American Independence: The Interest and Glory of Great-Britain

HAL 1776 Introduction: A Loyalist’s Logic for Liberty

“To preserve empire by surrendering control. To secure trade by granting freedom. To honor Britain by freeing America. These were not contradictions to John Cartwright — they were necessities.”
— HAL 1776

In this remarkable 1775 pamphlet, British reformer Major John Cartwright lays out a visionary, and deeply rational, argument for why granting the American colonies full civil and legislative independence would not weaken the British Empire, but preserve its strength, morality, and global standing.

At a time when Parliament raged against rebellion, Cartwright offered a startling counterpoint: America’s liberty was not Britain’s loss — it was Britain’s salvation.

Writing with both constitutional clarity and moral conviction, he proposed:

• A formal acknowledgment of American independence,
• The drafting of a mutual peace and commerce treaty,
• And the establishment of a transatlantic confederacy to bind Britain and America together as equal partners, not master and colony.

This was no sentimental plea. Cartwright’s language is measured, his reasoning systematic, and his belief in liberty under law as vital to the British character as it was to the American.

“The interest and glory of Great Britain,” he writes, “are best promoted not by domination, but by friendship.”

Distributed in London and later reprinted in Philadelphia by patriot printer Robert Bell in 1776, Cartwright’s work stands as one of the earliest British defenses of American independence — and a rare artifact of radical reform from within the empire.

This was a revolution not declared, but diagnosed — and offered as a cure before the war turned bloody.

“Some called it treason. Cartwright called it clarity.”
— HAL 1776

Table of Contents

American Independence the Interest and Glory of Great-Britain
by John Cartwright (1775)

Preface to the Reader
Letter I: Political Connection
Letter II: Colonial Rights
Letter III: Liberty and Representation
Letter IV: Commerce and Navigation
Letter V: Address to Legislature
Letter VI: Limits of Empire
Letter VII: Quebec Act and Logic
Letter VIII: Taxation and Consent
Letter IX: Boston Tea Party
Letter X: Final Separation
Appendix: Grand British League

“By granting the Colonists an unrestrained civil Freedom and legislative Independence, we may most effectually secure their future commercial Dependence upon, and consequently shall best promote the Interest, and support the Glory, of Great-Britain.”
— John Cartwright, 1775

Each section of this historic pamphlet will be presented in full on its own dedicated page, with original text, context notes, and HAL 1776 commentary.

HAL Overview: Section-by-Section

Preface to the Reader

Cartwright opens with a principled appeal to reason, arguing that Britain's future prosperity lies not in empire, but in justice. The tone is reformist, not rebellious — yet unmistakably radical.

Letter I: Political Connection

He questions whether Parliament ever had rightful authority over the colonies, setting the foundation for peaceful but total legislative separation. The “political bands” are already morally broken.

Letter II: Colonial Rights

Cartwright dismantles the logic of representation without consent, insisting that taxation by an external legislature is incompatible with British liberty. “No consent, no law.”

Letter III: Liberty and Representation

He reminds Britain that true representation means actual voice — not a fiction across an ocean. The Commons cannot represent those who cannot reach them.

Letter IV: Commerce and Navigation

Cartwright shows how Britain's attempts to control colonial trade backfire economically and morally. Freedom in commerce is the only sustainable path to imperial prosperity.

Letter V: Address to Legislature

Answering critics, Cartwright argues that American liberty was no accident — it was Providence correcting imperial ambition. Britain must choose between moral greatness or imperial decline.

Letter VI: Limits of Empire

He warns that empires fall when they forget their principles. If Britain abandons justice for dominion, it risks becoming the tyrant it once overthrew.

Letter VII: Quebec Act and Logic

Cartwright exposes the constitutional hypocrisy of the Quebec Act, showing how imperial policy contradicts Britain’s own professed liberties. Tyranny wears legal robes.

Letter VIII: Taxation and Consent

He answers the charge of “Why now?” by defending the colonists’ delayed resistance as principled and patient. Late protest does not make tyranny right.

Letter IX: Boston Tea Party

Cartwright boldly defends the Boston Tea Party as a moral act of political necessity. It was “glorious illegality” in service of liberty.

Letter X: Final Separation

He calls for an act of Parliament to end dominion and begin friendship. Empire ends not in defeat, but in a treaty of equals.

Appendix: Grand British League

Cartwright proposes a visionary “Grand Confederacy” — independent American states in voluntary league with Britain. It’s not secession, but reinvention.

Full Citation

"American independence the interest and glory of Great Britain; containing arguments which prove, that not only in taxation, but in trade, manufactures, and government, the colonies are entitled to an entire independency on the British legislature; and that it can only be by a formal declaration of these rights, and forming thereupon a friendly league with them, that the true and lasting welfare of both countries can be promoted. : In a series of letters to the legislature. : [Nine lines from Trenchard]." In the digital collection Evans Early American Imprint Collection. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/N11611.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed December 4, 2025.