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British Empire

2010-05-28T22:27:15Z

KPhillips:

[[Image:BritishEmpire1921.png|thumb|right|350px|The world in 1921, with British Empire shown in pink]]

The '''British Empire''' was a global empire acquired and ruled by the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] (or, from 1801 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, called "Great Britain" or "Britain" in historical studies). After 1945 the Empire collapsed and most former colonies joined the loosely organized "British Commonwealth," and many--including Canada and Australia--kept the monarch as their nominal head of state.

At its peak in 1921, the Empire contained a quarter of the world's land area (with emphasis on Australia and Canada) and more than a fourth of the world's population (with emphasis on India). Imperialists often boasted, "The sun never set on the British Empire," for it included parts of every continent. The Empire was held together by a highly professional bureaucracy based in London, and by the world's most powerful navy, the Royal Navy, which enlarged its power by creating naval bases and coaling stations in many of the colonies. It was the largest seaborne empire in history, and the largest in terms of land area (though the Mongol Empire was the largest in terms of contiguous - unbroken by sea - land area). <ref>http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_largest_empire_in_history</ref>
==History==
Its origins can be dated to the English discovery of [[Newfoundland]] in 1493, and its voluntary end began in 1947 (when [[India]] was granted independence), and peaked in the 1960s (when Britain withdrew from most of its remaining colonies). The last stages came as recently as 1997 (when [[Hong Kong]], the last major colony, was returned to [[China|Chinese]] rule).

The European powers after 1500 had national governments with centralized military and navy power, financial resources, religious impulses and military technology. Some of them--Portugal, Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands especially, wanted overseas colonies to bolster their economic, religious and political ambitions, and provide an outlet for the energies of ambitious young men. England (Britain after 1703) was the most successful because it resisted the ambitions of Spain and, in a series of wars in the 18th century, defeated France in North America and India.

In the long-run, the success of the British Empire depended on an economic system that had stable money and encouraged trade and entrepreneurship, a strong navy that guaranteed protection for all the colonies (none was ever captured by an enemy), and a legal system that was stable, fair and lacking in petty corruption or bribery.

==Settlement==
Millions of Britons migrated and settled some of the Empire--especially the [[Colonial America|13 American colonies]], Canada (and Newfoundland), Australia, New Zealand and (in part), South Africa. Some settlers came as prisoners, especially to Australia. Others came as slaves, especially to the West Indies and the 13 American colonies.
[[Image:B-Emp-1763.jpg|thumb|375px]]

In the rest of the Empire Britain sent in soldiers, administrators, businessmen and missionaries on temporary duty, as in India and Africa, along with a relatively small number of permanent settlers.
===First efforts, 1497-1640===
Portugal and Spain built the first empires, based on the wealth of Brazil and Mexico and Peru. England was allied with Portugal, but was a foe of Spain, a much larger country with a stronger navy in the century after Columbus. The English responded as predators, raiding and seizing Spanish ships, under the cover of "privateering" authorized by the government. Spain in 1588 sent a major fleet (the Armada) to conquer England, but it was destroyed by storms, and Spain lost her superiority at sea. England set out small expeditions to claim land (such as [[Newfoundland]], settled in 1610) and set up bases to raid the Spanish main. Most of the early efforts were of small scale, and failed, such as the "Lost Colony of Roanoke" (1585-87), where a hundred settlers in North Carolina simply vanished. The Scots (independently of England), attempted a vast colony in Darien, the Panama region of Central America; it was a total failure.
===13 American colonies===
The small settlement at [[Jamestown]] miraculously survived and once the value of native tobacco was appreciated it became the nucleus for the highly successful colony of [[Virginia]]. In 1619 the Virginians set up an elected legislative assembly, the house of burgesses, which is now the state legislature. It was the first distinctively American local government and became the model for other colonies. Religion motivated some 30,000 [[Puritans]], a community-oriented, modernizing group that settled Massachusetts and Connecticut in the 1630s, and created the [[Yankee]] model of being American.

The main colonies were created by the English, but one was captured. The English captured the Dutch colony of [[New Amsterdam]] in 1664 and renamed it New York; the Dutch settlers remained and the rich poltroons had huge estates along the Hudson River.

Each of the 13 American colonies was different, but typically a colony was ruled by a governor appointed from London who controlled the executive administration and relied upon a locally elected legislature to vote taxes and make laws. By the 18th century, the American colonies were growing very rapidly because of ample supplies of land and food, and low death rates. They were richer than most parts of Britain, and attracted a steady flow of immigrants, especially teenagers who came as indentured servants. The tobacco and rice plantations imported black slaves from the British colonies in the West Indies, and by the 1770s they comprised a fifth of the American population. The question of independence from Britain did not arise as long as the colonies needed British military support against French and Spanish power, for a series of major wars made welcome the protection afforded by the Royal Navy. London regarded the American colonies as existing merely for the benefit of the mother country. The Americans developed their own legal and political traditions, focused on self government with elected legislatures and in new England, elected town officials). They developed a political philosophy of [[Republicanism]] to justify their system, which had no aristocrats. The British threat to American self-government was the cause of the [[American Revolution]], where fighting lasted 1775-1781.

==Second British Empire==
[[File:Empire1815.jpg|thumb|350px|Start of the Second british Empire, 1815]]
After the loss of the American colonies in 1776, the British painstakingly rebuilt a new "Second British Empire." They kept their small but valuable slave-islands in the Caribbean (which produced sugar), grew Canada, and conquered the major part of India and nearby areas. [[Egypt]] was taken over in the 1880s, although nominally it was still part of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Australia and New Zealand were settled, and the new cities of [[Hong Kong]] and [[Sinagpore]] were created. By the late 19th century they added much of Africa. After World War I, former German colonies were added, as well as parts of the defunct Ottoman Empire, such as Palestine and Iraq.
==Economics==
After 1689 England created the world's first modern financial and banking system. The City of London, where finance was and is still based, became the financier to the world, providing short-term credit for trade and long-term credit for investment. By 1810 Britain also had its [[Industrial Revolution]], which produced a flow of high-quality low-cost, textiles, machines and other products that could be sold worldwide. As the leading force in finance and manufacturing, and as the world's dominant naval power, Britain could easily expand across the globe, and did so. In general, in Latin America and China the expansion did not involve colonies.<ref> The British set up a new colony in Hong Kong that became its base for expansion into the China market. Otherwise China remained independent. There were two small colonies on the mainland of Latin America, but they were not very important.</ref> In Africa and Asia new or enlarged colonies were the method used.

Britain's greatest exports were modernization of the economy, and fostering a cosmopolitan attitude toward government, business, law and civic duty, as opposed to local support for traditional rulers and customs. The Empire brought each colony a modern infrastructure, with new roads, railways, ports, banks, post offices and telegraph systems that any modern person could use. Cain and Hopkins (2001) argue that British imperialism was not a form of plunder that hurt the economies they took over; rather, it primarily modernized the territories it controlled.<ref> See Cain and Hopkins, ''British Imperialism'' (2001)</ref>

Imperial policy was set by London-based financial and mercantile interests. Gentlemanly capitalism was the nexus of landed, financial, and service elites that dominated politics and the economy in Britain and were the driving force behind imperial expansion. That is, "gentlemanly capitalists" in Britain set policy, while the dominions were run by a dependent and collaborating elite.<ref>Cain and Hopkins (2001); Dumett, 1999</ref>

==Culture of the Empire==
The Victorians saw themselves as the vanguard of western civilization, as pioneers of industry and progress. They were confident in their ability to improve the human condition everywhere, and of their capacity to turn potential wealth into reality. Their formula was liberalism, that is the release private enterprise from the dead hand of the state. They believed that unending social energy would flow from the interplay of free minds, free markets and Christian morality. The Victorian outlook, furthermore, was suffused with a vivid sense of moral superiority, religious mission and self-righteousness. Across the globe the Canningites and Palmerstonians worked endlessly to bring about conditions favouring commercial advance and liberal awakening. Since the 1970s, historians more attuned to the sensitivities of the colonized people have challenged the effectiveness of the imperialists.<ref> Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher with Alice Denny, ''Africa and the Victorians: The Climax of Imperialism'' (1968), pp 1-4</ref>

==1914==
In its heyday, the British Empire was the largest empire in history: by 1914, the eve of the [[First World War]], it spanned a quarter of the world's total land mass (though much of this consisted of vast, uninhabited areas of northern Canada and Australia). Its constituent parts included [[India]], [[Canada]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], Malaya (now [[Malaysia]] and [[Singapore]]), [[South Africa]], [[Egypt]], [[Nigeria]], [[Kenya]], [[Uganda]] and [[Hong Kong]]. The saying used to be that the sun never sets on the British Empire.
==Dissolution==
The various parts of the Empire were granted independence by London (peacefully usually, sometimes otherwise) at different times. The thirteen American colonies that formed the original [[United States of America]] declared their freedom in 1776 and, with France, defeated the British in a major war. Most of [[Ireland]] went its separate way in 1922. The remaining "settler colonies" that were inhabited mainly by white people of British descent were formally granted self-government in 1931, though they had been self-governing for some years prior to that date. The remaining colonies were granted independence in the decades following the [[Second World War]], and the last remaining colony of importance, Hong Kong, left British rule in 1997 after a long lease with China expired.

Most former colonies are members of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] and many of them, such as Canada and Australia, still have the the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II as their monarch.

