Colonial agent (original) (raw)
A colonial agent was the official representative of a British colony based in London during the British Empire. About 200 men served. They were selected and paid a fixed salary by the colonial government, and given the long delays in communication, they played a major role in negotiating with royal officials, and explaining colonial needs and resources. Their main business was with the Board of Trade, where the agent dealt with land problems, border disputes, military affairs, and Indian affairs. They provided the British officials with the documents and news, secured acceptance of controversial colonial legislation, and tried to head off policies objectionable to the colonies. They handled the appeal cases, which usually went to the Privy Council. Before 1700 a colony would send occasiona
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| dbo:abstract | A colonial agent was the official representative of a British colony based in London during the British Empire. About 200 men served. They were selected and paid a fixed salary by the colonial government, and given the long delays in communication, they played a major role in negotiating with royal officials, and explaining colonial needs and resources. Their main business was with the Board of Trade, where the agent dealt with land problems, border disputes, military affairs, and Indian affairs. They provided the British officials with the documents and news, secured acceptance of controversial colonial legislation, and tried to head off policies objectionable to the colonies. They handled the appeal cases, which usually went to the Privy Council. Before 1700 a colony would send occasional special agents on a temporary basis. Thus Rhode Island sent John Clarke in 1660 to secure a Royal charter; it took two years, and then he returned. Permanent agents became the practice after 1700; most were Americans but some were British. Many of the agents worked together 1730-1733 to oppose a bill establishing a monopoly in West Indian rum, sugar and molasses. The most famous agent was Benjamin Franklin, who was employed for 15 years by Pennsylvania, and also by Georgia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Others include Richard Jackson, a prominent London lawyer who represented Connecticut, and Charles Pinckney who represented South Carolina. In 1768, the colony of Georgia hired Franklin, who was already Pennsylvania's colonial agent. Franklin favored Georgia's lower house, to the annoyance of the upper house and royal governor. He cut back his work for Georgia after 1771, because the colony was delinquent in paying his fees. William Samuel Johnson, a Connecticut lawyer, was known in the 1760s as a colonial rights. As the colonial agent for Connecticut he sharply criticized British policy toward the colonies. His experience in London in 1767 convinced him that Britain's policy was shaped more by ignorance of American conditions and not through the sinister designs of a wicked government, He felt that the American Revolution was not necessary and that independence would be bad for everyone concerned. (en) |
| dbo:wikiPageExternalLink | https://www.jstor.org/stable/2140439 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2142582 https://www.jstor.org/stable/359615 https://www.questia.com/read/5913649 https://www.questia.com/read/95300242 |
| dbo:wikiPageID | 29548456 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageLength | 4229 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger) |
| dbo:wikiPageRevisionID | 1120063453 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageWikiLink | dbc:Colonial_agents dbr:Privy_Council dbr:Benjamin_Franklin dbr:Charles_Pinckney_(South_Carolina_chief_justice) dbr:London dbr:Board_of_Trade dbc:Thirteen_Colonies dbr:British_Empire dbr:British_colony dbr:William_Samuel_Johnson dbr:Richard_Jackson_(colonial_agent) dbr:Neftenya |
| dbp:wikiPageUsesTemplate | dbt:Authority_control dbt:Portal_bar dbt:Reflist |
| dcterms:subject | dbc:Colonial_agents dbc:Thirteen_Colonies |
| gold:hypernym | dbr:Representative |
| rdf:type | owl:Thing dbo:Person yago:WikicatThirteenColonies yago:Abstraction100002137 yago:Body107965085 yago:Colony108374049 yago:Group100031264 yago:SocialGroup107950920 |
| rdfs:comment | A colonial agent was the official representative of a British colony based in London during the British Empire. About 200 men served. They were selected and paid a fixed salary by the colonial government, and given the long delays in communication, they played a major role in negotiating with royal officials, and explaining colonial needs and resources. Their main business was with the Board of Trade, where the agent dealt with land problems, border disputes, military affairs, and Indian affairs. They provided the British officials with the documents and news, secured acceptance of controversial colonial legislation, and tried to head off policies objectionable to the colonies. They handled the appeal cases, which usually went to the Privy Council. Before 1700 a colony would send occasiona (en) |
| rdfs:label | Colonial agent (en) |
| owl:sameAs | freebase:Colonial agent yago-res:Colonial agent wikidata:Colonial agent https://global.dbpedia.org/id/4hqjM |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom | wikipedia-en:Colonial_agent?oldid=1120063453&ns=0 |
| foaf:isPrimaryTopicOf | wikipedia-en:Colonial_agent |
| is dbo:wikiPageWikiLink of | dbr:American_philosophy dbr:Samuel_Johnson_(American_educator) dbr:Proprietary_Party dbr:Colonial_history_of_the_United_States dbr:Mitford_Crowe dbr:Thomas_Hancock_(merchant) dbr:Commissioners_for_Trade_and_Plantations dbr:William_O'Brien,_2nd_Earl_of_Inchiquin dbr:London_Society_of_West_India_Planters_and_Merchants dbr:Israel_Mauduit dbr:No_taxation_without_representation dbr:Thomas_Penn dbr:Nathaniel_Blakiston dbr:Robert_Sewell_(lawyer) dbr:Slavery_in_the_British_Virgin_Islands |
| is foaf:primaryTopic of | wikipedia-en:Colonial_agent |