Asked by jay
Why did Burnaby think that America would never be a nation independent from Great Britain?
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You mean Andrew Burnaby, the English clergyman and travel writer who toured the North American colonies in the 1750s and published Travels through the middle settlements in North America (1760). From his observations he concluded, “I am persuaded America never will be a nation independent of Great Britain.” His reasons, as he described them, were basically that the colonies were still politically, economically and culturally tied to Britain and lacked the means or motive to break away:
- Economic dependence: colonial trade, credit and manufactured goods flowed through Britain; colonists relied on British markets and shipping.
- Security dependence: colonists relied on the Royal Navy and British military protection against rivals and Native American threats.
- Cultural and institutional ties: shared language, laws, political habits and an elite closely connected by birth, education and family to Britain made separation unlikely.
- Lack of unified political structures: the colonies were separate provincial governments with competing interests, not a single nation able to organize for independence.
- Social conservatism: he thought colonists preferred the stability and advantages of remaining within the empire to the risks of rupture.
In short, Burnaby saw a web of practical and sentimental ties he believed would keep the colonies British. He underestimated how imperial policies, colonial political development, and wartime mobilization would later produce a powerful movement for independence.
- Economic dependence: colonial trade, credit and manufactured goods flowed through Britain; colonists relied on British markets and shipping.
- Security dependence: colonists relied on the Royal Navy and British military protection against rivals and Native American threats.
- Cultural and institutional ties: shared language, laws, political habits and an elite closely connected by birth, education and family to Britain made separation unlikely.
- Lack of unified political structures: the colonies were separate provincial governments with competing interests, not a single nation able to organize for independence.
- Social conservatism: he thought colonists preferred the stability and advantages of remaining within the empire to the risks of rupture.
In short, Burnaby saw a web of practical and sentimental ties he believed would keep the colonies British. He underestimated how imperial policies, colonial political development, and wartime mobilization would later produce a powerful movement for independence.
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