Hello and welcome to a history of the United States.

Episode 139, Britain chooses war.

Quote, in the early months of 1775, in both houses of Parliament, statesmen probed into the American

crisis and offered generous solutions that might have preserved the British Empire into the

distant future. The oratory of the Earl of Chatham and Edmund Burke evoked admiration,

but won few, if any, votes. George III and his friend were firmly in the saddle.

They were quite unfit to guide the British

ship of state in a mighty storm. They did not recognise its magnitude. They refused to accept

the Council of Chathamberk, nor did they follow the advice of General Gage. Warned that the British Army in North America,

even with the help of the Navy, was far too small to subjugate the colonists, that the Americans

would fight and fight well, that France and Spain would seize an opportunity to strike at Britain

in distress. They nonetheless chose to wage war

against unruly subjects who resided beyond the Atlantic. They intended to save the empire in their

own short-sighted way. They sent orders to gauge, which quickly brought on hostilities and then an ever-widening

conflict that raged for eight years, ending in disastrous defeat for Britain. End quote.

So begins chapter 12 of Britain and the loss of 13 colonies by John H. Alden. When reading that

passage, it set up exactly what I want to cover in this episode. What happened in late 1774

and early 1775 that led Britain to settle on a military response in America.

One of the key factors over those months was the looming parliamentary elections.

Elections had last taken place in 1768 and according to the Septennial Act, a parliament could not last for more than

seven years, meaning an election had to take place by 1775. By the late summer of 1774, it was clear

to Lord North there was a major crisis brewing across the Atlantic, so North decided

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