ABSTRACT
There are still those who view American Revolutionary history as a morality play, pitting good Americans against bad Britons. But as scholars have long contended, George III was no tyrant and he let Parliament take the lead in devising American policy. They have also shown that North, Grenville, and most of those who supported them in Parliament were not anti-American; rather, they were pro-empire and the label of “hardliner” that has been affixed to North and Grenville ought to peeled away. Wills Hill has yet to escape the stereotyping that once dogged the king and his chief ministers. He did not take office with a clearly defined plan to make the colonists toe the behavioral line. This chapter presents the most controversial of those circular letters, which Hillsborough wrote in response to the assertions made by the Massachusetts House.
