The Age of George III

Change

• Challenged assumptions• New King

Historiography

• Debates among historians• Whig Interpretation of History

Sir Lewis Namier

• Prosopography (Namierization)

Sir Herbert Butterfield

• Limited questions bring inaccurate results

• What people talk about at the time has meaning

George III’s Personality

• Morally consistent• Respectable• Admired learning

George III’s Library

George III’s Library (1851)

Enlightened Despotism

• Frederick the Great (Prussia)• Catherine the Great (Russia)• Joseph II (Austria)

1760s

• King sought reliable minister• Lord Bute• Decade of experimentation

1770s

• Lord North

Case of John Wilkes

• Beginning of radical impulse

• North Briton No. 45• General Warrants• Essay on Woman

Results

• General warrants unconstitutional• Middlesex voters rights upheld• Interest in Parliamentary debates

increased• Supporters of the Bill of Rights• Clear political reform program

Wilkes and Liberty