The Eighteenth Century

• 1603: Union of the crowns

  ↳ England and Scotland shared a Monarch (James 1st)
• 1701: Act of Settlement

  ↳ Queen Anne is next on the throne

  ↳ excluded the Stuarts because of French connections and Catholicism
• 1707: Abolition of "Kingdom of England"& "Kingdom of Scotland"

  -> "United Kingdom of Great Britain"

  · Scotland sent people to parliament in London

  · Scottish Church and law were not abolished

  -> a British state, Parliament, Government, Empire, Army...

  · loss of national Parliament and independence of Scotland

  · commercial benefits (relatively poor Scotland part of the colonial system)

  · Scotland no longer political threat
• 1800: "Act of Union"

  · Unification of the British and Irish Parliament

  Union Flag: mixing England, Scotland and Ireland

  · Internal cohesion of the British Isles -> stronger against France
• 1714: Hanoveranian Succession (nearest protestant successor: Sophia of Hannover)
• Rise of the Gentry

  · Income originally came from owning land, later from business

  · "top group"in the British society

  · Tory party (conservative party)
• Rise of the Middle Class

  · non-aristocratic and not doing manual work (Traders, bankers, etc.

  Reasons: increasing trade inside Britain and with colonies, upper class needs people to work for them
• Parliament and the first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole

  · House of Commons was gaining dominance over the House of Lords

  · Prime minister could deliver power over parliament for the monarch

  · Parliament represented landowners (lack of representation of workers)
• The Enlightenment

  -> roots in Renaissance and Humanism

  -> Emphasis on reason, freedom, democracy& empiricism
• Reasons why the industrial revolution started in Britain:

  1. Labour was expensive in England: technology to save money

  2. Coal was abandoned, accessible a cheap -> source of energy

  3. Success of the Glorious Revolution: secured the rights of private property, united taxes

  4. advanced financial system

  · enlightened thinking, emphasis on experiment and rational scientific thinking

  led to the developement of new forms of production
• · Invention of the steam engine

  ↳> spinning and weaving (eg. spinning Jenny)-> Britain's textile industry dominant

  · factories were being erected

  railways are built
• Consequences of Industrialisation:

  · small (family)manufacturers lost their income

  · demand of fuel destroyed much of the environment

  · urbanisation

  emerge of modern working class
• 1702-1713: War of Spanish succession (Britain gained territories in Spain)

  1713: Treaty of Utrecht (territories in the Mediterranean Seal
• 1756 -1763 Seven Years War

  · conflict between Great Britain and France (first "global"war)

  ↳ 1763: Peace of Paris (Britain got main area of France in North America and other colonies)
• West Indies (colonies in the Caribbean Sea)

  · "Jewels of the crown"-> brought much money

  · advantage of Caribbean possessions:

  · maximise benefits of flashing slave trade

  · steady flows of tropical products (coffee, tea, sugar)-> source of wealth

  · valuable base for raiding Spanish possessions
• India: Britain was a marginal force

  · 1784: India Act (East India company is central coordination

  in Indian economy
• Australia: 1788 Britain laid claim to Australia, colonisation began

  ↳ James Cook explores Australia
• the slave trade: contributed to the English industrial revolution

  the slave triangle
• 1755-1783: The American war of independence

  · major defeat of British (French supporting Americans)

  · Americans didn't want to pay taxes to Britains as they were not represented in parliament

  · Britain argued that they needed money to protect the colonies against French

  ↳ Boston tea party (1773)-> symbol of resistance

  · July 1776 declaration of independence

  ↳ First British Empire till 1776, after Second British Empire