Fourteen small territories that formed part of the Empire, such as the [[Cayman Islands]], [[Bermuda]], [[Anguilla]], the [[Falkland Islands]] and [[St. Helena]], remain under British rule today. They are legally known as the "British Overseas Territories".
==Historic regions==
===United States===
Although American historians have always paid attention to the negative causes of the revolt by which the 13 colonies broke away from the Empire, in the early 20th century the "Imperial School," including [[Herbert L. Osgood]], [[George Louis Beer]], [[Charles M. Andrews]] and [[Lawrence Gipson]] took a highly favorable view of the benefits achieved by the economic integration of the Empire.<ref>Ian Tyrrell, "Making Nations/Making States: American Historians in the Context of Empire," ''Journal of American History,'' Vol. 86, No. 3, (Dec., 1999), pp. 1015-1044 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2568604 in JSTOR]</ref> For a good sample of the school see George Louis Beer, ''The Old Colonial System, 1660-1754'' (1913) [http://books.google.com/books?id=2KkJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:george+inauthor:beer&lr=&num=30&as_brr=0 full text online].
===India===
A raging debate continues regarding the good-or-bad economic impact of British imperialism on India. The issue was raised by conservative leader [[Edmund Burke]] who in the 1780s vehemently attacked the East India Company, claiming that Warren Hastings and other top officials had ruined the Indian economy and society. Indian historian Rajat Kanta Ray (1998) continues this attack, saying the new economy brought by the British in the 18th century was a form of "plunder" and a catastrophe for the traditional economy of Mughal India. Ray accuses the British of depleting the food and money stocks and imposing high taxes that helped cause the terrible famine of 1770, which killed a third of the people of Bengal.<ref>Rajat Kanta Ray, "Indian Society and the Establishment of British Supremacy, 1765-1818," in ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: vol. 2, The Eighteenth Century" ed. by P. J. Marshall, (1998), pp 508-29</ref>

On the other hand, P. J. Marshall shows that recent scholarship has reinterpreted the received view that the prosperity of the formerly benign Mughal rule gave way to poverty, and anarchy. Marshall argues the British takeover did not make any sharp break with the past. British control was delegated largely through regional Mughal rulers and was sustained by a generally prosperous economy for the rest of the 18th century. Marshall notes the British went into partnership with Indian bankers and raised revenue through local tax administrators, and kept the old Mughal rates of taxation.<ref>Professor Ray agrees that the East India Company inherited an onerous taxation system that took one-third of the produce of Indian cultivators.</ref> Instead of the Indian nationalist account of the British as alien aggressors, seizing power by brute force and impoverishing all of India, Marshall presents the interpretation, supported by many scholars in both India and the West, in which the British were not in full control but instead were players in what was primarily an Indian play and in which their rise to power depended upon excellent cooperation with Indian elites. Marshall admits that much of his interpretation is still rejected by many historians working in India today, who prefer to bash the British.<ref>P.J. Marshall, "The British in Asia: Trade to Dominion, 1700-1765," in ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: vol. 2, The Eighteenth Century" ed. by P. J. Marshall, (1998), pp 487-507</ref>
==Slavery==
One of the most controversial aspects of the Empire is its role in first promoting and then ending slavery. In the 18th century British merchant ships were the largest element in the "Middle Passage" which transported millions of slaves to the Western Hemisphere. Most wound up in the Caribbean, where the Empire had highly profitable sugar colonies, and the living conditions were bad. (The plantation owners lived in Britain.) Parliament ended the the international transportation of slaves in 1807, and used the Royal Navy to enforce that ban. In 1833 it bought out the plantation owners for cash and officially banned slavery. Historians before the 1940s argued that moralistic reformers such as [[William Wilberforce]] and the Evangelical Protestants (especially Methodists) were primarily responsible.

Historical revisionism arrived when West Indian historian [[Eric Williams]] in ''Capitalism and Slavery'' (1944), rejected this moral explanation and substituted a [[Marxist]] interpretation. He argued that abolition was now more profitable, for a century of sugar cane raising had exhausted the soil of the islands, and the plantations had become unprofitable. It was more profitable to sell the slaves to the government than to keep up operations. The 1807 prohibition of the international trade, Williams argued, prevented French expansion on other islands. Meanwhile British investors turned to Asia, where labor was so plentiful that slavery was unnecessary. Williams went on to argue that slavery played a major role in making Britain prosperous. The high profits from the slave trade, he said, helped finance the [[Industrial Revolution]]. By implication, Britain enjoyed prosperity because of the capital extracted from the unpaid work of slaves.

More recently historians have challenged Williams. They have shown that slavery remained profitable in the 1830s because of innovations in agriculture, so the profit motive was not central to abolition.<ref> J.R. Ward, "The British West Indies in the Age of Abolition," in P.J. Marshall, ed. ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century'' (1998) pp 415-39.</ref> Richardson (1998) finds Williams's claims regarding the Industrial Revolution are greatly exaggerated, for profits from the slave trade amounted to less than 1% of total domestic investment in Britain. Richardson further challenges claims (by African scholars) that the slave trade caused widespread depopulation and economic distress in Africa--indeed that it caused the "underdevelopment" of Africa. Admitting the horrible suffering of the slaves themselves, he notes that many Africans benefited directly, because the first stage of the trade was always firmly in the hands of Africans. European slave ships waited at ports to purchase cargoes of people who were captured in the hinterland by African dealers and tribal leaders. Richardson finds that the "terms of trade" (how much the ship owners paid for the slave cargo) moved heavily in favor of the Africans after about 1750. That is, indigenous elites inside West and Central Africa made large and growing profits from slavery, thus increasing their wealth and power.<ref> David Richardson, "The British Empire and the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1660-1807," in P.J. Marshall, ed. ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century'' (1998) pp 440-64.</ref>
==Name==
The term "British Empire" was used by historians as early as 1708.<ref> John Oldmixon, ''The British Empire in America, Containing the History of the Discovery, Settlement, Progress and Present State of All the British Colonies, on the Continent and Islands of America'' (London, 1708))</ref> before that the usual term was "English Empire."<ref>As in Nathaniel Crouch, ''The English Empire in America: Or a Prospect of His Majesties Dominions in the West-Indies'' (London, 1685).'' Armitage pp 174-5</ref>

==Further reading==
[[File:James-brit-empire.jpg|thumb|280px]]
* Bayly, C. A. ed. ''Atlas of the British Empire'' (1989). survey by scholars; heavily illustrated
* Beinart, William, and Lotte Hughes. ''Environment and Empire'' (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion) (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Environment-Empire-History-British-Companion/dp/0199260311/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224385647&sr=8-7 excerpt and text search]
* Black, Jeremy. ''The British Seaborne Empire'' (2004)
* Brendon, Piers. "A Moral Audit of the British Empire." ''History Today'', (Oct 2007), Vol. 57 Issue 10, pp 44-47, online at [[EBSCO]]
* Brendon, Piers. ''The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997'' (2008), very well written popular survey [http://www.amazon.com/Decline-Fall-British-Empire-1781-1997/dp/0307268292/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253004822&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Bryant, Arthur. ''The History of Britain and the British Peoples'', 3 vols. (1984–90), popular.
* Cain, P. J. and A.G. Hopkins. ''British Imperialism, 1688-2000'' (2nd ed. 2001), 739pp, detailed economic history that presents the new "gentlemanly capitalists" thesis [http://www.amazon.com/British-Imperialism-Crisis-Deconstruction-1914-1990/dp/058220965X/ref=sr_1_2/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]; [http://www.questia.com/read/24219275?title=British%20Imperialism%3a%20Innovation%20and%20Expansion%2c%201688-1914 full text online]
* Colley, Linda. ''Captives: Britain, Empire, and the World, 1600-1850'' (2004), 464pp [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0385721463/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-4827826-5463040#reader-link excerpts and online search from Amazon.com]
* Dalziel, Nigel. ''The Penguin Historical Atlas of the British Empire'' (2006), 144 pp [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0141018445/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-4827826-5463040#reader-link excerpts and online search from amazon.com]
* Etherington, Norman. ''Missions and Empire'' (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion Series) (2008) [http://www.amazon.com/Missions-Empire-History-British-Companion/dp/019925348X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224385647&sr=8-4 excerpt and text search], on Protestant missions
* Ferguson, Niall. ''Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power'' (2002), [http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Demise-British-Lessons-Global/dp/0465023290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196061626&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search], by a conservative scholar
* Hyam, Ronald. ''Britain's Imperial Century, 1815-1914: A Study of Empire and Expansion'' (1993). [http://www.amazon.com/Britains-Imperial-Century-1815-1914-Expansion/dp/033399311X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196061553&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* James, Lawrence. ''The Rise and Fall of the British Empire'' (1997), the best scholarly overview [http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-British-Empire/dp/031216985X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252982523&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
** James, Lawrence. ''The Illustrated Rise and Fall of the British Empire'' (1997), abridged edition with many superb illustrations
* Johnson, Robert. ''British Imperialism.'' (2003) 284pp; good, short introduction to the major issues
* Judd, Denis. ''Empire: The British Imperial Experience, From 1765 to the Present'' (1996). [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=6969240 online edition]
* Lloyd; T. O. ''The British Empire, 1558-1995'' (1996) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=27709944 online edition]
* Louis, William Roger (general editor), ''The Oxford History of the British Empire'', 5 vols. (1998–99).
** vol 1 "The Origins of Empire" ed. by Nicholas Canny
** vol 2 "The Eighteenth Century" ed. by P. J. Marshall [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-British-Empire-Eighteenth/dp/0199246777/ref=sr_1_3/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-3 excerpt and text search]
** vol 3 ''The Nineteenth Century'' edited by William Roger Louis, Alaine M. Low, Andrew Porter; (1998). 780 pp.. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=98650583 online edition], also [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-British-Empire-Nineteenth/dp/0199246785/ref=sr_1_8/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-8 excerpt and text search]
** vol 4 ''The Twentieth Century'' edited by Judith M. Brown, (1998). 773 pp. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=104728347 online edition] also [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-British-Empire-Twentieth/dp/0199246793/ref=sr_1_13/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-13 excerpt and text search]
** vol 5 "Historiography" ed, by Robin W. Winks (1999) [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-British-Empire-Historiography/dp/0199246807/ref=sr_1_25/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842573&sr=8-25 excerpt and text search]
* Marshall, P. J. (ed.), ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire'' (1996). [http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Illustrated-History-British-Empire/dp/0521002540/ref=sr_1_12/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-12 excerpt and text search]
* Olson, James S. and Robert S. Shadle; ''Historical Dictionary of the British Empire'' (1996) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=58315322 online edition]
* Porter, A. N. ''Atlas of British Overseas Expansion'' (1994)
* Robinson, Howard . ''The Development of the British Empire'' (1922), 465pp [http://books.google.com/books?id=woRdQlGbL_oC&dq=intitle:british+intitle:empire+date:1900-1924&num=30 online edition]
* Rose, J. Holland, ed. ''Cambridge History of the British Empire: vol 1: The Old Empire from the Beginnings to 1783'' (1929) [http://www.questia.com/read/99039834?title=The%20Cambridge%20History%20of%20the%20British%20Empire online edition]
* Smith, Simon C. ''British Imperialism 1750-1970'' (1998). brief

====Notes====
<references/>

[[Category:History]]
[[Category:British History]]
[[Category:Slavery]]
[[Category:Economic History]]
[[Category:Africa]]
[[Category:Asia]]
[[Category:British Empire]]

British Empire

2010-05-28T22:20:32Z

KPhillips: typo

[[Image:BritishEmpire1921.png|thumb|right|350px|The world in 1921, with British Empire shown in pink]]

The '''British Empire''' was a global empire acquired and ruled by the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] (or, from 1801 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, called "Great Britain" or "Britain" in historical studies). After 1945 the Empire collapsed and most former colonies joined the loosely organized "British Commonwealth," and many--including Canada and Australia--kept the monarch as their nominal head of state.

