The first half of Britain’s long eighteenth century was a period fraught with conflicts ranging from civil wars (1688-1691) to a series of Jacobite plots, intrigues, and rebellions. It was also a formative period marked by substantial changes including the growth and centralisation of an empire and the maturation of party politics and the public sphere. Covering almost forty years of this colourful history over an expansive geographical range, the authorinvestigates both the existence and meaning of Jacobitism and anti-Jacobitism throughout Britain’s Atlantic empire, concluding that the experiences of colonists and British officials in the colonies echoed events and experiences in Britain. Using case studies in Carolina, the mid-Atlantic states and New England, and drawing on a diverse source base, the book integrates the colonies into the narratives and captures the essence of the transatlantic, tripartite relationship between politics, religion, and the public sphere, ultimately contributing to our understandings of the Anglicization of the British Atlantic world.

DAVID PARRISH is Assistant Professor of Humanities atCollege of the Ozarks.