The Constitutional Origins of the American RevolutionUsing the British Empire as a case study, this succinct study argues that the establishment of overseas settlements in America created a problem of constitutional organization. The failure to resolve the resulting tensions led to the thirteen continental colonies seceding from the empire in 1776. Challenging those historians who have assumed that the British had the law on their side during the debates that led to the American Revolution, this volume argues that the empire had long exhibited a high degree of constitutional multiplicity, with each colony having its own discrete constitution. Contending that these constitutions cannot be conflated with the metropolitan British constitution, it argues that British refusal to accept the legitimacy of colonial understandings of the sanctity of the many colonial constitutions and the imperial constitution was the critical element leading to the American Revolution. |
Contents
1 | |
1 empire negotiated 16891763 | 19 |
2 empire confronted 17641766 | 67 |
3 empire reconsidered 17671773 | 104 |
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American Colonies American Revolution argued argument Bailyn Bernard Bailyn Board of Trade Boston Britain British Colonies British constitution British Empire British Parliament charters claims colo colonists consent controversy Crown custom declared Dickinson dispute dominions early modern British eighteenth century England Englishmen established extended polity Franklin Papers Gaspee Affair Gazette Glorious Revolution governors historians History House of Commons ibid imperial constitution independent Ireland Irish John Dickinson John Phillip Reid Jonathan Shipley jurisdiction king king’s Labaree legal and constitutional legislative authority legislative power legislature Letter liberty Maryland Massachusetts metropolis metropolitan authorities modern British Empire nation nature Pamphlets Parliament’s authority Parliamentary Power parliamentary supremacy Pennsylvania Peripheries and Center political prerogative principles privileges Proceedings and Debates provincial regulations Reid’s representative royal Samuel Adams Simmons and Thomas sovereign sovereignty speech Stamp Act crisis supreme taxation tion Townshend Acts traditional University Press usage Virginia vols William William Samuel Johnson writer York