British Royal Society

Examples of British Royal Society in the following topics:

• Unifying Experiences among the Colonies

  • British culture, styles, commerce, and society forged ties between residents of the different colonies.
  • From the 1670s several royal governors proposed or attempted to implement means to coordinate defensive and offensive military matters.
  • The relations between the British military establishment and the colonists were not always positive, setting the stage for later distrust and dislike of British troops.
  • The British and colonists triumphed jointly over a common foe.
  • The British elite, the most heavily taxed of any in Europe, pointed out angrily that the colonists paid little to the royal coffers.

• An Emerging Colonial System

  • The colonies extended the franchise to white men with property, who presumably had an "interest" in society.
  • Before independence, the original thirteen were part of a larger set of colonies in British America.
  • New Haven was absorbed by Connecticut Colony with the issuance of the Connecticut Charter in 1662, partly as royal punishment by King Charles II for harboring the regicide judges who sentenced King Charles I to death.
  • Both colonies became royal colonies in 1729.
  • This territorial map includes The British Province of Quebec and the British thirteen colonies on the Atlantic coast.

• Harassment by Britain

  • The Royal British Navy's practice of impressment led to increasing tensions between Britain and the United States.
  • Beginning in 1664, the Royal British Navy used this practice in wartime, and during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, impressment allowed the British to crew their warships.
  • As a result, the Royal Navy impressed more than 9,000 sailors who claimed American citizenship.
  • During the United Kingdom's wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France (1793 to 1815), the Royal Navy aggressively reclaimed British deserters on board ships of other nations, both by halting and searching merchant vessels and, in many cases, by searching American port cities.
  • The crew of the HMS Leopard pursued, attacked, and boarded the American frigate looking to impress deserters from the Royal Navy.

• The Expansion of England's Empire

  • The English, and later the British, were among the most important colonizers of the Americas.
  • Many of the indigenous societies had developed a warrior class and had a long history of warfare.
  • These were charter colonies, proprietary colonies and royal colonies.
  • In effect, with the Union they became British colonies.
  • British colonies in North America, 1763 to 1775, published in 1911.

• The Benin Bronzes

  • The Benin Bronzes are a collection of more than 3,000 brass plaques from the royal palace of the Kingdom of Benin, located in what is now Nigeria.
  • Two hundred of the pieces were taken to the British Museum in London, while the rest were purchased by other European museums.
  • Today, a large number are held by the British Museum.
  • Nigeria has since bought around 50 Bronzes from the British Museum and has repeatedly called for the return of the remainder.
  • An important aspect of the works is their exclusivity: property was reserved only for certain social classes, reflecting the strict hierarchical structure of society in the Kingdom of Benin.

• Blue Water Imperialism

  • The dominant 17th and 18th-century British ideology of blue water imperialism was founded on the values of commerce and freedom—for some.
  • British Protestants thus claimed that Catholicism tended to lead to political despotism.
  • Furthermore, through overseas commercial markets, British influence would extend rapidly, linking colonies and other nations to British interests without directly occupying foreign territories.
  • British citizenship and freedoms therefore extended to the Atlantic colonies through British maritime superiority, where merchants could securely exchange goods because of royal naval protection.
  • As slavery flourished throughout the 18th century, many contemporaries remarked on the institution as a "necessary evil" or a "positive good" to American society and economy.

• Government in the English Colonies

  • The British Parliament believed that it had the right to impose taxes on the colonists.
  • Thus, Americans viewed their legislative branch as a guardian of liberty, while the executive branches was deemed tyrannical.There were several examples of royal actions that upset the Americans.
  • Americans especially feared British actions in Canada, where civil law was once suspended in favor of British military rule.
  • American distaste for British government would lead to revolution.
  • Explain the reasons for the tension between the British empire and its American colonies

• Conclusion: Patterns of British Settlement in the Colonies

  • The 18th century witnessed the birth of Great Britain (after the union of England and Scotland in 1707) and the expansion of the British Empire.
  • By the mid-1700s, Great Britain had developed into a commercial and military powerhouse; its economic sway ranged from India, where the British East India Company had gained control over both trade and territory, to the West African coast, where British slave traders predominated, and to the British West Indies, whose lucrative sugar plantations, especially in Barbados and Jamaica, provided windfall profits for British planters.
  • Slavery formed a cornerstone of the British Empire in the 18th century.
  • Isaac Royall and his family, seen here in a 1741 portrait by Robert Feke, moved to Medford, Massachusetts, from the West Indian island of Antigua, bringing their slaves with them.
  • Successful and well-to-do, they display fashions, hairstyles, and furnishings that all speak to their identity as proud and loyal British subjects.

• The War in the Chesapeake

  • Launched in April of 1814, the squadron was quickly cornered in the Patuxent River; while successful in harassing the Royal Navy, the squadron was powerless to stop the British campaign that ultimately led to the burning of Washington.
  • A force of 2,500 soldiers under General Ross had recently arrived in Bermuda aboard the HMS Royal Oak, three frigates, three sloops, and ten other vessels.
  • Released from the Peninsular War in Europe by British victory, the British intended to use these ships for diversionary raids along the coasts of Maryland and Virginia.
  • The British left Washington, D.C. as soon as the storm subsided.
  • The British called off the attack and left.

• The Forage War

  • The Forage War consisted of numerous small skirmishes between British and Continental forces that took place in New Jersey in early 1777.
  • Also in January, militia pressure led British General Cornwallis to withdraw most of the northern troops to the shores of the Hudson.
  • General Washington ordered the systematic removal of supplies from areas easily accessible to the British, and companies of American militia and troops harassed British and German forays to acquire provisions.
  • These difficulties forced British commanders to change tactics, attempting to lure American militia units into traps involving larger numbers of British regulars.
  • The British were forced to import many supplies from Europe, at great cost and risk to the Royal Navy.