The Pro-War British Government Fell
Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford and better known as Lord North (1732 – 1792), was British Prime Minister from 1770 to 1782. As such, he was in charge throughout the entirety of the American War of Independence, except for its final year. His management of affairs before the war, then during the conflict, was marked by muddle and ineptness, which contributed greatly to Britain’s defeat.
North was educated at Eton, then Trinity College, Oxford, before getting elected to Parliament at age 22. He steadily climbed the political rungs, getting appointed Lord of the Treasury at age 27, joining the Privy Council at 34, and became Chancellor of the Exchequer a year later, in 1767. In 1770, king George III was glad when North became Prime Minister, as he viewed the new head of government to be a congenial Tory, in contrast to earlier Whigs who had been a thorn in the king’s side.
North’s 12 years as Prime Minister were dominated by his dealings with the North American colonies. One of his first acts in that regards was to confirm his predecessor’s policies towards the colonies. That turned out to be a mistake, as it ensured that the colonists’ resentments continued to simmer. North then made things worse with his response to the 1773 Boston Tea Party. He passed the Coercive Acts in 1774 – dubbed the Intolerable Acts by the colonists – which shut down the Boston government and cut off the city’s trade, in the hopes of dispiriting the colonists and restoring order. It only inflamed things further, and led to the outbreak of open warfare in 1775.
North underestimated the colonists’ determination and power of resistance, and attempted a policy that oscillated erratically between coercion and conciliation. It achieved neither. His war management was also disorganized and muddled, entrusting the army to one subordinate, the conduct of its operations in the colonies to another, and the Royal Navy to a third, without coordination or clear chains of command.
North’s approach to war steadily eroded his prestige and political power. Unlike William Pitt, Britain’s steely and determined Prime Minister in the recent Seven Years War, North was halfhearted and easily depressed by setbacks. Indeed, by 1777, following the British defeat at Saratoga, he thought the war was hopeless and unwinnable. Time and again he asked the king for permission to resign, but George III implored him each time to not quit and leave his sovereign open to attacks from the Whigs.
The surrender of Lord Cornwallis and his army at Yorktown in October of 1781 was the final straw, however. Upon hearing the news, North wrote despairingly in his journal “Oh my God! It’s all over!” It was for the war, and also for North’s government. On February 27th, a motion of no confidence in North and to end the war was passed in Parliament, forcing North to tender his resignation a few weeks later.