ABSTRACT
The loss of the Thirteen Colonies in North America was the greatest humiliation inflicted upon the British state in the eighteenth century. It was not, therefore, surprising that disaster in America should be seen as the culmination of misguided and foolish policies embarked upon by a succession of British governments. British governments were bound to approach issues of imperial trade in a different spirit from that of the Americans. The repeal of the Stamp Act was intended to win back American goodwill by removing the main cause of complaint. The policy was defensible and commendable, but it provided no long-term answer to the vexed questions of colonial administration. Conciliation and a recognition of American liberties were seen by William Pitt as the best means of safeguarding British interests in North America. North's government therefore passed the notorious Coercive or Intolerable Acts, hoping that by doing so they would isolate and then destroy extremist opinion in America.
