Question

What kind of government system did Britain have during the American Revolution? Please provide a nice paragraph explaining the British government and how it works roughly (1760's-1770's).

Answer 1

During the American Revolution in Britain the powers to appoint the officers, ministers etc and related to parliament is still with the king. Today we call this type of system as constitutional monarchy. In Britain, this has meant an unwritten constitution established by series of laws and customs over time. This certainly means that although the powers are with the kings/monarchs but they should act in accordance with laws and procedures developed over the period of time. The monarch holds the power to accept or reject the legislation from the parliament. The kind is not allowed to spend money from the national treasure without taking approval from the parliament. This implies that king cannot remunerate for war without asking the parliament because it will cost way too much. The parliament during this time was majorly dominated by the pro king Tories and so the programs of king are generally approved by parliament. The Tories were not in the complete power as majority in the house of commons was the political center controlled by rich folks and majors. During wars king can no longer wage for wars and the allies of king were outnumbered in power in parliament. Parliament had checked him and he had no political support or inclination to use any royal prerogative to continue the war. it is very difficult to talk about specific powers such as war declaration and legislation. Britain, though it is a “constitutional monarchy,” doesn’t actually have a constitution. It has a series of laws and traditions that together ambiguously define the roles of the Crown and the Parliament. In fact, many of the powers that have been ceded to Parliament were never formally transferred by law, but simply by custom and tradition.