HISTORY

11/05/2024

Geographical factors for the establishment of East India Company:

1. Exploring
2. Spread of Christianity
3. Commercial Revolution
4. Technological advancement
5. God, Glory, and Gold

HOW THE EAST INDIA COMPANY WAS ESTABLISHED?

The Mughals and the Indian rulers were interested in the development of India’s overseas
trade. They wanted it as it would have increased their revenue resources. Therefore, in spite
of all odds the Mughal emperors and the local Indian rulers welcomed foreign merchants
however, the Mughal emperors and the local Indian rulers were weak on the seas to ensure
smooth sailing of the Indian ships. It was necessary for them to align with one or the other
European powers who were masters of the seas.

As long as the Mughals were strong the European were strong the European merchants
followed the concept of seeking concession through petition and presents. The companies
also combined trade and diplomacy with war and control of territories where their factories
were situated. With the weakening of the Mughal power, the European power started
imposing their will on the Indian rulers to get monopolies and concession. They also took full
advantage of the internal conflict.

It was during Jahangir’s reign that the first English envoy reached the Mughal court and
received a royal Farman in 1607. In 1608 when the English establish their first factory at
Surat, Captain Hawkins was sent to Jahangir’s court for securing trading concession.
Jahangir initially welcomed the English envoy and a Mansab of 400 zaat was bestowed on
him by Emperor. Though in 1611 Hawkins got permission to open trade at Surat. Later under
the Portuguese influence he was expelled from Agra. The English realized that if they wanted
any concession from the Mughal court, they had to counter the Portuguese influence. It
resulted in armed conflict at Swally near Surat, Gujarat. The Mughals wanted to counter the
Portuguese naval might by joining hands with the English besides they also wanted benefits
for Indian merchants who could aspire to gain better profits in case of competition between
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the foreign merchants. But soon Captain Best succeeded in getting a royal Farman in 1613
at Surat cabay, Ahmedabad. In 1615, Sir Thomas Row was sent to Jahangir’s court, he tried
to take advantage of naval weakness of Indian rulers. They harassed Indian traders and ships.
These pressures resulted in the issuance of another Farman by which the English merchant
got the right to open factories on all parts of the Mughal empire. The English success led to a
open English-Portuguese conflict (1620-30) the advantage of English. After that the
Portuguese lost all of their possession except Goa and Daman and Diu.

In 1662, they gave their island of Bombay to King Charles II of England as dowry. During
the closing years of Jahangir’s reign when the English Company tried to fortify their factory
at Surat they were imprisoned by the Mughal Officers. When the company’s rival group of
English merchants attacked the Mughal ships, the President of the factory at Surat and could
only be released on the payment of 18000 pounds.

In 1651, the EIC got a Nishaan from Sultan Shuja (son of Shah Jahan) the then Governor of
Bengal. By this Nishaan they received trading privileges in return for a fixed annual payment
of rupees 3000. By another Nishaan in 1656, the English company was exempted from
custom dues. After Shuja’s withdrawal from Bengal his successors ignored his orders for the
obvious reasons that it affected the treasury but later Shaista Khan and emperor Aurangzeb’s
Farmaan ensured a custom free English trade.

During Aurangzeb’s reign we notice some changes in Mughal-English company’s relation.

By this time the company with fortified settlement at Madras felt strong. Aurangzeb himself
was busy with Deccan, now they could well think of abandoning their role as a humble
petitioner. By the use of force, they could now dictate prices and acquire a free hand in trade.
They were planning to establish a trade monopoly by gradually driving out all other European
Powers from competition.

In 1686, the English declared war against Mughal emperor at Sack Hoogli, however they
were highly mistaken assessing the Mughal might. Unlike their counterparts in South India
the Mughals were more than a match to a small trading company. It resulted in company’s
humiliation, they had to lose all their possession in Bengal, their factories at Surat,
Masulipattanam and Vishakhapatnam and their fort at Bombay. They again became the
humble petitioners and agreed to trade under the protection of Mughals. Realizing the
Mughal might they again went back to petition and diplomacy. Soon the Mughals pardoned

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them considering the advantage of increasing foreign trade. Aurangzeb granted them
permission to trade on payment of rupees 150000 as compensation.

