Colonial America and the Earl of Halifax, 1748-1761 / Andrew D.M. Beaumont.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beaumont, Andrew D. M. (Andrew David Michael), 1980- author.

Contributor:

Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

Series:

Oxford historical monographs

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Halifax, George Montagu-Dunk, Earl of, 1716-1771.

Halifax, George Montagu-Dunk.

Great Britain. Board of Trade.

History.

Politicians.

United States--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.

United States.

Politicians--England--Biography.

Great Britain. Board of Trade--History.

Great Britain.

Great Britain--Colonies--America--Administration.

Colonies.

America.

Administration.

British colonies.

Management.

England.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

xi, 248 pages ; 23 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2015.

Summary:

This book examines the governance of British America in the period prior to the American Revolution. Focusing upon the career of George Montagu Dunk, Second Earl of Halifax and First Lord of the Board of Trade & Plantations (1716-1771), it explores colonial planners and policy-makers during the political hiatus between the age of Walpole and the subsequent age of imperial crisis. As ambitious metropolitan politicians vied for ministerial dominance, Halifax's board played a vital role in shaping British perceptions of its growing empire. A repository of information and intelligence, the board offered Halifax the opportunity to establish his own niche interest, for the good of the empire and himself alike. 0Challenging the view that Britain's attitude towards its American colonies was one of ignorance compounded by complacency, this study explores those charged directly with governing America, from the imperial centre to its westward peripheries: the governors entrusted with maintaining the royal prerogative, and implementing reform. Between 1748 and 1761, Halifax sought to reform the America from a motley assortment of territories into an ordered, uniform asset of the imperial nation-state. Exploring the governors themselves reveals a complex, modern network of professional and personal loyalties, bound together through mutual self-interest under Halifax's leadership.0Confronted by the Seven Years' War, Halifax saw his plans and followers dissipate in the face of global conflict, the results of which established British America, and also sowed the seeds of its eventual destruction in 1776.

Contents:

1 An Ambitious Man, 1716-48 13

2 The Board of Trade, 1748-49 41

3 The Means to an End, 1749-52 69

4 The Company, 1752-54 82

5 The Perfect Storm, 1753-54 110

6 The Albany Moment, 1753-55 127

7 The Commanders-in-Chief, 1754-56 151

8 Conflict, 1756-58 179

9 The Star of the Hour, 1758-63 209

10 Coda, 1761-71 222.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Alumni and Friends Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

9780198723974

0198723970

OCLC:

893708134