The Administration of the Colonies
- Thomas Pownall (author)
- Jack P. Greene (collection editor)
Drawing on his direct administrative experience, Pownall argued that the existing colonial system was structurally flawed and in urgent need of reform. Rather than treating the colonies as subordinate dependencies to be taxed and controlled from afar, he proposed a more integrated imperial framework — one that would give the colonies a formal constitutional standing within the British system, potentially including parliamentary representation. The pamphlet went through multiple editions as tensions escalated toward revolution, and Pownall continued revising his arguments in response to events.
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The text of these 18th century pamphlets has been converted by machine from scanned PDFs of the original microfilm copies. While the text has been machine-proofed, transcription errors may still remain. For example, the 18th-century long S, ſ , may be rendered as “f,” some words may be incorrectly transcribed, and there may be repeated words or phrases.