In 1691 the English company succeeded in getting exemption from the grant of Custom
duties in Bengal on an annual payment of rupees 3000. In 1698, the English king sent a
special envoy Sir William Noris to Aurangzeb’s court to secure a formal grant in trading and
the right to exercise full English jurisdiction over the English settlements. From 1714-1717
another mission was sent to Faruq Siyyar, to procure three Farmaan that exempted them
from the custom duties in Gujarat and deccan as well. In Bengal so long as Murshid Quli
Khan and Ali Wardi Khan remained in the scene, they strictly checked the corruption of any
of the privileges granted to the company but immediately after their departure the company
got an opportunity to intrigue and soon succeeded in defeating the Nawab of Bengal at Battle
Of Plassey in 1757.

EARLY CHARTERS: CHARTER OF 1600 AND 1661

The English came to India in 1601 as the body of trading merchants on 31 st December 1600
Queen Elizabeth I granted charter to the company which incorporated the London EIC to
trade in Asia and Africa and east Indies for a period of 15 years. This charter included the
name of corporation, constitution, right and liabilities. EIC was established with its official
title the governor and company of merchants in London trading into east indies. The
company was to have a life span of 15 years. The charter could also be revoked on 2 years
notice. The same charter further granted legislative power to the company to make laws,
ordinances and etc. for good governance and to punish offences against the company, by fine
or imprisonment, according to laws, statues and customs of the country. The charter also gave
exclusive rights to the company, India Asia Africa and USA falls under their geographical.
W/o a license from the company no British subject could carry on trade and unauthorized
traders were liable to forfeiture of ship and merchandise. If company is running in loss, then
the British govt will withdraw its legal resolution and if gaining profit then this could be
extended for 15 more years. According to this charter the company consisted of 24
shareholders, court of directors, Governors. EIC by this charter became a legal entity and
enabled to keep the common seal but company was prohibited from making law on the

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following cases: Murder, treason, dacoity. The laws made by the company must be reasonable
and justified, and the laws made should not be inconsistent with the parliamentary laws, and
customs/ usages of the British empire. At that time the capital of the company was 75373
pounds.

CHARTER OF 1661 (granted by Charles 2nd on 3rd April 1661)

1. The right to administration: the charter empowered the company to administrate over
the four colonies and cities. If it is imperative to maintain the administration the
company. the company was authorized so that if any person who interferes with the
trade monopoly of the company to be sent to Britain to initiate litigation.
2. The appointment of officer: the company was authorized to appoint every person
should be equally punished equally for breach of law and orders of the company.
3. Security: the company was enabled by this charter that it could keep the armed forces,
weapons and fighters for its security. The company could keep commander and other
officers who were suitable for governor and his council.
4. Judicial administration: the following rights were given to the governor and his
council. They could adj ex. The direction was given by this charter that the governor
and his council will apply the English law in all cases. Those Indians who were
residing in their colonies would also be governed by the English laws. The charter of
1600 provided very simple punishment but the charter of 1661 enabled the governor
and his council to penalize with punishment of hanging in heinous crimes.

The subsequent regulations of 1799 and 1812 gave the zamindars the right to cease the
property of the tenants, in case of non-payment of rent without any permission from any court
of law. So, therefore as a cumulative effect of the support to the coercive power of the
zamindars, the condition of actual cultivators declined under the permanent settlement.
Though the settlement was pro-zamindar they did have to face a number of difficulty.

According to Daniel Thorner, the creation of private property in land was a misnomer as the
absolute ownership was with the Britishers, the imperial authority. Zamindars had to pay a
fixed amount of revenue, by the end of the day (Sunset law), failure leading to the auction of
zamindari. Often, they found it difficult to collect the rent as the demands were too high and
they were uncertain of the nature. The result was the frequent sale of zamindari estates, b/w
1794-1807, land yielding about 41% of the revenue in Bengal and Bihar was sold in auction.

