British Radical Attitudes Towards the United States of America in the 1790s: the case of William Winterbotham

Abstract

Much of the historical literature examining British radical connections with and opinions upon the United States has tended to concentrate on those who eventually emigrated there. William Winterbotham’s four-volume Historical, Geographical, Commercial, and Philosophical View of the American United States (1795) offers an opportunity to consider the views of one of those radicals who remained in Britain. They often expressed mild concern with some aspects of life in America. But these were the anxieties of those who wished keenly to see perfection in the new republic, and the dominant opinion of British radicals was one of deep admiration for the new system of government established across the Atlantic, especially once they had become disillusioned with the Revolution in France in the aftermath of the Terror.