The Crown and the Colonial Charters, 1675-1688

Part I

Bibliographic Data

ID4954639
AuthorsPhilip S Haffenden (corresponding author)
Year1958
Volume15
Issue3
Pages297
Publication date1958-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe William and Mary Quarterly (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0043-5597 • E-ISSN: 1933-7698
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1915619
OpenAlexW2331931513
LanguageEN
Citations received8

GAINST the indifference to North American empire which characterized the attitude of so many British monarchs of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the interests of James II and the ambitious schemes he produced mark him, by contrast, as a mature imperialist. The objective towards which his policy was haltingly directed was the reduction of the remaining independent governments overseas and their regrouping, with the royal provinces, to form viceroyalties comparable in size to the Spanish territories to the south and greater in military strength than the French power to the north. It was an aim that showed imagination, though, it might be argued, an imagination that was too little ready to compromise with the difficulties of transatlantic government and too little conscious of the general problems posed by geography. The methods pursued in the unsuccessful endeavor to achieve this aim bring to light a lack of departmental co-ordination, administrative delay, and divagations from original purpose which are all too familiar attributes of imperial policy in the years before I783. But these qualifications must not be allowed to obscure the unique, if largely abortive, contribution made by the last of the male Stuarts to the political history of the first British Empire. James was not the first man in Restoration England to recognize the advantage of aiding the operation of the colonial system through the erection of a politically centralized structure, but as Duke of York the weight of his conviction undoubtedly lent valuable support to the ambitious schemes of the Lords of Trade. By the time he ascended the throne, early in i685, this body, unaided by the clear leadership of any one man, had already notable achievements to its credit.' It was to be expected that the

Ancient history · Archaeology · Colonialism · Composite material · Crown (dentistry · American Constitutional Law and Politics · History · Materials Science

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