Date Thesis Awarded

4-2012

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only

Degree Name

Bachelors of Arts (BA)

Department

History

Advisor

Paul W. Mapp

Committee Members

James P. Whittenburg

Molly Swetnam-Burland

Abstract

Over the course of Sir James Wright's twenty-three year governorship of Georgia from 1760-1783, he went from a beloved political leader to a captive within his own home to the governor of a province in full rebellion. An examination of Wright's letters reveals major flaws in the British system of colonial administration on both local and imperial levels. These defects included the British Empire's inability to handle American transcolonial organization, its failure to respond to local needs while focusing on larger imperial goals, and its lack of resources that were spread too thinly over an empire that was too large. As they were so focused on imperial concerns, Wright's superiors neglected to send him adequate support, which left him unable to contain or respond to the rebellion at a local level. The faulty dynamic between local and imperial levels of government contributed to the British loss of Georgia, which may have been the least likely of the thirteen colonies to join in the rebellion.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Comments

Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.

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