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In Orissa b/w 1804-1818, 51.1.% of the original zamindars were wiped off because of the
auction sales. This, of course, meant the collapse of most of the old zamindari houses but
contrary to the old myths, those who got these estates were not exactly new men. The old
zamindaris were parcelled out by their amlas and rich tenants or by the neighbouring
zamindars among themselves. The new legal reforms could not provide any relief to the poor
cultivators, these reforms on the other hand only strengthened the position of the group of
rich peasants called Jotedars, who are believed to be actually controlling landholdings at the
village level. At the village level, zamindars only enjoyed revenue-collecting rights at the
village level. Beneath all the changes effected by the colonial policies, the power of this class
and their control over the rural societies remained unaffected. According to Ray herein lay the
basic continuity of the basic rural structure of the colonial Bengal. According to Sugata Bose,
the Jotedars domination is confined only to northern Bengal, in the rest of the region he
discovered two other distinct modes of the present economy.

ROBERT CLIVE AND THE DUAL GOVERNMENT

Robert Clive established the infamous dual system of administration in Bengal after the
Treaty of Allahabad (1765). The administration of Bengal was divided into Nizamat and
Diwani under this system. East India Company was given Diwani (the right to collect
revenue) and Bengal Nawab was given Nizamat (administrative responsibility). The Mughal
emperor gave the British administration the Diwani or revenue Diwani (Fiscal) functions.
Despite the fact that the administration was theoretically split between the Company and the
Nawab, the Company held complete power. The Mughal emperor's fiction of sovereignty and
the formal authority of the Nawab were maintained under this system.

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The Company was authorised to collect provincial revenues as the diwan, and it had the
power to nominate the deputy Nizam (deputy subahdar), giving it control over the Nizamat,
or police and judicial powers. Without the consent of the Company, the deputy subahdar
(appointed to assist the Nawab) could not be removed. However, the Company was neither
willing nor able to collect the revenue directly at this time. As a result, two deputy diwans –
Mohammad Reza Khan for Bengal and Raja Sitah Roy for Bihar – were appointed to carry
out diwani functions. Mohammad Reza Khan also served as Nizam's deputy. In this way, the
entire administration of Bengal was carried out through an Indian agency, despite the fact that
the Company retained ultimate authority.

MERITS AND REASONS OF THE DUAL GOVERNMENT

1. Clive demonstrated his foresight by implementing a decentralisation policy in the

Company's administration in Bengal. By adopting this policy, he was able to protect the
British in India from the wrath of Indian rulers, who might have taken drastic measures to
expel the British from India if things had gone differently.

2. Clive was able to save the company from the wrath of other European powers such as the
French, Dutch, and Portuguese thanks to the dual system of government in Bengal. In the
event of Clive's complete occupation of Bengal, these European powers would have stopped
paying tariffs to the Company's servants.

3. Clive was astute enough not to take on Bengal's administration directly. He was well
aware that the company's servants were unfamiliar with the languages, customs, traditions,
and laws that applied to Bengalis. If they had been entrusted with the administration of
Bengal in the event of Clive's occupation, they would have made a very bad impression.

4. In addition to their lack of understanding of the administrative task, their number was too
small to handle it. Direct administration in Bengal was opposed by both the Board of
Directors and the British Parliament.

5. Clive didn't want to irritate the home authorities by taking over Bengal's administration
directly. Clive demonstrated his honour to the Board of Directors on the one hand, and saved
the Company from the wrath of the British parliament on the other, by establishing Dual
Government in Bengal.

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6. The East India Company was able to avoid real responsibility for Bengal administration
thanks to the dual government in Bengal. By successfully avoiding the hazards of
administration, the English Company gained power and pelf through this system of
government. The Nawab of Bengal was to be held accountable for all government omissions
and commissions. Because of the exigencies of the time, Clive established Dual Government
in Bengal. Under the circumstances, it created a favourable environment for the expansion of
British power in India. Any other option would have resulted in the company's demise.

DEMERIT OF THE DUAL GOVERNMENT

1. Clive's Dual Government has been chastised in a number of ways. It had disastrous
consequences. Bengal's administration was on the verge of collapsing. The responsibility was
separated from the power.

2. The British had both power and money, whereas the Nawab had neither. He was only
responsible for running the administration and accepting responsibility for any failures. With
only a small annual grant of rupees 50 lakhs, the Nawab was unable to run the administration
smoothly.

