This the King used as an excuse for a dramatic alteration in his government. In the beginning of Pitt’s rule, he governed a minority government. This was a great challenge for Pitt as he was young and inexperienced and facing the strong and experienced oppositions of Burke, Fox, North and Portland. However, we can see that with the King’s support, Pitt was able to gain more popularity amongst independent MPs. By March 1784, the majority had dramatically decreased and George III dissolved parliament and called a general election.
This essay will outline the advantages as well as the disadvantages that the British faced in this war with America. The British was victorious in their recent battle in the Seven Year’s War and they felt that they had proven themselves more prepared and capable of being one of the most powerful militias in Europe. Not only was the naval command very strong but the government was strong financially. But the naval command and financial support would prove to be inefficient in this battle. The British relied heavily on its navy which had a number of problems since the recent war.
The main reason for Conservative dominance in the years 1951 - 1964 was due to Labour disunity. (45) Labour's disunity was one of the reasons which help explain the dominance of the Conservatives in the years 1951 - 1964, however, there are various other reasons which also contribute to this. For example, the end of austerity, role of Macmillan, postwar consensus etc. Some historians will argue that the reason for the Conservative dominance was because they got lucky with their timing as austerity had needed and Britain was just beginning to recover its economy and living standards were rising when they came to power. For instance, more and more people were owning cars, men's wages had risen from £8.30 I'm 1951 to £15.35 in 1961, rationing was ended in 1954 and farmers were making profit.
Despite the King’s help in enabling Pitt’s position in power, we must also analyse the other factors that contribute to Pitt’s success, for instance, the weakened status of the Whig’s leader, Charles Fox and the improvements that Pitt made to the financial and economical state of the nation. Firstly, the way that Pitt managed to become Prime Minister instantly made clear that George III was nearly entirely responsible for his entry into office. When the dispute arose over the coalition of the India Bill in 1782, George III immediately took the opportunity to get rid of the Whigs leaving a position open for Pitt. Therefore we can see that this opening ,created by the King, enabled Pitt to become Chancellor of the Exchequer and First Lord of the Treasury in 1783. The King used the India Bill as an excuse for a dramatic change in his government.
The Seven Years War also increased Britain’s empire in the colonies and therefore had more power and control of the governing of the colonies. These changes strained relations between the colonists and Britain because Britain felt dominating over the colonies while the colonies wanted to separate. Economically speaking, the Seven Year’s War had a huge impact on the colonists and Great Britain. The war convinced the colonists of their growing strength, but it left them weak in man power and in debt. Debt in England was greatly increased after the war, and British capital poured into the colonies.
This was as a result of the Revolutionary war and Washington inherited this when he became president, which became another issue he had to deal with. Raising revenue for the government was a top priority for the new president and the issue of how to do this was hotly debated. It was suggested by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton that governmental financing via tariffs, or surcharges on imported goods, and placing a tax on liquor could retire much, if not all of the country’s debt. He also proposed a national bank in which private investors could have the opportunity to purchase stocks, print paper money, keep the government’s finances safe, in addition to centralizing the nation's financial base. Because of the tax placed on liquor to help eliminate the country’s financial debt, the Whiskey rebellion was born; making this another one of President Washington’s problematic issues.
After the French Revolution though, the republic slowly began shifting to a totalitarian regime, first under the Committee of Public Safety and then completely under Napoleon Bonaparte .The facts show that the American Revolution was more successful in establishing a stable and long-lasting republican government that started a precedent for Europe, while the French Revolution’s republic failed to last, being turned into a totalitarian regime. Events leading up to the American and French Revolutions occurred for a similar reason: unfair representation. The people in the American colonies became progressively upset with Britain and its Parliament when they refused the colonists’ representation, while still imposing many different taxes on the colonists. Upset over this tax on one of their most valued imports, the colonists dumped all the tea into the Boston Harbor during the Boston Tea Party. This showed that the colonists were willing, and able, to live without depending on the British government.
The reduction by 56 of Rotten and Pocket boroughs meant that significant amounts of Tory voters were lost therefore benefitting the Whigs all the more and increasing Whig popularity, this supplied Whig’s with the confidence to make more reforms, The reforms were subtle yet they carried an air of optimism and granted the working class people the chance to anticipate further future reforms. Before the act was passed the vote was spread unevenly over the country, certain constituencies were granted the vote for absurd reasons that followed old medieval tradition. Examples of these were the Pot Walloped tradition that entitled anyone that had a fireplace big enough to hang a pot was approved the right to vote. Also, Scot and Lot boroughs meant that everyone within the borough had the right to vote. These anachronisms meant that the vote was an unbalanced system that was in dia need of reform.
In Howard Zinn’s, A Peoples History of The United States, Chapter 4 Tyranny is Tyranny; Zinn exposes the events that led to the American Revolution, which allowed for the process and sanction to break from Britain’s controls of Colonial America. The Chapter discusses how the colonial elite kept controls high and wealth heavily flowing within the upper class causing an uneven leveling within the colonies under Great Britain which did not change post-Independence. Zinn also describes how unrest started with the “common” person struggling to survive as England had increased the taxes post French and Indian War because firstly, Britain had to earn back the money they put into the war; and secondly, greed of continuously making enormous profits from the colonies. By 1770 the profit was worth 2,800,000 pounds. Zinn explains how this resulted in hardship for the colonies, and how locally the wealth was concentrated within the rich elite only, and that “The elements were there for conflict.” Howard Zinn quoted Gray Nash’s research of the early 1770s, where he examined court-recorded wills and found that the people with the most wealth in “the cities were leaving 20,000 pounds (equivalent to about $5 million today).” The poorest of poor’s people began to “vent their grievances” at town meetings.
It could be argued that this was due to America’s neutrality to the war until April 1917 causing the USA not to have any war damage and this changed America’s economy as they replaced Britain and London as the USA and New York became the Financial Centre of the world. This shows that the economy was strengthened due to impact of the 1st World War. It can be argued that the impact of the 1st World War had a negative impact on the economy, especially industrial unrest. This is a convincing argument because the demobilisation and reduction of the war time production had led to an increase amount of unemployment causing workers to be out of jobs. It could be argued that the national debt increased to 658% during the war and due to this the taxes raised higher and remained higher even after the war in 1918.