Neil L. York

Federalism and the Failure of Imperial Reform, 1774–1775

The dispute that pitted British imperialists against American colonists was only superficially constitutional. Belief in indivisible sovereignty and the supremacy of crown and parliament, which prevailed at Whitehall and Westminster, became irreconcilable with American aspirations as a result of actual circumstance not theoretical incompatibility. This was clearly demonstrated by the failure of various proposals made in 1774 and 1775 to reform the empire. These proposals sought to improve relations through a better sharing of power that would in some sense federalize the empire. Whether the reformers called for Americans to be seated in parliament or to be allowed an intercolonial congress of their own, the great stumbling block was political not constitutional. Whatever the merits of their plans, the reformers could not satisfy either side, even though both professed to want compromise that would prevent confrontation. In the process a sense of common identity was lost that could not be recovered, at least in the manner suggested by the reformers. Only with the breakdown of the idealized Atlantic community did constitutional differences lead to an impasse.

Natural Rights Dissected and Rejected: John Lind's Counter to the Declaration of Independence

JamesOliver Robertson intended no sacrilegewhen he called theDeclaration of Independence a sacred text, an essential component of what has become American “holy writ.” It is now venerated as a founding document of the national civil religion.1 The Declaration, Robertson emphasized, reflects an expectation that the new United States would become the nation among all nations. As celebrated now, independence then provided the political means to achieve a social end, that social end being a better life for Americans, their new nation acting as an exemplar for the larger world. Or, as Stephen E. Lucas put it, the Declaration of Independence went through an “apotheosis,” throughwhich, over theyears,Americans have come to “see its original purpose in universal terms almost wholly divorced from the events of 1776.”2

Defining and Defending Colonial American Rights: William Bollan, Agent

Colonial Americans defending their rights in the empire did so carefully, often saying only as much as they thought necessary to carry their point, while avoiding needlessly offending Whitehall and Westminster. They may all have believed that their fundamental rights came from God, through nature, as reinforced under positive law, but their arguments did not necessarily include all those component parts. Willam Bollan, a colonial agent in London for 30 years, personified that tendency to argue selectively, both in the petitions he submitted to crown and parliament, and in the pamphlets that he had published in the London press.

Imperial Impotence: Treason in 1774 Massachusetts

So contended Edmund Burke in the House of Commons, during a May 1770 speech that ridiculed the governments American policy. It was not the first time Burke raised the subject of this 1543 statute. He had asked—rhetorically—during debates two weeks before, “The Act of Henry VIII. Did you mean to execute that?” He then answered his own question, the scorn beneath it probably apparent to all. “You showed your ill will to America, at the same time you dared not execute it.” Burke hoped that by shaming the ministry he might be able to push through a set of resolutions condemning its policies, which could open the way for a new approach to imperial management. He failed, but that did not mean he had been wrong about the futility of threatening to resurrect an old statute to intimidate protesting Americans.

The Craft Apprentice: From Franklin to the Machine Age in America

The apprentice system in colonial America began as a way for young men to learn valuable trade skills from experienced artisans and mechanics and soon flourished into a fascinating and essential social institution. Benjamin Franklin got his start in life as an apprentice, as did Mark Twain, Horace Greeley, William Dean Howells, Willian Lloyd Garrison, and many other famous Americans. But the Industrial Revolution brought with it radical changes in the lives of craft apprentices. In this book, W. J. Rorabaugh has woven an intriguing collection of case histories, gleaned from numerous letters, diaries, and memoirs, into a narrative that examines the varied experiences of individual apprentices and documents the massive changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution.