ABSTRACT
During the eighteenth century, Britain and its empire in the Americas entered and experienced an extraordinary phase of its evolution. This phase was marked by the rapid rise of Britain to the front rank of European powers, by vigorous economic growth in both the metropolis and its transatlantic colonies, and by a tendency for the Anglo-American empire to become more closely bound to a parent power that was frequently embroiled in war with its great colonialist rivals. These developments were in turn succeeded by another, more remarkable change. Just as the British empire seemed to have acquired an unswerving forward momentum, it was suddenly disabled by internal breakdown, when, in 1776, thirteen of its North American colonies joined in rebellion against the mother country and, in the American Revolution, fought the successful war for independence that led to the foundation of the United States.
