2026/01/01 by Amy Watson
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #American Constitutional Law and Politics #European Political History Analysis #Historical Economic and Social Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/jbr.2026.10274
Abstract Timed to coincide with the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence that launched a revolution that created the United States of America, this series of articles complicates traditional narratives of this transformative event by situating it in a larger British world context. As American Patriots declared their independence from Great Britain, there was one British politician whom they continued to celebrate as a hero: William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. In 1776, Chatham’s face adorned statues, portraits, swords, and even waxworks throughout the new American states. By Chatham’s death in 1778, however, Americans had cooled appreciably on the British “Patriot” leader. Why did William Pitt remain an American hero for so long? And why, after 1776, did his reputation fall so quickly? This article argues that the issue of American independence caused a political split in a once-powerful transatlantic Patriot alliance. While American Patriots viewed independence as their paramount goal, British Patriots such as Chatham could not conceive of a British Empire that did not include North America. The British Patriots’ attempts to balance imperial sovereignty and civil liberty proved unworkable, and ultimately, they chose empire. The death of William Pitt represented the end of British Patriotism’s core political ideal: to create a British Empire that was both expansive and free.