better understand Colonial printers and their progress toward their ultimate political affiliation.

This dissertation examines the interdenominational pursuits of the American Presbyterian Church from 1758 to 1801 in order to demonstrate how the Church helped to foster both national and sectional spirit. I have utilized a variety of sources including: the published and unpublished work of both the Synod of New York and Philadelphia and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, as well as published and unpublished Presbyterian sermons, lectures, hymnals, poetry and letters. With these sources I argue that a self-imposed interdenominational transformation began in the American Presbyterian Church upon its reunion in 1758 and that this process was altered by the Church’s experience during the American Revolution. The resulting interdenominational goals had both spiritual and national objectives. As the leaders in the Presbyterian Church strove for unity in Christ and Country, I contend that they created fissures in the Church that would one day divide it as well as further the sectional rift that would lead to the Civil War.

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