The Idea of Europe and the Origins of the American Revolution

In The Idea of Europe and the Origins of the American Revolution , Dan Robinson presents a new history of politics in colonial America and the imperial crisis, tracing how ideas of Europe and Europeanness shaped British-American political culture. Reconstructing colonial debates about the European states system, European civilisation, and Britain's position within both, Robinson shows how these concerns informed colonial attitudes towards American identity and America's place inside - and, ultimately, outside - the emerging British Empire. Taking in more than two centuries of Atlantic history, he explores the way in which colonists inherited and adapted Anglo-British traditions of thinking about international politics, how they navigated imperial politics during the European wars of 1740-1763, and how the burgeoning patriot movement negotiated the dual crisis of Europe and Empire in the between 1763 and 1775. In the process, Robinson sheds new light on the development of public politics in colonial America, the Anglicisation/Americanisation debate, the political economy of empire, early American art and poetry, eighteenth-century geopolitical thinking, and the relationship between international affairs, nationalism, and revolution. What emerges from this story is an American Revolution that seems both decidedly arcane and strikingly relevant to the political challenges of the twenty-first century. Cover The Idea of Europe and the Origins of the American Revolution Copyright Dedication Preface Contents List of Illustrations List of Tables List of Abbreviations Note on Sources INTRODUCTION 1 ‘The Venerable Head’: The Reflections of Ezra Stiles PROLOGUE: The Neighbour’s House, 1533–1775 2 ‘The Rose of Sharon’: The English and the Peace of Christendom ‘The Liberty of Christendom’ ‘A Holy Asylum’ ‘What Can Be Hoped For?’ 3 ‘Peace and Tranquillity’: The System of Europe in British Grand Strategy ‘The General Interest of Europe’ ‘A Just Balance of Power’ ‘The Expectation of a Universal Monarchy’ 4 ‘The Temper of the People’: Public Politics in British America ‘The Current News’ The Best Service of the People’ ‘The American Mind’ PART I: THE LIBERTIES OF EUROPE, 1740–1763 5 ‘Giving Peace to Europe’: Colonial Whigs and the Balance of Power ‘Freedom’s Juster Claim’ ‘Matters of Thankfulness’ We May Look on All These Victories as Our Own’ 6 ‘The Patron of Mankind’: Geopolitics and Colonial Nationalism ‘Let the British Lion be Roused’ ‘The Arbiter of Europe’ ‘Of Whatever Sect or Nation’ 7 ‘In a National Light’: War and the Ethics of Imperial Politics ‘The True English Spirit’ The Glorious Cause’ ‘The Victors Mourn’ PART II: A BRITISH EMPIRE, 1763–1776 8 ‘Magna Britannia’: European Crisis, British Isolation, and Colonial Longing ‘One Universal Despotism’ Blow Up the Coals’ 9 ‘The Asylum of Liberty’: Universal Monarchy and American Nationhood ‘The Next Universal Monarchy’ ‘A Single Rod of Earth’ ‘National Truth and Honour’ 10 ‘Arbitress of the Universe: ’Empires, Futures, and Revolutionary Geopolitics ‘A Grand Commercial Interest’ ‘A Perfectly Free People’ ‘The Road to Glory’ CONCLUSION 11 ‘Events Abroad’: America Between Two Worlds Bibliography of Primary Sources Index "This book advances a new interpretation of the origins of the American Revolution by looking at how conceptions of Europe and Europeanness shaped British-American political culture. It reconstructs colonial debates about the European states system and European civilization, and Britain's position within both. From this basis, it shows how these concerns informed colonial attitudes towards American identity and America's place inside--and, ultimately, outside--the emerging British Empire. The book explores the way in which colonists inherited and adapted Anglo-British traditions of thinking about international politics, how they navigated imperial politics during the European wars of 1740-63, and how the burgeoning patriot movement negotiated the dual crisis of Europe and Empire in the period between 1763 and 1775. In the process, it sheds new light on the development of public politics in colonial America, the anglicization/Americanization debate, the political economy of empire, the place of art and poetry in political culture, the interplay of history and prophecy with identity, eighteenth-century geopolitical thinking, and the relationship between international affairs and revolution. What emerges from this story is an imperial crisis and an American Revolution that seem both decidedly arcane and strikingly relevant to the political challenges of the twenty-first century." -- Oxford Scholarship Online In this path-breaking new history of early America, the imperial crisis, and the American Revolution, D. H. Robinson traces the formative impact of ideas about Europe and Europeanness on British-American politics and identity, touching on everything from international relations and nationalism, to news media and poetry