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The Persistence of Empire: British Political Culture in the Age of the American Revolution (Published for the Institute of Early AME)

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Gould describes the origin and changing self concepts of the first British empire.
He describes the benign neglect of the North American colonies under the reign of George I and II - despite the fact that a large amount of the victories of the Seven Years War occurred in North America - the colonies were seen, by the Hanovarian world view, as little more than distractions, pawns in the stuggle for dominance of the European landmass.
The colonies interests were menanced by the threat of French invasion from Quebec and thus their loyalty for the protection of their liberty and religion, emphasised their Britishness. Great Brition's policy (envisioned by Bolinbroke, but embodied by Pitt Snr.) increasingly saw the domination of colonial trade, and the protection of trade routes as a method of increasing wealth and power in the world. With the accession of the nationalist George III this `blue water' strategy marked a British distaste for continental alliances and a new emphasis on transatlantic values of liberty, Protestanism and profits.

Gould makes very clear that the increasing London-based emphasis on the Britishness of the colonies brought with it a metropolitan belief that the colonies should contribute more than trade taxes, at about the same time as the French threat from Quebec had removed the colonies major anxieties for their security. Indeed it was to pay for the debts run up in the Seven Years War that the taxation question became urgent. Gould is very good at illustrating how the metropolitan foreign policy called for a powerful Navy and a standing army in the American colonies to deter French rearmament, whereas the colonial view saw the standing army as a threat to their liberty, much as the Whigs had resisted a standing army in English soil after the Restoration.
A strength of the book is illustrating the progress of this mutual incomprehension from refined argument to confrontation and, eventually, Revolution. If this area interests you, also worth a read is The Power of Commerce by Nancy Kohen, which is much clearer on the policy divisions within the British parliament on the question of how to pay for the Government debt run up by the war. There were many voices (including Pitt Snr) who backed the theoretical right of Parliament to impose colonial taxes, but opposed each new measure in turn, relying instead on the increasing value of commercial taxes (and perhaps inflation) to deal with the debt. The governing faction, however, stared into the jaws of fiscal default and saw debt reduction as the major task of their time in office.

Gould agues that the failure of the first `one-nation' British empire, set the philosophy for the second muti-cultural (some might say racist) imperialism that pervaded the 19th Century. Having failed with the North Atlantic, trading based `cousins', the empire defaulted to one set on the exploitation exemplified by the East India Company. However it is possible to argue that the emergence of the anti-Slavery movement, among others, gives the lie to this view.

This is a welcome addition to those seeking knowledge of the guiding philosophies and strategies of the first British Empire , and the affect which its collapse had on subsequent British Imperial thinking.

Gould writes just as he teaches at the University Of New Hampshire; in a clear and concise manner. His enthusiasm on the subject of British political culture during the American Revolutionary period is evident, and his knowledge on the subject is vast. As a former student of his, I can honestly say (with no bias) that the work will most definitely help in the study of the events leading up to, and concluding, the American Revolution. Also helpful is Jack Green's works containing various significant documents during the period.

An interesting counterpoint to many histories of the American revolution but the dropped letters following the letter f in the text are annoying and distracting.