A HISTORY OF BRITAIN

1. What was the British idea of liberty before the Empire began its exploration, colonization and settlement of North America?

Liberty represented the reward for centuries of civil wars that had helped to transform Britain into the freest country in the world. Liberty had become their religion and they actually built temples in their gardens to bring virtue to it. With Liberty came along trade which brought power to Britain.

2. The sugar plantation became a significant British interest in various parts of the New World.  Why was sugar so important at the time and what were the consequences of this interest?

Sugar was once seen as a luxury, but now it was seen as a necessity. Barbados provided the perfect habitat to make it grow (tropical heat and saturating rains) Britain began to settle in the West Indias, transforming the forests into sugar plantations. It took 40 months for the plantations to be ready. It was a very messy and dangerous job. The plantations required strong, quick men, “beasts”, that would not dare to complain. They were slaves.

3. Slavery and Empire, what was the relationship between the two and, what was the inherent contradiction between the ideals of Empire and its actuality in practice?

In order to transform the plantations into “liquid gold”, the British did not care whether they had to go to Africa to look for slaves and then ship them back to the Indias. The logistics were difficult but the outcome was good. The amount of slaves was enormous, 3.5 million. The slave commodity was the most important of all because it contributed to the building of british cities, and generated british profits. Back in Britain people were silent about turning people into slave animals because the scale of profits was huge. Slaves to them were simply commodities, objects.

4. Describe the conditions of the slave ships.

It was an absolute nightmare. Families were separated and slaves were chained with very little air to breath and with a broad variety of smells. It was deplorable, a real scene of horror. Children in fact were almost suffocated and the majority of people did not actually survive.

5. The conception of death the slaves held differs dramatically from the norm, how so and, do you think there conception of death was justified/justifiable?

When some of the slaves died, no one noticed until the crew did the daily check-up. Until then, slaves who were alive and those who were dead were chained one to another. Finally, the dead slaves were unchained and thrown overboard and eaten by sharks. For me, it is simply inconceivable. For the slaves, death represented liberty, the return of their spirits back home, to Africa.

6. General Wolfe´s conquest of Quebec had far reaching results, what was the immediate effect of this conquest and what did it mean for the British?

Wolfe planned a quite improbable attack: soldiers would climb the cliffs that protected the city and surprise the French people. Wolfe died in the arms of his brother, therefore becoming the first Empire Martyr. Victory in Quebec, and then Montreal, helped to establish the British Empire in North America and it meant the triumph of liberty over the French despotic regime.

7. What was the role of taxation in America and what part did it play in the British losing the 13 Colonies?

Taxation has always triggered the British Civil Wars. The result of taxes can be described as a complete disaster. Britain was a huge military state, supporting a big army and navy and a tax collecting machine.

8. What does `no taxation without consent’ refer to or, how were the British using taxation against the American Colonies?

Freedom to the Americans was simply an illusion, a dream because they were intended to continue paying taxes to the British. John Adams would not pay taxes anymore and he, with other people, gathered in the streets of wealthy Boston to refuse to give away their money. They were against of British taxes.

9.  The Stamp Act became known as the Tax of Knowledge, explain why and how.

Britain decided to put a tax on paper used to print newspapers, official documents. To over-informed Boston this seemed a tax on knowledge and it lit a fire. The best-educated people who were affected directly by this stamp were angry. The mob lit on fire the house of the Governor of Massachusetts. This ended up dividing the British Parliament.

10.  Where and when did the British finally surrender to the American Patriots?

The 4^th July 1776 the Declaration of Liberty was signed in Philadelphia. George III was declared a tyrant and all men were declared equal with the same rights. In 1781 in Yorktown, Virginia Britain finally surrendered and Liberty became a reality, it was no longer a dream. The Americans had had the support of France.

11.  Who was Richard Clive?  What was his role in the British colonization of India?

Clive gathered some people and took them to the Capital. During 6 long weeks they fought. He won and managed to make France retire its troops. Many years later, Clive became a sort of Indian Caesar and he turned India into a source of profit. He started collecting land taxes.

12.  What happened in Calcutta that brought such infamy to the British occupation of the city?

Calcutta became a black hole. In 1756 most of the residents managed to leave town in time but the rest were imprisoned in a cell in the ground without food, water and with no air. They were suffocated.

13.  How did the consistent nature of the French-English conflict assume a conflicting role in various parts of the world always, it seems, to the detriment of the native populations?

The French were seen as despotic and the British thought of themselves as providers of freedom. They fought constantly for power and to obtain territories from where they could profit somehow. They committed atrocities, without caring about people. They were machines of war, wanting to become more and more powerful than the other. They saw the native populations as a necessary cost to acquire full domain of territories.

14. What role does Rome and the Roman Empire play in the British consciousness in terms of conquering and Empire?

The Roman Empire thought of themselves as guardians of an Empire. They would hold wars just to provide peace. This was contradictory. Britain saw Rome as a model that had to be followed and imitated.

15.  Are there visible comparisons to be made between the current United States `Superpower’ that has recently lost its defining characteristics of liberty and justice in the pursuit of economy and power, and that of the British Empire, the Roman?  Are we seeing the end of the pseudo Empire of the United States?

We cannot tell whether this is the end of US as an economic Empire. However, it is true that US values have been lost in the way and they have commited the same atrocities that Britain and France did to them. They signed independence holding Liberty and Justice and Equality as values that any human being hold in his most inner self. They have ignored all this and destroyed the image they once had of rectitude and humanism.