58. Digging the hole deeper

Faced with deepening and increasingly violent resistance to its rule in the American colonies, Britain's new Prime Minister, the Marquess of Rockingham, repealed the Stamp Act that had excited so much anger. William Pitt, in particular, spoke out forcefully against that Act, and Benjamin Franklin warned British parliamentarians of the difficulties ahead. However, Rockingham and even Pitt, still believed that Britain had the right to impose its will on the colonies. Repeal of the Stamp Act was followed up two months later by passage of the Declaratory Act, asserting British control in America, at just the time when that control was beginning to unravel. With its back to the wall, Britain was clearly unable to read the writing on it. Note and apology: To anyone who listened to the first version of this episode: it incorrectly stated that William Pitt the Elder had already been raised to the House of Lords as Earl of Chatham when he spoke for the repeal of the Stamp Act. In fact, that didn't happen until later the same year. I've corrected the episode to remove that error. Illustration: Rockingham, the Prime Minister who repealed the Stamp Act, but then passed the Declaratory Act asserting Britain’s control over the colonies. After Sir Joshua Reyonolds, ca 1768 National Portrait Gallery 406 Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License