At its peak in 1921, the Empire contained a quarter of the world's land area (with emphasis on Australia and Canada) and more than a fourth of the world's population (with emphasis on India). Imperialists often boasted, "The sun never set on the British Empire," for it included parts of every continent. The Empire was held together by a highly professional bureaucracy based in London, and by the world's most powerful navy, the Royal Navy, which enlarged its power by creating naval bases and coaling stations in many of the colonies. It was the largest seaborne empire in history, and the largest in terms of land area (though the Mongol Empire was the largest in terms of contiguous - unbroken by sea - land area). <ref>http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_largest_empire_in_history</ref>
==History==
Its origins can be dated to the English discovery of [[Newfoundland]] in 1493, and its voluntary end began in 1947 (when [[India]] was granted independence), and peaked in the 1960s (when Britain withdrew from most of its remaining colonies). The last stages came as recently as 1997 (when [[Hong Kong]], the last major colony, was returned to [[China|Chinese]] rule).

The European powers after 1500 had national governments with centralized military and navy power, financial resources, religious impulses and military technology. Some of them--Portugal, Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands especially, wanted overseas colonies to bolster their economic, religious and political ambitions, and provide an outlet for the energies of ambitious young men. England (Britain after 1703) was the most successful because it resisted the ambitions of Spain and, in a series of wars in the 18th century, defeated France in North America and India.

In the long-run, the success of the British Empire depended on an economic system that had stable money and encouraged trade and entrepreneurship, a strong navy that guaranteed protection for all the colonies (none was ever captured by an enemy), and a legal system that was stable, fair and lacking in petty corruption or bribery.

==Settlement==
Millions of Britons migrated and settled some of the Empire--especially the [[Colonial America|13 American colonies]], Canada (and Newfoundland), Australia, New Zealand and (in part), South Africa. Some settlers came as prisoners, especially to Australia. Others came as slaves, especially to the West Indies and the 13 American colonies.
[[Image:B-Emp-1763.jpg|thumb|375px]]

In the rest of the Empire Britain sent in soldiers, administrators, businessmen and missionaries on temporary duty, as in India and Africa, along with a relatively small number of permanent settlers.
===First efforts, 1497-1640===
Portugal and Spain built the first empires, based on the wealth of Brazil and Mexico and Peru. England was allied with Portugal, but was a foe of Spain, a much larger country with a stronger navy in the century after Columbus. The English responded as predators, raiding and seizing Spanish ships, under the cover of "privateering" authorized by the government. Spain in 1588 sent a major fleet (the Armada) to conquer England, but it was destroyed by storms, and Spain lost her superiority at sea. England set out small expeditions to claim land (such as [[Newfoundland]], settled in 1610) and set up bases to raid the Spanish main. Most of the early efforts were of small scale, and failed, such as the "Lost Colony of Roanoke" (1585-87), where a hundred settlers in North Carolina simply vanished. The Scots (independently of England), attempted a vast colony in Darien, the Panama region of Central America; it was a total failure.
===13 American colonies===
The small settlement at [[Jamestown]] miraculously survived and once the value of native tobacco was appreciated it became the nucleus for the highly successful colony of [[Virginia]]. In 1619 the Virginians set up an elected legislative assembly, the house of burgesses, which is now the state legislature. It was the first distinctively American local government and became the model for other colonies. Religion motivated some 30,000 [[Puritans]], a community-oriented, modernizing group that settled Massachusetts and Connecticut in the 1630s, and created the [[Yankee]] model of being American.

The main colonies were created by the English, but one was captured. The English captured the Dutch colony of [[New Amsterdam]] in 1664 and renamed it New York; the Dutch settlers remained and the rich poltroons had huge estates along the Hudson River.

Each of the 13 American colonies was different, but typically a colony was ruled by a governor appointed from London who controlled the executive administration and relied upon a locally elected legislature to vote taxes and make laws. By the 18th century, the American colonies were growing very rapidly because of ample supplies of land and food, and low death rates. They were richer than most parts of Britain, and attracted a steady flow of immigrants, especially teenagers who came as indentured servants. The tobacco and rice plantations imported black slaves from the British colonies in the West Indies, and by the 1770s they comprised a fifth of the American population. The question of independence from Britain did not arise as long as the colonies needed British military support against French and Spanish power, for a series of major wars made welcome the protection afforded by the Royal Navy. London regarded the American colonies as existing merely for the benefit of the mother country. The Americans developed their own legal and political traditions, focused on self government with elected legislatures and in new England, elected town officials). They developed a political philosophy of [[Republicanism]] to justify their system, which had no aristocrats. The British threat to American self-government was the cause of the [[American Revolution]], where fighting lasted 1775-1781.

==Second British Empire==
[[File:Empire1815.jpg|thumb|350px|Start of the Second british Empire, 1815]]
After the loss of the American colonies in 1776, the British painstakingly rebuilt a new "Second British Empire." They kept their small but valuable slave-islands in the Caribbean (which produced sugar), grew Canada, and conquered the major part of India and nearby areas. [[Egypt]] was taken over in the 1880s, although nominally it was still part of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Australia and New Zealand were settled, and the new cities of [[Hong Kong]] and [[Sinagpore]] were created. By the late 19th century they added much of Africa. After World War I, former German colonies were added, as well as parts of the defunct Ottoman Empire, such as Palestine and Iraq.
==Economics==
After 1689 England created the world's first modern financial and banking system. The City of London, where finance was and is still based, became the financier to the world, providing short-term credit for trade and long-term credit for investment. By 1810 Britain also had its [[Industrial Revolution]], which produced a flow of high-quality low-cost, textiles, machines and other products that could be sold worldwide. As the leading force in finance and manufacturing, and as the world's dominant naval power, Britain could easily expand across the globe, and did so. In general, in Latin America and China the expansion did not involve colonies.<ref> The British set up a new colony in Hong Kong that became its base for expansion into the China market. Otherwise China remained independent. There were two small colonies on the mainland of Latin America, but they were not very important.</ref> In Africa and Asia new or enlarged colonies were the method used.

Britain's greatest exports were modernization of the economy, and fostering a cosmopolitan attitude toward government, business, law and civic duty, as opposed to local support for traditional rulers and customs. The Empire brought each colony a modern infrastructure, with new roads, railways, ports, banks, post offices and telegraph systems that any modern person could use. Cain and Hopkins (2001) argue that British imperialism was not a form of plunder that hurt the economies they took over; rather, it primarily modernized the territories it controlled.<ref> See Cain and Hopkins, ''British Imperialism'' (2001)</ref>

Imperial policy was set by London-based financial and mercantile interests. Gentlemanly capitalism was the nexus of landed, financial, and service elites that dominated politics and the economy in Britain and were the driving force behind imperial expansion. That is, "gentlemanly capitalists" in Britain set policy, while the dominions were run by a dependent and collaborating elite.<ref>Cain and Hopkins (2001); Dumett, 1999</ref>

==Culture of the Empire==
The Victorians saw themselves as the vanguard of western civilization, as pioneers of industry and progress. They were confident in their ability to improve the human condition everywhere, and of their capacity to turn potential wealth into reality. Their formula was liberalism, that is the release private enterprise from the dead hand of the state. They believed that unending social energy would flow from the interplay of free minds, free markets and Christian morality. The Victorian outlook, furthermore, was suffused with a vivid sense of moral superiority, religious mission and self-righteousness. Across the globe the Canningites and Palmerstonians worked endlessly to bring about conditions favouring commercial advance and liberal awakening. Since the 1970s, historians more attuned to the sensitivities of the colonized people have challenged the effectiveness of the imperialists.<ref> Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher with Alice Denny, ''Africa and the Victorians: The Climax of Imperialism'' (1968), pp 1-4</ref>

==1914==
In its heyday, the British Empire was the largest empire in history: by 1914, the eve of the [[First World War]], it spanned a quarter of the world's total land mass (though much of this consisted of vast, uninhabited areas of northern Canada and Australia). Its constituent parts included [[India]], [[Canada]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], Malaya (now [[Malaysia]] and [[Singapore]]), [[South Africa]], [[Egypt]], [[Nigeria]], [[Kenya]], [[Uganda]] and [[Hong Kong]]. The saying used to be that the sun never sets on the British Empire.
==Dissolution==
The various parts of the Empire were granted independence by London (peacefully usually, sometimes otherwise) at different times. The thirteen American colonies that formed the original [[United States of America]] declared their freedom in 1776 and, with France, defeated the British in a major war. Most of [[Ireland]] went its separate way in 1922. The remaining "settler colonies" that were inhabited mainly by white people of British descent were formally granted self-government in 1931, though they had been self-governing for some years prior to that date. The remaining colonies were granted independence in the decades following the [[Second World War]], and the last remaining colony of importance, Hong Kong, left British rule in 1997 after a long lease with China expired.

