Kosykh T. A.

“I am willing to love all mankind, except an American”: Britain’s North American Colonies in Samuel Johnson’s Works. P.42- 50.

UDC 94(410-52)

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2020.69.4.005

 

The article focuses on a British intellectual and lexicographer Samuel Johnson’s (1709–1784) views on the rights and freedoms of people living in Britain’s North American colonies. It accounts for the reasons of Johnson’s negative attitude to colonial people’s attempts to repeal taxes and seek representation in the English parliament. The writer despised American colonists, for he believed them to descend from the first settlers who had oppressed and enslaved the indigenous population. Moreover, the lexicographer believed that the majority of American colonists belonged to the lower classes, were descendants of criminals and paupers who had disturbed the peace in the Old World and had fled to the New World to escape their just punishment. The unrest in the American colonies in the 1770s only aggravated Johnson’s prejudices. His worldview prevented the lexicographer from understanding why American colonists weren’t satisfied with the position of British subjects and wanted to be represented in the British Parliament. Johnson believed that American colonists were anarchists wishing to shatter the British rule.

 

References:

  1. Labutina T. L., Il’in D. V. Anglijskoe Prosveshhenie: obshhestvenno-politicheskaja i pedagogicheskaja mysl’ [English Enlightenment: Social, Political, and Pedagogical Thought]. St. Petersburg, Aletejja Publ., 2012, 264 p. (In Russian).
  2. Makarova E. A. The National Idea and the National Awareness in England. Nacional’naja ideja v Zapadnoj Evrope v Novoe vremja [The National Idea in Western Europe in the Modern Era]. Moscow, Mirror-M Publ., 2005, pp. 11–124. (In Russian).
  3. Sokolov A. B. “Prav’, Britanija, morjami”? Politicheskie diskussii v Anglii po voprosam vneshnej i kolonial’noj politiki v XVIII veke [“Britain, rule the waves”: Political Discussions in England on the Issues of Foreign Policy and Colonial Policy in the 18th Century]. St. Petersburg, Aletejja Publ., 2015, 296 p. (In Russian).
  4. Chudinov A. V. Razmyshlenija anglichan o Francuzskoj revoljucii: Je. Berk, Dzh. Makintosh, U. Godvin [Englishmen on the French Revolution: E. Burke, J. Mackintosh, W. Godwin]. Moscow, Memorials of Historical Thinking Publ., 1996, 304 p. (In Russian).
  5. Boswell J. Life of Johnson. Oxford, Oxford University Press Publ., 1998, 1492 p.
  6. Clark J. C. D. Samuel Johnson: Literature, Religion and English Cultural Politics from the Restoration to Romanticism. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Publ., 1994, 270 p.
  7. Colley L. Britons: Forging the Nation. 1707–1837., Pimlico Publ., 2003. 429 p.
  8. Curley Th. Johnson and America. The Age of Johnson: A Scholarly Annual. 1994, no. 6, pp. 31–73.
  9. Debates in the Senate of Magna Lilliputia. Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronicle. 1738, June 8, vol. VIII, pp. 283–292.
  10. Greene D. The Politics of Samuel Johnson. Athens, University of Georgia Press Publ., 2009, 440 p.
  11. Grenville G. The Celebrated Speech of a Celebrated Commoner., S. Austin Publ., 1766, 17 p.
  12. Hudson N. Samuel Johnson and the Making of Modern England. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press Publ., 2004, 304 p.
  13. Hudson N. A Political Biography of Samuel Johnson., Routledge Publ., 2013, 256 p.
  14. Johnson S. Introduction to the Political State of Great Britain. Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson. Vol. 10. Political Writings. Greene D. (ed.). New Haven, L., Yale University Press Publ., 1977а, pp. 129–150.
  15. Johnson S. Observation on a Letter from a French Refugee in America. Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson. Vol. X. Political Writings. Greene D. (ed.). New Haven, L., Yale University Press Publ., 1977в., pp. 167–176.
  16. Johnson S. Taxation No Tyranny: an Answer to the Resolutions and Address of the American Congress. Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson. Vol. X. Political Writings. Greene D. (ed.). New Haven, L., Yale University Press Publ., 1977с, pp. 411–455.
  17. Johnson S. Letter to James Boswell, 21 January 1775. The Letters of Samuel Jonson. Vol. 2. Redford B. (ed.). Princeton, Princeton University Press Publ., 2014а, pp. 170–171.
  18. Johnson S. Letter to William Strahan, 3 March 1775. The Letters of Samuel Jonson. Vol. 2. Redford B. (ed.). Princeton, Princeton University Press Publ., 2014в, pp. 185–186.
  19. Johnson S. Letter to Sir Robert Chambers, 19 April 1783. The Letters of Samuel Jonson. Vol. 14. Redford B. (ed.). Princeton, Princeton University Press Publ., 2014с, pp. 124–128.
  20. Piozzi H. L. Anecdotes of the late Samuel Johnson, LL.D. During the Last Twenty Years of his Life. , T. Cadell Publ., 1786, 306 p.
  21. Priestley J. An Essay on the First Principles of Government and on the Nature of Political, Civil, and Religious Liberty. L., J. Johnson Publ., 1771, 300 p.
  22. The Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803. Vol. XVII. Cobbett W., Wright J. (ed). L., T. C. Hansard Publ., Peterborough-court Publ., 1813, 1408 p.; vol. 18, 1456 p.
  23. Wesley J. A Calm Address to our American Colonies. Bristol, Bonner and Middleton Publ., 1775, 16 p.
Uncategorized