Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.5, 2017

 

The Wilkes Affair and the North American Independence Movement in a Transatlantic Perspective (Abstract)

 

Xue Bingqing

 

From the 1760s to the early 1770s, revolutionaries in the North American colonies paid close attention to and voiced their support for the radical British politician John Wilkes and the parliamentary reform movement he led. To resist the mother country’s policies and defend their own rights, the revolutionaries adopted Wilkes’s political discourse and behavior. Utilizing the relevant political information, they transformed it with the addition of colonial factors, creating an image of Wilkes as a “friend to American liberty.” The Wilkes affair stimulated and encouraged the anti-British colonial struggle. On the basis of their appreciation of the discourse of liberty and rights, British and American radicals exchanged views, forming at the time an intellectual “transatlantic community.” Wilkes’ influence in the colonies lessened after 1770, but the Wilkes affair provided multiple resources for ideology and political practice for North American independence.