Most former colonies are members of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] and many of them, such as Canada and Australia, still have the the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II as their monarch.

Fourteen small territories that formed part of the Empire, such as the [[Cayman Islands]], [[Bermuda]], [[Anguilla]], the [[Falkland Islands]] and [[St. Helena]], remain under British rule today. They are legally known as the "British Overseas Territories".
==Historic regions==
===United States===
Although American historians have always paid attention to the negative causes of the revolt by which the 13 colonies broke away from the Empire, in the early 20th century the "Imperial School," including [[Herbert L. Osgood]], [[George Louis Beer]], [[Charles M. Andrews]] and [[Lawrence Gipson]] took a highly favorable view of the benefits achieved by the economic integration of the Empire.<ref>Ian Tyrrell, "Making Nations/Making States: American Historians in the Context of Empire," ''Journal of American History,'' Vol. 86, No. 3, (Dec., 1999), pp. 1015-1044 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2568604 in JSTOR]</ref> For a good sample of the school see George Louis Beer, ''The Old Colonial System, 1660-1754'' (1913) [http://books.google.com/books?id=2KkJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:george+inauthor:beer&lr=&num=30&as_brr=0 full text online].
===India===
A raging debate continues regarding the good-or-bad economic impact of British imperialism on India. The issue was raised by conservative leader [[Edmund Burke]] who in the 1780s vehemently attacked the East India Company, claiming that Warren Hastings and other top officials had ruined the Indian economy and society. Indian historian Rajat Kanta Ray (1998) continues this attack, saying the new economy brought by the British in the 18th century was a form of "plunder" and a catastrophe for the traditional economy of Mughal India. Ray accuses the British of depleting the food and money stocks and imposing high taxes that helped cause the terrible famine of 1770, which killed a third of the people of Bengal.<ref>Rajat Kanta Ray, "Indian Society and the Establishment of British Supremacy, 1765-1818," in ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: vol. 2, The Eighteenth Century" ed. by P. J. Marshall, (1998), pp 508-29</ref>

On the other hand, P. J. Marshall shows that recent scholarship has reinterpreted the received view that the prosperity of the formerly benign Mughal rule gave way to poverty, and anarchy. Marshall argues the British takeover did not make any sharp break with the past. British control was delegated largely through regional Mughal rulers and was sustained by a generally prosperous economy for the rest of the 18th century. Marshall notes the British went into partnership with Indian bankers and raised revenue through local tax administrators, and kept the old Mughal rates of taxation.<ref>Professor Ray agrees that the East India Company inherited an onerous taxation system that took one-third of the produce of Indian cultivators.</ref> Instead of the Indian nationalist account of the British as alien aggressors, seizing power by brute force and impoverishing all of India, Marshall presents the interpretation, supported by many scholars in both India and the West, in which the British were not in full control but instead were players in what was primarily an Indian play and in which their rise to power depended upon excellent cooperation with Indian elites. Marshall admits that much of his interpretation is still rejected by many historians working in India today, who prefer to bash the British.<ref>P.J. Marshall, "The British in Asia: Trade to Dominion, 1700-1765," in ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: vol. 2, The Eighteenth Century" ed. by P. J. Marshall, (1998), pp 487-507</ref>
==Slavery==
One of the most controversial aspects of the Empire is its role in first promoting and then ending slavery. In the 18th century British merchant ships were the largest element in the "Middle Passage" which transported millions of slaves to the Western Hemisphere. Most wound up in the Caribbean, where the Empire had highly profitable sugar colonies, and the living conditions were bad. (The plantation owners lived in Britain.) Parliament ended the the international transportation of slaves in 1807, and used the Royal Navy to enforce that ban. In 1833 it bought out the plantation owners for cash and officially banned slavery. Historians before the 1940s argued that moralistic reformers such as [[William Wilberforce]] and the Evangelical Protestants (especially Methodists) were primarily responsible.

Historical revisionism arrived when West Indian historian [[Eric Williams]] in ''Capitalism and Slavery'' (1944), rejected this moral explanation and substituted a [[Marxist]] interpretation. He argued that abolition was now more profitable, for a century of sugar cane raising had exhausted the soil of the islands, and the plantations had become unprofitable. It was more profitable to sell the slaves to the government than to keep up operations. The 1807 prohibition of the international trade, Williams argued, prevented French expansion on other islands. Meanwhile British investors turned to Asia, where labor was so plentiful that slavery was unnecessary. Williams went on to argue that slavery played a major role in making Britain prosperous. The high profits from the slave trade, he said, helped finance the [[Industrial Revolution]]. By implication, Britain enjoyed prosperity because of the capital extracted from the unpaid work of slaves.

More recently historians have challenged Williams. They have shown that slavery remained profitable in the 1830s because of innovations in agriculture, so the profit motive was not central to abolition.<ref> J.R. Ward, "The British West Indies in the Age of Abolition," in P.J. Marshall, ed. ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century'' (1998) pp 415-39.</ref> Richardson (1998) finds Williams's claims regarding the Industrial Revolution are greatly exaggerated, for profits from the slave trade amounted to less than 1% of total domestic investment in Britain. Richardson further challenges claims (by African scholars) that the slave trade caused widespread depopulation and economic distress in Africa--indeed that it caused the "underdevelopment" of Africa. Admitting the horrible suffering of the slaves themselves, he notes that many Africans benefited directly, because the first stage of the trade was always firmly in the hands of Africans. European slave ships waited at ports to purchase cargoes of people who were captured in the hinterland by African dealers and tribal leaders. Richardson finds that the "terms of trade" (how much the ship owners paid for the slave cargo) moved heavily in favor of the Africans after about 1750. That is, indigenous elites inside West and Central Africa made large and growing profits from slavery, thus increasing their wealth and power.<ref> David Richardson, "The British Empire and the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1660-1807," in P.J. Marshall, ed. ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century'' (1998) pp 440-64.</ref>
==Name==
The term "British Empire" was used by historians as early as 1708.<ref> John Oldmixon, ''The British Empire in America, Containing the History of the Discovery, Settlement, Progress and Present State of All the British Colonies, on the Continent and Islands of America'' (London, 1708))</ref> before that the usual term was "English Empire."<ref>As in Nathaniel Crouch, ''The English Empire in America: Or a Prospect of His Majesties Dominions in the West-Indies'' (London, 1685).'' Armitage pp 174-5</ref>

==Further reading==
[[File:James-brit-empire.jpg|thumb|280px]]
* Bayly, C. A. ed. ''Atlas of the British Empire'' (1989). survey by scholars; heavily illustrated
* Beinart, William, and Lotte Hughes. ''Environment and Empire'' (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion) (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Environment-Empire-History-British-Companion/dp/0199260311/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224385647&sr=8-7 excerpt and text search]
* Black, Jeremy. ''The British Seaborne Empire'' (2004)
* Brendon, Piers. "A Moral Audit of the British Empire." ''History Today'', (Oct 2007), Vol. 57 Issue 10, pp 44-47, online at [[EBSCO]]
* Brendon, Piers. ''The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997'' (2008), very well written popular survey [http://www.amazon.com/Decline-Fall-British-Empire-1781-1997/dp/0307268292/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253004822&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Bryant, Arthur. ''The History of Britain and the British Peoples'', 3 vols. (1984–90), popular.
* Cain, P. J. and A.G. Hopkins. ''British Imperialism, 1688-2000'' (2nd ed. 2001), 739pp, detailed economic history that presents the new "gentlemanly capitalists" thesis [http://www.amazon.com/British-Imperialism-Crisis-Deconstruction-1914-1990/dp/058220965X/ref=sr_1_2/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]; [http://www.questia.com/read/24219275?title=British%20Imperialism%3a%20Innovation%20and%20Expansion%2c%201688-1914 full text online]
* Colley, Linda. ''Captives: Britain, Empire, and the World, 1600-1850'' (2004), 464pp [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0385721463/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-4827826-5463040#reader-link excerpts and online search from Amazon.com]
* Dalziel, Nigel. ''The Penguin Historical Atlas of the British Empire'' (2006), 144 pp [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0141018445/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-4827826-5463040#reader-link excerpts and online search from amazon.com]
* Etherington, Norman. ''Missions and Empire'' (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion Series) (2008) [http://www.amazon.com/Missions-Empire-History-British-Companion/dp/019925348X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224385647&sr=8-4 excerpt and text search], on Protestant missions
* Ferguson, Niall. ''Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power'' (2002), [http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Demise-British-Lessons-Global/dp/0465023290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196061626&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search], by a conservative scholar
* Hyam, Ronald. ''Britain's Imperial Century, 1815-1914: A Study of Empire and Expansion'' (1993). [http://www.amazon.com/Britains-Imperial-Century-1815-1914-Expansion/dp/033399311X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196061553&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* James, Lawrence. ''The Rise and Fall of the British Empire'' (1997), the best scholarly overview [http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-British-Empire/dp/031216985X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252982523&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
** James, Lawrence. ''The Illustrated Rise and Fall of the British Empire'' (1997), abridged edition with many superb illustrations
* Johnson, Robert. ''British Imperialism.'' (2003) 284pp; good, short introduction to the major issues
* Judd, Denis. ''Empire: The British Imperial Experience, From 1765 to the Present'' (1996). [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=6969240 online edition]
* Lloyd; T. O. ''The British Empire, 1558-1995'' (1996) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=27709944 online edition]
* Louis, William Roger (general editor), ''The Oxford History of the British Empire'', 5 vols. (1998–99).
** vol 1 "The Origins of Empire" ed. by Nicholas Canny
** vol 2 "The Eighteenth Century" ed. by P. J. Marshall [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-British-Empire-Eighteenth/dp/0199246777/ref=sr_1_3/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-3 excerpt and text search]
** vol 3 ''The Nineteenth Century'' edited by William Roger Louis, Alaine M. Low, Andrew Porter; (1998). 780 pp.. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=98650583 online edition], also [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-British-Empire-Nineteenth/dp/0199246785/ref=sr_1_8/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-8 excerpt and text search]
** vol 4 ''The Twentieth Century'' edited by Judith M. Brown, (1998). 773 pp. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=104728347 online edition] also [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-British-Empire-Twentieth/dp/0199246793/ref=sr_1_13/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-13 excerpt and text search]
** vol 5 "Historiography" ed, by Robin W. Winks (1999) [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-British-Empire-Historiography/dp/0199246807/ref=sr_1_25/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842573&sr=8-25 excerpt and text search]
* Marshall, P. J. (ed.), ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire'' (1996). [http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Illustrated-History-British-Empire/dp/0521002540/ref=sr_1_12/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-12 excerpt and text search]
* Olson, James S. and Robert S. Shadle; ''Historical Dictionary of the British Empire'' (1996) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=58315322 online edition]
* Porter, A. N. ''Atlas of British Overseas Expansion'' (1994)
* Robinson, Howard . ''The Development of the British Empire'' (1922), 465pp [http://books.google.com/books?id=woRdQlGbL_oC&dq=intitle:british+intitle:empire+date:1900-1924&num=30 online edition]
* Rose, J. Holland, ed. ''Cambridge History of the British Empire: vol 1: The Old Empire from the Beginnings to 1783'' (1929) [http://www.questia.com/read/99039834?title=The%20Cambridge%20History%20of%20the%20British%20Empire online edition]
* Smith, Simon C. ''British Imperialism 1750-1970'' (1998). brief

