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George III
| King George III was the king of Great Britain when the American Colonies began to revolt. His father had died, and George became king at a young age. Life in Britain during the Georgian era was quite different from the life we enjoy in 21st century United States. The first video (top right) will give you some ideas about who the colonies were up against. Be sure to look for King George III as you watch the video. Lyn-Manuel Miranda wrote a comical, more approachable, version for the hit musical, Hamilton, a version of which resides in the video here (bottom right). Recorded by Rick Atkinson in his book, The British Are Coming, is a more serious 1777 letter from London to America. By that time, apparently, George III became more and more frustrated with the situation in the colonies: His Mastey intends to open this year's campaign with ninety thousand Hessians, Tories, Negroes, Japanese, Moors, Esquimaux, Persian archers, Laplanders, Feejee Islanders, and light horse...Ye dumb-founded, infatuated, back-bestridden, nose-ledd-about, priest ridden, demagogue-beshackled and Congress-becrafted independents, fly, fly, oh fly, for protection to the royal standard, or ye will be swept from the face of the earth. | Music Appreciation |
A Written Response
Well, that was his point of view. It's your turn now. You have been chosen to write the official response to the king from the united colonies. What ideas will you include to refute his message?
The Madness of King George
George III reigned for around 60 years. After the Revolutionary War, which lost the colonies, George suffered from mental illness, causing him to be forever remembered for his "madness". Though we might make light of his mental illness, in reality George III was an intelligent, family man, and he was not without feeling. One biographer wrote that the king "was never known to sign a death warrant without expressing visible emotions." Regarding the potential loss of the colonies, an important part of his empire, George III expressed the following:
I do not pretend to any superior abilities, but will give place to no one in meaning to preserve the freedom, happiness, & glory of the dominions & all their inhabitants, and to fulfill the duty to my God...That I have erred is undoubted, otherwise I should not be human. But...where I have failed, it has been from the head, not the heart.
Three videos follow. The first is a presentation by author Rick Atkinson. The second takes a look at evidence examined in a valuable George III artifact. The third, while irreverent, puts George into perspective along the royal line of British kings.
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