The imperial problem in British political economy, 1763--1786

Abstract

This thesis engages with two prominent themes in eighteenth-century British historiography, examining Anglo-American relations after the American Revolution and the influence of economic theory on policy during this period. It considers traditional ideas, often labelled 'mercantilist,' about the nature of economy and the manner in which free trade theories were related to those beliefs. It argues that free trade was fundamentally influenced by 'mercantile' thought even while rejecting it. The influence of both 'mercantile' and liberal economic thought on policy is evaluated by examining the commercial negotiations associated with the 1783 Treaty of Paris and Parliamentary investigations into West Indian-United States trade relations in the mid-1780s. It concludes that policymakers subscribed to a mixture of 'mercantile' and liberal economic thought; moreover, although their decisions were responses to particular economic circumstances, their frames of reference were coloured both by economic theory and by aspirations for a post-revolutionary British Empire.