====Notes====
<references/>

=== See also ===

*''[[The Evil Empire: 101 Ways That England Ruined the World]]''

[[Category:History]]
[[Category:British History]]
[[Category:Slavery]]
[[Category:Economic History]]
[[Category:Africa]]
[[Category:Asia]]
[[Category:British Empire]]

British Empire

2010-05-28T22:20:06Z

KPhillips:

[[Image:BritishEmpire1921.png|thumb|right|350px|The world in 1921, with British Empire shown in pink]]

The '''British Empire''' was a global empire acquired and ruled by the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] (or, from 1801 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, called "Great Britain" or "Britain" in historical studies). After 1945 the Empire collapsed and most former colonies joined the loosely organized "British Commonwealth," and many--including Canada and Australia--kept the monarch as their nominal head of state.

At its peak in 1921, the Empire contained a quarter of the world's land area (with emphasis on Australia and Canada) and more than a fourth of the world's population (with emphasis on India). Imperialists often boasted, "The sun never set on the British Empire," for it included parts of every continent. The Empire was held together by a highly professional bureaucracy based in London, and by the world's most powerful navy, the Royal Navy, which enlarged its power by creating naval bases and coaling stations in many of the colonies. It was the largest seaborne empire in history, and the largest in terms of land area (thoug the Mongol Empire was the largest in terms of contiguous - unbroken by sea - land area). <ref>http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_largest_empire_in_history</ref>
==History==
Its origins can be dated to the English discovery of [[Newfoundland]] in 1493, and its voluntary end began in 1947 (when [[India]] was granted independence), and peaked in the 1960s (when Britain withdrew from most of its remaining colonies). The last stages came as recently as 1997 (when [[Hong Kong]], the last major colony, was returned to [[China|Chinese]] rule).

The European powers after 1500 had national governments with centralized military and navy power, financial resources, religious impulses and military technology. Some of them--Portugal, Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands especially, wanted overseas colonies to bolster their economic, religious and political ambitions, and provide an outlet for the energies of ambitious young men. England (Britain after 1703) was the most successful because it resisted the ambitions of Spain and, in a series of wars in the 18th century, defeated France in North America and India.

In the long-run, the success of the British Empire depended on an economic system that had stable money and encouraged trade and entrepreneurship, a strong navy that guaranteed protection for all the colonies (none was ever captured by an enemy), and a legal system that was stable, fair and lacking in petty corruption or bribery.

==Settlement==
Millions of Britons migrated and settled some of the Empire--especially the [[Colonial America|13 American colonies]], Canada (and Newfoundland), Australia, New Zealand and (in part), South Africa. Some settlers came as prisoners, especially to Australia. Others came as slaves, especially to the West Indies and the 13 American colonies.
[[Image:B-Emp-1763.jpg|thumb|375px]]

In the rest of the Empire Britain sent in soldiers, administrators, businessmen and missionaries on temporary duty, as in India and Africa, along with a relatively small number of permanent settlers.
===First efforts, 1497-1640===
Portugal and Spain built the first empires, based on the wealth of Brazil and Mexico and Peru. England was allied with Portugal, but was a foe of Spain, a much larger country with a stronger navy in the century after Columbus. The English responded as predators, raiding and seizing Spanish ships, under the cover of "privateering" authorized by the government. Spain in 1588 sent a major fleet (the Armada) to conquer England, but it was destroyed by storms, and Spain lost her superiority at sea. England set out small expeditions to claim land (such as [[Newfoundland]], settled in 1610) and set up bases to raid the Spanish main. Most of the early efforts were of small scale, and failed, such as the "Lost Colony of Roanoke" (1585-87), where a hundred settlers in North Carolina simply vanished. The Scots (independently of England), attempted a vast colony in Darien, the Panama region of Central America; it was a total failure.
===13 American colonies===
The small settlement at [[Jamestown]] miraculously survived and once the value of native tobacco was appreciated it became the nucleus for the highly successful colony of [[Virginia]]. In 1619 the Virginians set up an elected legislative assembly, the house of burgesses, which is now the state legislature. It was the first distinctively American local government and became the model for other colonies. Religion motivated some 30,000 [[Puritans]], a community-oriented, modernizing group that settled Massachusetts and Connecticut in the 1630s, and created the [[Yankee]] model of being American.

The main colonies were created by the English, but one was captured. The English captured the Dutch colony of [[New Amsterdam]] in 1664 and renamed it New York; the Dutch settlers remained and the rich poltroons had huge estates along the Hudson River.

Each of the 13 American colonies was different, but typically a colony was ruled by a governor appointed from London who controlled the executive administration and relied upon a locally elected legislature to vote taxes and make laws. By the 18th century, the American colonies were growing very rapidly because of ample supplies of land and food, and low death rates. They were richer than most parts of Britain, and attracted a steady flow of immigrants, especially teenagers who came as indentured servants. The tobacco and rice plantations imported black slaves from the British colonies in the West Indies, and by the 1770s they comprised a fifth of the American population. The question of independence from Britain did not arise as long as the colonies needed British military support against French and Spanish power, for a series of major wars made welcome the protection afforded by the Royal Navy. London regarded the American colonies as existing merely for the benefit of the mother country. The Americans developed their own legal and political traditions, focused on self government with elected legislatures and in new England, elected town officials). They developed a political philosophy of [[Republicanism]] to justify their system, which had no aristocrats. The British threat to American self-government was the cause of the [[American Revolution]], where fighting lasted 1775-1781.

==Second British Empire==
[[File:Empire1815.jpg|thumb|350px|Start of the Second british Empire, 1815]]
After the loss of the American colonies in 1776, the British painstakingly rebuilt a new "Second British Empire." They kept their small but valuable slave-islands in the Caribbean (which produced sugar), grew Canada, and conquered the major part of India and nearby areas. [[Egypt]] was taken over in the 1880s, although nominally it was still part of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Australia and New Zealand were settled, and the new cities of [[Hong Kong]] and [[Sinagpore]] were created. By the late 19th century they added much of Africa. After World War I, former German colonies were added, as well as parts of the defunct Ottoman Empire, such as Palestine and Iraq.
==Economics==
After 1689 England created the world's first modern financial and banking system. The City of London, where finance was and is still based, became the financier to the world, providing short-term credit for trade and long-term credit for investment. By 1810 Britain also had its [[Industrial Revolution]], which produced a flow of high-quality low-cost, textiles, machines and other products that could be sold worldwide. As the leading force in finance and manufacturing, and as the world's dominant naval power, Britain could easily expand across the globe, and did so. In general, in Latin America and China the expansion did not involve colonies.<ref> The British set up a new colony in Hong Kong that became its base for expansion into the China market. Otherwise China remained independent. There were two small colonies on the mainland of Latin America, but they were not very important.</ref> In Africa and Asia new or enlarged colonies were the method used.

Britain's greatest exports were modernization of the economy, and fostering a cosmopolitan attitude toward government, business, law and civic duty, as opposed to local support for traditional rulers and customs. The Empire brought each colony a modern infrastructure, with new roads, railways, ports, banks, post offices and telegraph systems that any modern person could use. Cain and Hopkins (2001) argue that British imperialism was not a form of plunder that hurt the economies they took over; rather, it primarily modernized the territories it controlled.<ref> See Cain and Hopkins, ''British Imperialism'' (2001)</ref>

Imperial policy was set by London-based financial and mercantile interests. Gentlemanly capitalism was the nexus of landed, financial, and service elites that dominated politics and the economy in Britain and were the driving force behind imperial expansion. That is, "gentlemanly capitalists" in Britain set policy, while the dominions were run by a dependent and collaborating elite.<ref>Cain and Hopkins (2001); Dumett, 1999</ref>

==Culture of the Empire==
The Victorians saw themselves as the vanguard of western civilization, as pioneers of industry and progress. They were confident in their ability to improve the human condition everywhere, and of their capacity to turn potential wealth into reality. Their formula was liberalism, that is the release private enterprise from the dead hand of the state. They believed that unending social energy would flow from the interplay of free minds, free markets and Christian morality. The Victorian outlook, furthermore, was suffused with a vivid sense of moral superiority, religious mission and self-righteousness. Across the globe the Canningites and Palmerstonians worked endlessly to bring about conditions favouring commercial advance and liberal awakening. Since the 1970s, historians more attuned to the sensitivities of the colonized people have challenged the effectiveness of the imperialists.<ref> Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher with Alice Denny, ''Africa and the Victorians: The Climax of Imperialism'' (1968), pp 1-4</ref>

==1914==
In its heyday, the British Empire was the largest empire in history: by 1914, the eve of the [[First World War]], it spanned a quarter of the world's total land mass (though much of this consisted of vast, uninhabited areas of northern Canada and Australia). Its constituent parts included [[India]], [[Canada]], [[Australia]], [[New Zealand]], Malaya (now [[Malaysia]] and [[Singapore]]), [[South Africa]], [[Egypt]], [[Nigeria]], [[Kenya]], [[Uganda]] and [[Hong Kong]]. The saying used to be that the sun never sets on the British Empire.
==Dissolution==
The various parts of the Empire were granted independence by London (peacefully usually, sometimes otherwise) at different times. The thirteen American colonies that formed the original [[United States of America]] declared their freedom in 1776 and, with France, defeated the British in a major war. Most of [[Ireland]] went its separate way in 1922. The remaining "settler colonies" that were inhabited mainly by white people of British descent were formally granted self-government in 1931, though they had been self-governing for some years prior to that date. The remaining colonies were granted independence in the decades following the [[Second World War]], and the last remaining colony of importance, Hong Kong, left British rule in 1997 after a long lease with China expired.

