HISTORY CULTURE IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY BRITISH AMERICA

This chapter gives an overview of the role of the past in British North America during the pre-revolutionary decades. It begins by offering a survey of historical thinking and access to historical knowledge in British America in the middle of the eighteenth century. Next, it examines the structural role played by the past in colonial culture and political, religious, and legal thought, showing the cultural and political importance of ideas such as “first principles,” custom, and precedent. It also explores the degree to which colonists relied on the British past for their imperial identities and on historical works and interpretations imported from Britain to shape those identities.