William Dowdeswell and the American Crisis, 1763-1775

Abstract

William Dowdeswell personified the difficulty faced by British politicians in finding a solution to the American crisis. His own failed attempts to find that solution stand as proof that the Rockingham Whigs did not speak with a single voice while they were in power nor did they advocate a fundamentally different approach to imperial affairs than that taken by the politicians they criticized once they went into opposition. Dowdeswell was the quintessential English country gentleman who could not truly empathize with protesting Americans. He saw the Declaratory Act of 1766 as an artful dodge, a way of asserting parliamentary supremacy over the American colonies while at the same time avoiding the perplexing issue of taxation. But the Declaratory Act only added to the confusion over parliamentary authority and in its own way deepened the imperial crisis. Ironically, Dowdeswell's attempts at conciliation may have only compounded the problem they were intended to solve.