Most former colonies are members of the [[Commonwealth of Nations]] and many of them, such as Canada and Australia, still have the the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II as their monarch.

Fourteen small territories that formed part of the Empire, such as the [[Cayman Islands]], [[Bermuda]], [[Anguilla]], the [[Falkland Islands]] and [[St. Helena]], remain under British rule today. They are legally known as the "British Overseas Territories".
==Historic regions==
===United States===
Although American historians have always paid attention to the negative causes of the revolt by which the 13 colonies broke away from the Empire, in the early 20th century the "Imperial School," including [[Herbert L. Osgood]], [[George Louis Beer]], [[Charles M. Andrews]] and [[Lawrence Gipson]] took a highly favorable view of the benefits achieved by the economic integration of the Empire.<ref>Ian Tyrrell, "Making Nations/Making States: American Historians in the Context of Empire," ''Journal of American History,'' Vol. 86, No. 3, (Dec., 1999), pp. 1015-1044 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2568604 in JSTOR]</ref> For a good sample of the school see George Louis Beer, ''The Old Colonial System, 1660-1754'' (1913) [http://books.google.com/books?id=2KkJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:george+inauthor:beer&lr=&num=30&as_brr=0 full text online].
===India===
A raging debate continues regarding the good-or-bad economic impact of British imperialism on India. The issue was raised by conservative leader [[Edmund Burke]] who in the 1780s vehemently attacked the East India Company, claiming that Warren Hastings and other top officials had ruined the Indian economy and society. Indian historian Rajat Kanta Ray (1998) continues this attack, saying the new economy brought by the British in the 18th century was a form of "plunder" and a catastrophe for the traditional economy of Mughal India. Ray accuses the British of depleting the food and money stocks and imposing high taxes that helped cause the terrible famine of 1770, which killed a third of the people of Bengal.<ref>Rajat Kanta Ray, "Indian Society and the Establishment of British Supremacy, 1765-1818," in ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: vol. 2, The Eighteenth Century" ed. by P. J. Marshall, (1998), pp 508-29</ref>

On the other hand, P. J. Marshall shows that recent scholarship has reinterpreted the received view that the prosperity of the formerly benign Mughal rule gave way to poverty, and anarchy. Marshall argues the British takeover did not make any sharp break with the past. British control was delegated largely through regional Mughal rulers and was sustained by a generally prosperous economy for the rest of the 18th century. Marshall notes the British went into partnership with Indian bankers and raised revenue through local tax administrators, and kept the old Mughal rates of taxation.<ref>Professor Ray agrees that the East India Company inherited an onerous taxation system that took one-third of the produce of Indian cultivators.</ref> Instead of the Indian nationalist account of the British as alien aggressors, seizing power by brute force and impoverishing all of India, Marshall presents the interpretation, supported by many scholars in both India and the West, in which the British were not in full control but instead were players in what was primarily an Indian play and in which their rise to power depended upon excellent cooperation with Indian elites. Marshall admits that much of his interpretation is still rejected by many historians working in India today, who prefer to bash the British.<ref>P.J. Marshall, "The British in Asia: Trade to Dominion, 1700-1765," in ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: vol. 2, The Eighteenth Century" ed. by P. J. Marshall, (1998), pp 487-507</ref>
==Slavery==
One of the most controversial aspects of the Empire is its role in first promoting and then ending slavery. In the 18th century British merchant ships were the largest element in the "Middle Passage" which transported millions of slaves to the Western Hemisphere. Most wound up in the Caribbean, where the Empire had highly profitable sugar colonies, and the living conditions were bad. (The plantation owners lived in Britain.) Parliament ended the the international transportation of slaves in 1807, and used the Royal Navy to enforce that ban. In 1833 it bought out the plantation owners for cash and officially banned slavery. Historians before the 1940s argued that moralistic reformers such as [[William Wilberforce]] and the Evangelical Protestants (especially Methodists) were primarily responsible.

Historical revisionism arrived when West Indian historian [[Eric Williams]] in ''Capitalism and Slavery'' (1944), rejected this moral explanation and substituted a [[Marxist]] interpretation. He argued that abolition was now more profitable, for a century of sugar cane raising had exhausted the soil of the islands, and the plantations had become unprofitable. It was more profitable to sell the slaves to the government than to keep up operations. The 1807 prohibition of the international trade, Williams argued, prevented French expansion on other islands. Meanwhile British investors turned to Asia, where labor was so plentiful that slavery was unnecessary. Williams went on to argue that slavery played a major role in making Britain prosperous. The high profits from the slave trade, he said, helped finance the [[Industrial Revolution]]. By implication, Britain enjoyed prosperity because of the capital extracted from the unpaid work of slaves.

More recently historians have challenged Williams. They have shown that slavery remained profitable in the 1830s because of innovations in agriculture, so the profit motive was not central to abolition.<ref> J.R. Ward, "The British West Indies in the Age of Abolition," in P.J. Marshall, ed. ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century'' (1998) pp 415-39.</ref> Richardson (1998) finds Williams's claims regarding the Industrial Revolution are greatly exaggerated, for profits from the slave trade amounted to less than 1% of total domestic investment in Britain. Richardson further challenges claims (by African scholars) that the slave trade caused widespread depopulation and economic distress in Africa--indeed that it caused the "underdevelopment" of Africa. Admitting the horrible suffering of the slaves themselves, he notes that many Africans benefited directly, because the first stage of the trade was always firmly in the hands of Africans. European slave ships waited at ports to purchase cargoes of people who were captured in the hinterland by African dealers and tribal leaders. Richardson finds that the "terms of trade" (how much the ship owners paid for the slave cargo) moved heavily in favor of the Africans after about 1750. That is, indigenous elites inside West and Central Africa made large and growing profits from slavery, thus increasing their wealth and power.<ref> David Richardson, "The British Empire and the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1660-1807," in P.J. Marshall, ed. ''The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume II: The Eighteenth Century'' (1998) pp 440-64.</ref>
==Name==
The term "British Empire" was used by historians as early as 1708.<ref> John Oldmixon, ''The British Empire in America, Containing the History of the Discovery, Settlement, Progress and Present State of All the British Colonies, on the Continent and Islands of America'' (London, 1708))</ref> before that the usual term was "English Empire."<ref>As in Nathaniel Crouch, ''The English Empire in America: Or a Prospect of His Majesties Dominions in the West-Indies'' (London, 1685).'' Armitage pp 174-5</ref>

==Further reading==
[[File:James-brit-empire.jpg|thumb|280px]]
* Bayly, C. A. ed. ''Atlas of the British Empire'' (1989). survey by scholars; heavily illustrated
* Beinart, William, and Lotte Hughes. ''Environment and Empire'' (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion) (2007) [http://www.amazon.com/Environment-Empire-History-British-Companion/dp/0199260311/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224385647&sr=8-7 excerpt and text search]
* Black, Jeremy. ''The British Seaborne Empire'' (2004)
* Brendon, Piers. "A Moral Audit of the British Empire." ''History Today'', (Oct 2007), Vol. 57 Issue 10, pp 44-47, online at [[EBSCO]]
* Brendon, Piers. ''The Decline and Fall of the British Empire, 1781-1997'' (2008), very well written popular survey [http://www.amazon.com/Decline-Fall-British-Empire-1781-1997/dp/0307268292/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253004822&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
* Bryant, Arthur. ''The History of Britain and the British Peoples'', 3 vols. (1984–90), popular.
* Cain, P. J. and A.G. Hopkins. ''British Imperialism, 1688-2000'' (2nd ed. 2001), 739pp, detailed economic history that presents the new "gentlemanly capitalists" thesis [http://www.amazon.com/British-Imperialism-Crisis-Deconstruction-1914-1990/dp/058220965X/ref=sr_1_2/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]; [http://www.questia.com/read/24219275?title=British%20Imperialism%3a%20Innovation%20and%20Expansion%2c%201688-1914 full text online]
* Colley, Linda. ''Captives: Britain, Empire, and the World, 1600-1850'' (2004), 464pp [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0385721463/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-4827826-5463040#reader-link excerpts and online search from Amazon.com]
* Dalziel, Nigel. ''The Penguin Historical Atlas of the British Empire'' (2006), 144 pp [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0141018445/ref=sib_dp_pt/103-4827826-5463040#reader-link excerpts and online search from amazon.com]
* Etherington, Norman. ''Missions and Empire'' (Oxford History of the British Empire Companion Series) (2008) [http://www.amazon.com/Missions-Empire-History-British-Companion/dp/019925348X/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224385647&sr=8-4 excerpt and text search], on Protestant missions
* Ferguson, Niall. ''Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power'' (2002), [http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Demise-British-Lessons-Global/dp/0465023290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196061626&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search], by a conservative scholar
* Hyam, Ronald. ''Britain's Imperial Century, 1815-1914: A Study of Empire and Expansion'' (1993). [http://www.amazon.com/Britains-Imperial-Century-1815-1914-Expansion/dp/033399311X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1196061553&sr=8-2 excerpt and text search]
* James, Lawrence. ''The Rise and Fall of the British Empire'' (1997), the best scholarly overview [http://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-British-Empire/dp/031216985X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252982523&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
** James, Lawrence. ''The Illustrated Rise and Fall of the British Empire'' (1997), abridged edition with many superb illustrations
* Johnson, Robert. ''British Imperialism.'' (2003) 284pp; good, short introduction to the major issues
* Judd, Denis. ''Empire: The British Imperial Experience, From 1765 to the Present'' (1996). [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=6969240 online edition]
* Lloyd; T. O. ''The British Empire, 1558-1995'' (1996) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=27709944 online edition]
* Louis, William Roger (general editor), ''The Oxford History of the British Empire'', 5 vols. (1998–99).
** vol 1 "The Origins of Empire" ed. by Nicholas Canny
** vol 2 "The Eighteenth Century" ed. by P. J. Marshall [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-British-Empire-Eighteenth/dp/0199246777/ref=sr_1_3/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-3 excerpt and text search]
** vol 3 ''The Nineteenth Century'' edited by William Roger Louis, Alaine M. Low, Andrew Porter; (1998). 780 pp.. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=98650583 online edition], also [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-British-Empire-Nineteenth/dp/0199246785/ref=sr_1_8/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-8 excerpt and text search]
** vol 4 ''The Twentieth Century'' edited by Judith M. Brown, (1998). 773 pp. [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=104728347 online edition] also [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-British-Empire-Twentieth/dp/0199246793/ref=sr_1_13/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-13 excerpt and text search]
** vol 5 "Historiography" ed, by Robin W. Winks (1999) [http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-History-British-Empire-Historiography/dp/0199246807/ref=sr_1_25/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842573&sr=8-25 excerpt and text search]
* Marshall, P. J. (ed.), ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire'' (1996). [http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Illustrated-History-British-Empire/dp/0521002540/ref=sr_1_12/103-4827826-5463040?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191842268&sr=8-12 excerpt and text search]
* Olson, James S. and Robert S. Shadle; ''Historical Dictionary of the British Empire'' (1996) [http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=58315322 online edition]
* Porter, A. N. ''Atlas of British Overseas Expansion'' (1994)
* Robinson, Howard . ''The Development of the British Empire'' (1922), 465pp [http://books.google.com/books?id=woRdQlGbL_oC&dq=intitle:british+intitle:empire+date:1900-1924&num=30 online edition]
* Rose, J. Holland, ed. ''Cambridge History of the British Empire: vol 1: The Old Empire from the Beginnings to 1783'' (1929) [http://www.questia.com/read/99039834?title=The%20Cambridge%20History%20of%20the%20British%20Empire online edition]
* Smith, Simon C. ''British Imperialism 1750-1970'' (1998). brief

====Notes====
<references/>

=== See also ===

*''[[The Evil Empire: 101 Ways That England Ruined the World]]''

[[Category:History]]
[[Category:British History]]
[[Category:Slavery]]
[[Category:Economic History]]
[[Category:Africa]]
[[Category:Asia]]
[[Category:British Empire]]

United States of America

2010-05-28T22:00:20Z

KPhillips:

{{Country
|name =''United States of America''
|map =US map.PNG
|map2 =Loc of United States.png
|established=1776
|flag =50 star flag.png
|arms =United States arms.png
|capital =Washington, D.C.
|government =Federal Republic
|language =English
|official =n
|president =Barack Obama
|area =3,718,695 sq mi
|pop =301,554,000 (2007)
|gdp-year =$13.049 trillion (2007
|gdp-pc =$44,333 (2007)
|currency =United States Dollar (USD)
}}
The '''United States of America''' (''conventional short form'': '''United States'''; ''abbreviation'': '''US''' or '''USA'''; sometimes also referred to as '''the States''' or simply as '''America''') is a [[North America|North American]] nation that consists of a federal union of fifty individual states, along with territories and a capital district. Founded originally as 13 colonies in the [[British Empire]], Britain's American colonies broke with the mother country on July 4, 1776 with the [[Declaration of Independence]]. The new nation became recognized as the United States of America following the [[American Revolutionary War|War of Independence]] in 1783. Shortly thereafter, in 1787, the [[United States Constitution]] was written; grounded on Christian values and [[Republican form of government|republican]] political principles, the constitution remains in effect today. The Americans created the world's first political parties and, since abolishing [[slavery]] in a bloody [[American Civil War|civil war]] (1861-65), the federal and State governments in the United States are a representative [[democracy]] committed to a [[Constitutional Republic]].

America's capitalist economy grew rapidly, becoming the largest in the world by the 1870s. During the 19th and 20th centuries, 37 new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the North American continent and acquired a number of overseas possessions. After defeating Communism in the [[Cold War]], the U.S. emerged as the world's only [[superpower]], boasting the largest economy and most powerful military. It exerts enormous cultural and intellectual influence worldwide, and in return is the target of the enemies of democracy and [[capitalism]].

The capital of the United States of America is [[Washington, DC]].

==Geography==
{{main|North America}}

North America, bordering both the North [[Atlantic Ocean]] and the North [[Pacific Ocean]], is between [[Canada]] and [[Mexico]]. In addition to the boundaries of the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, the United States is otherwise bounded by the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Two of the fifty states, Alaska and Hawaii (an archipelago), are not contiguous with any of the other states. Puerto Rico, which is largely self governing, is part of the U.S., as are several smaller territories in the Pacific Ocean, such as Guam. Each of the 50 states has a large degree of sovereignty, but the boundaries are debated and shift slightly every year.

At over 3.7 million square miles (over 9.6 million km²), the U.S. (including its non-contiguous and overseas states and territories) is the third largest country by total area. It is the world's third most populous nation, with over 350 million people.<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html CIA World Factbook], ''North America :: United States'', Updated on February 4, 2010, (Accessed on March 5, 2010).</ref>

==The Constitution and Politics in the United States==

[[Image:76485685i79.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The drafting committee presenting the [[Declaration of Independence]] to the [[Continental Congress]], painted by John Trumbull 1817–1819.]]

Between 1776 and 1788, the United States was governed according to the [[Articles of Confederation]]. The [[Founding Fathers]] formally established the current structure of the United States by ratification of the [[U.S. Constitution]] in 1788. Since 1789, that constitution has been the basic governing document.

Sovereignty in America comes from the citizenry, and the basic political values are called "[[republicanism]]," (not to be confused with the [[Republican Party]],) especially the commitment to civic virtue and civic duty, and opposition to corruption and aristocracy. Popular political parties emerged in the United States in the 1790s; currently the two major political parties are the [[Democratic Party]], and the [[Republican Party]]. Minor parties are of little importance.

=== The Role of Religion in Government ===
see [[Religion and U.S. Government]]

==History==

===Thirteen Colonies===
{{main|Thirteen Colonies}} [[Image:Pop1750.jpg|left|thumb|400px]]

===American Revolution===
{{main|American Revolution}}

The American Revolution exploded from fears the British Empire was trying to restrict the historic rights and liberties of Americans. The British victory in the French and Indian War ended the threat that foreign powers might attack the colonies; Britain's protection was no longer needed. At the same time Britain decided to assert its powers by imposing taxes. The taxes (as on stamps and sugar) were not large but the principle was: Americans insisted their own legislatures could impose taxes but not Parliament, because Americans were not represented there. "No taxation without representation!" became the American catch-word, but the British refused over and over again to accept it. London sent in troops when Boston protested vehemently, amd Americans organized shadow governments in every colony.

Meanwhile the Americans had been adopting a new political philosophy, called [[republicanism]] that stressed civic virtue, fear of corruption, and disdain for aristocracy (there were no aristocrats in America apart from occasional British visitors). Republicanism alerted Americans to their constitutional rights as Englishmen--one right was the people through their elected officials set the taxes. To Americans this meant their colonial legislatures, because they were not represented in the British Parliament. The British replied haughtily that Americans were "virtually represented" somehow. The tax on stamps in 1765 incited near rebellion, as the 13 separate colonies began meeting together and sharing their grievances. The stamp tax was repealed but others followed, especially the tax on tea. Americans boycotted tea and merchants refused to order it, except in Boston. There a well-organized group of patriots dumped the tea in the harbor at the [[Boston Tea Party]]. London was livid and sent troops and stripped Massachusetts of its self government and suspended the historic rights the colonists were so proud of. Now all 13 colonies started organizing shadow governments called "Committees of Correspondence" that prepared for the day "patriots" 9or "Whigs") as they called themselves could assume all functions of local government. That day came when the British sent troops from Boston to seize gunpowder and the patriots gathered there. The American "Minute men" (militia) had trained and planned for the day and they back at Lexington and Concord, and defeated elite British troops. The war had begun.

The 13 colonies, now organized as the "Continental COngress" now became a national government, as the shadow governments in each colony took control and ousted all royal officials. Congress set up a Continental Army and gave command to Virginia leader [[George Washington]]. he took charge in Boston, and forced the British to leave in spring 1776. All 13 colonies were now under Patriot control, and they listened as [[Tom Paine]] explained in ''Common Sense'' that America was a strong and powerful nation in its own right and no longer needed a foreign king. Congress called on the colonies to make themselves states and write new constitutions. On July 4, 1776, Congress unanimously declared the independence of a new nation, the United States of America.

King [[George III]] could not abide the insolent Americans and he sent his small army and large navy to reconquer his lost colonies. They did capture New York City, but little else. The powerful Royal navy gave the British command of the seas and the ability to land troops anywhere and capture any specific place, but the shortage of British soldiers, and the very long 3000 mile supply line, meant that the British could only hold a few points at any one time. Hiring German soldiers (Hessians) was necessary, but they were not enough, for the Patriots always had more available soldiers. The British expectations that Loyalist would rise up and overthrow the Patriots was a chimera; the Loyalists did provide some help to British invasion forces, but were never strong enough to operate on their own or control any territory.

France, humiliated by Britain in the 1760s, was stronger now and wanted revenge. It secretly armed and financed the Americans. In 1777 the British sent a large army to invade New York and cut off the revolutionary states of New England. The plan was a disaster as the American militia captured the entire British invasion force at Saratoga. Encouraged by diplomat [[Benjamin Franklin]], the French now recognized the United States, signed a treaty of alliance, and entered the war against Britain. Later it brought in Span and the Netherlands as allies; Britain's diplomacy was so bad that it had no allies at all, and now was militarily matched or surpassed by the allies. The British invasion of the South in 178-81 was designed to bring out Loyalist support, but it failed and the second major British army was captured at thew [[Battle of Yorktown]]. The British Parliament revolted at their reckless king and his incompetent government and sued for peace, which was achieved on terms favorable to the U.S. in 1783. About 20% of the Loyalists removed to Canada, but the others stayed, and the new peaceful nation resumed its rapid growth.

=== New Nation===

In 1783, when the Treaty of Paris concluded the war of independence, the American population totalled some three million citizens and slaves living on about one million square miles of land. Tens of thousands of [[Native Americans]] also lived in the [[Northwest Territory]] and the Southwest.

The Thirteen original states are [[Connecticut]], [[Delaware]], [[Georgia]], [[Maryland]], [[Massachusetts]] (including [[maine]]), [[New Hampshire]], [[New Jersey]], [[New York]], [[North Carolina]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[Rhode Island]], [[South Carolina]] and [[Virginia]]. In 1790, an agreement between supporters of Jefferson and those of [[Alexander Hamilton]] resulted in the creation of the [[District of Columbia]] from part of [[Maryland]]; it has served as the national capital since 1800. The remainder of the 1783 territory was eventually organized as the states of [[Ohio]], [[Indiana]], [[Michigan]], [[Illinois]], [[Wisconsin]], [[Kentucky]], [[Tennessee]], [[Mississippi]] and [[Alabama]].

=== Expansion===

In 1803, [[French]] emperor [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] took advantage of a lull in his war with Great Britain to sell the [[Louisiana Territory]] to the United States, more than doubling the nation's land area. This territory would later be organized as the states of [[Minnesota]], [[North Dakota]], [[South Dakota]], [[Montana]], [[Wyoming]], [[Nebraska]], [[Iowa]], [[Missouri]], [[Arkansas]], [[Kansas]], [[Oklahoma]], and [[Louisiana]] proper. President Jefferson commissioned [[Lewis and Clark]] to explore the new territory from 1802 to 1804.

The U.S. seized, then purchased [[Florida]] from Spain in 1819. [[Texas]] joined the United States in 1845 after winning its revolution against Mexico.

After victory the [[Mexican American War]] of 1846-48, the U.S. purchased via the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] territory that became the states of [[California]], [[Nevada]], [[Utah]], [[Colorado]], [[New Mexico]] and [[Arizona]]. In 1846 the U.S. and Britain agreed that the 49th Parallel (degree of latitude) would serve as the boundary between the U. S. and [[British Columbia]] (now part of Canada). The American portion became the states of [[Washington]], [[Oregon]] and [[Idaho]].

In 1867, the U.S. purchased [[Alaska]] from [[Russia]]. It became a state in 1959.

Hawaii became an independent republic in 1894 and voluntarily joined the U.S. in 1898, becoming a state in 1960.

As a result of the [[Spanish-American War]], in which the United States took control of the [[Philippines]] and annexed [[Puerto Rico]] and [[Guam]]. The Phillipines became independent in 1946, after the U.S. reconquered the islands from Japan in World War II. [[Puerto Rico]] has occasionally held referenda that ratified its continuing unique "Commonwealth" status as part of the United States. The residents of Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens. Guam continues as a U.S. owned territory with full citizenship for its inhabitants. The people of Puerto Rico and Guam have a vote in presidential primaries and a voice, but not a vote, in Congress.

==Government==
[[Image:56eugyjnm.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The [[White House]], the official home and workplace of the [[President of the United States]] of America.]]
===Executive Branch===
*Chief of state: The President of the United States is both the chief of state and head of government
*Head of government: President of the United States; Vice President of the United States
*Cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the president with Senate approval
*Elections: The president and vice president serve four-year terms (eligible for a second term)

===Legislative Branch===
The United States legislative branch of government is a bicameral Congress, which consists of the Senate (100 seats, 2 members are elected from each state by popular vote to serve six-year terms; one-third are elected every two years) and the House of Representatives (435 seats; members are directly elected by popular vote to serve two-year terms).

===Judicial Branch===
The United States [[Supreme Court]] consists of nine justices, nominated by the president and confirmed with the advice and consent of the Senate. Members of the Supreme Court are appointed to serve for life; the judicial branch extends to the United States Courts of Appeal, the United States District Courts, and State and County Courts. The primary role of the nine justices of the Supreme Court is to assure the United States government does not attempt to surrender, sell or transfer the people's unalienable rights given by [[God]]. The Supreme Court has the power to consider the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress.

==2010 Federal Holidays==
The table below lists public holidays for U.S. Federal employees for 2010.<ref>[http://www.opm.gov/Operating_Status_Schedules/fedhol/2010.asp 2010 Federal Holidays], OPM.gov, Federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103).</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Holiday
|-
|Friday, Jan. 1 || [[New Year’s Day]]
|-
|Monday, Jan. 18 || Birthday of [[Martin Luther King, Jr.]]
|-
|Monday, Feb. 15* || Washington’s Birthday
|-
|Monday, May 31 || [[Memorial Day]]
|-
|Monday, July 5** || [[Independence Day]]
|-
|Monday, Sept. 6 || [[Labor Day]]
|-
|Monday, Oct. 11 || [[Columbus Day]]
|-
|Thursday, Nov. 11 || [[Veterans Day]]
|-
|Thursday, Nov. 25 || [[Thanksgiving Day]]
|-
|Friday, Dec. 24*** || [[Christmas|Christmas Day]]
|-
|}

==Flag Description==
[[Image:50 star flag.png|right|thumb|150px|The [[Flag of the United States of America]]]]
{{main|Flag of the United States of America}}

Thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white; there is a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing 50 small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars; the 50 stars represent the 50 states, the 13 stripes represent the 13 original colonies; known as Old Glory; the design and colors have been the basis for a number of other flags, including [[Chile]], [[Liberia]], [[Malaysia]], and [[Puerto Rico]].

== Also See ==
*[[Pledge of Allegiance]]
*[[Famous American artists]]
*[[List of 50 states]]
*[[Americas]]
*[[America (continent)]]
*[[Columbia]]

== External links ==

*[[CIA]] - [https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html The World FactBook]
*[http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/america.htm America]
*[http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/flags_of_us_states.htm Flags of the U.S. States]
*[http://www.pibmug.com/files/map_test.swf Interactive map test of the 50 U.S. states]
*[http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h445.html U.S. History]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{USstates}}
{{Nb US universities}}
[[Category:North American Countries]]
[[Category:United States of America]]
[[Category:Geography]]
[[Category:NATO members]]
[[Category:United States history]]
[[Category:Featured articles]]

Habeas corpus

2010-05-28T21:59:21Z

KPhillips: corrected latin

'''Habeas corpus''' refers to the right of a private citizen to challenge their government to present a reason for his criminal or civil detention. This right was first secured by British citizens against their King with the signing of the [[Magna Carta]] in 1215, a document upon which all Western [[democracy]] is based, and upon which the [[Founding Fathers]] of the [[United States of America]] heavily relied.

Specifically, "habeas corpus" is the name of a writ having for its object to bring a person before a court. In Latin, the phrase translates roughly as "[we order that] you produce the body".

Explained another way, '''habeas corpus''' is [[Latin]] for "you may have a body." A writ of habeas corpus generally is a judicial order forcing law enforcement authorities to produce a prisoner they are holding, and to justify the prisoner's continued confinement. Federal judges receive petitions for a writ of habeas corpus from state prison inmates who say their state prosecutions violated federally protected rights in some way.

The right to ''habeas corpus'' is phrased as a [[writ]], making reference to the arcane system of writs by which legal claims were adjudicated prior to the 1900s (e.g., the "writ of replevin," or "writ of mandamus"). Thus, the right is referred to as "the writ of ''habeas corpus''," or, "the Great Writ."

The [[United States Constitution]] guarantees that the "privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it," in Article I, Section 9.<ref>[[U.S. Constitution]], Art I, Sec. 9</ref>

== United States ==
In the [[United States]], a detainee may request a writ of Habeas Corpus review with any court that has jurisdiction. If accepted by the court, the judge issues a writ of Habeas Corpus ordering the individual with custody of the detainee to produce the detainee for a hearing. During the hearing, the judge reviews the lawfulness of the detention, and if found unlawful, orders the detainee released. If, before the hearing, the custodian refuses to produce the body, it is at risk of being found in contempt of court, with potential consequences leading up to and including detention for the custodian until the body is produced.

Former [[United States]] [[Attorney General]] [[Alberto Gonzales]] argued that there is no expressed grant of ''habeas corpus'' in the [[Constitution]].<ref>http://baltimorechronicle.com/2007/011907Parry.shtml</ref> Currently, U.S. law states that the privilege may be withheld if the defendant is declared as an "[[enemy combatant]]," though recently the [[Supreme Court]] held this was not enforceable.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/washington/13scotus.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1213359600-p5A1VL5o1oc0SqfVz31OnQ&oref=slogin</ref>

== References ==
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[[Category:Latin Legal Terms]][[Category:Law]]
[[Category:Legal Terms]]