3. The company used the revenue it received from Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa to try to
improve its own situation. Due to a lack of funds, the Nawab was unable to complete any
public works. The Nawab also lacked the authority to enforce the law. As a result,
lawlessness reigned supreme in most of Bengal.

4. Theft and rubbery cases have increased by leaps and bounds. Due to a lack of justice, the
common people had to endure a great deal. During Clive's Dual Government, the state of
Bengal's agriculture gradually deteriorated. Revenue collection power was solely in the hands
of the corporation. As a result, the Nawab was unable to make any provisions for the
development of Bengal's agriculture, such as irrigation. Due to a lack of funds, he was unable
to advance loans to needy farmers.

5. The great famine of 1770 was an unintended consequence of the aforementioned

difficulties. Bengal's poor administration resulted in a rapid increase in private trade. The East
India Company's servants engaged in private trade and commerce without paying any taxes.

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6. They made a lot of money from this illegal business. On the other hand, the merchants of
Bengal suffered greatly as a result of excessive taxation. As a result, the Dual Government
dealt a devastating blow to local commerce and trade.

7. Clive's Dual Government was also to blame for the decline of local industries. Local
weavers were forced to work exclusively for the company by the company's employees. The
company also took control of a number of other small local businesses.

8. Under the Dual Government system, people were unable to obtain proper justice.
Because the British played such an important role in their appointment, the Nawab's judges
were influenced by British authority. As a result, the judges failed to render an impartial
decision, which was detrimental to the public interest.

9. Due to a decrease in revenue collection, the decline of agriculture under the Dual
Government eventually led to the decline of the Company's income. As a result, Bengal saw
Clive's Dual Government as a failure.

10. It caused a slew of complications in Bengal's administration. Abuses of power and

corruption resulted from the company's lack of accountability.

This dual system was found to be ineffective, and it was abolished in 1772 by Lord Warren
Hastings on the orders of the company's directors. Mubaraq-ud-Daulla was the Nawab of
Bengal when this system came to an end.

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 PERMANENT SETTLEMENT:

Zamindari System of Lord Cornwallis:

Cornwallis realized that the existing system is impoverishing the country, ruining agriculture
and was not producing the large and regular surplus that the Company hoped for. Company’s
trade also suffered because of the difficulty in procuring the Indian good for export to
Europe. Production of silk or cotton, two of the company’s major export items were mainly
agro-based. When agriculture was decaying, handicrafts could hardly be prosperous. And
both the London authorities and Cornwallis were agreed that much of the corruption and
oppression originated in the fact that the taxation had the character of an 'uncertain, arbitrary
imposition'. It was thought therefore that the only way to improve this situation was to fix
revenue permanently. This would reduce, it was hoped, the scope for corruption that existed
when officials could alter assessment at will. The landlords would invest money in improving
the land, as with the state demand being fixed the whole of the benefit from increased
production and enhanced income would accrue to them. The Company would get its taxes
regularly and when necessary, as Cornwallis thought, it could raise its income by taxing trade
and commerce.

In was since 1770 that is even before Cornwallis arrived that a no. of company officials and
European observers like Alexander Dow, Henri Patullo, Philip Francis and Thomas Law were
advocating for the land tax being permanently fixed. Despite their various ideological
orientation, they shared a common faith in fixing the land revenue permanently.

These ideas went into the making of the Permanent Settlement in 1793 which was
introduced in Bengal and changed the policy of assessment forever. It was hoped that this
would reduce the scope of corruption that existed when officials could a alter assessment of
bill. The landlords would invest money in including the land as with the state demand being
fixed the whole of the benefits, from increased production and enhanced income would
approve to them. The company would get its taxes regularly and when necessary, it could
raise its income by taxing trade and commerce. The land revenue was also to be fixed at a
high level since it would be fixed in perpetuity for the longest time. So, taking the assessment
for the year 1789-1790 as the standard, it was fixed at 26.8 million rupees. According to P.J
Marshal (Scholar & Historian) the govt. demand was only 20& higher than the demand that
prevailed since 1757. According to BB Chaudhary calculation of the revenue nearly doubled
during 1765 and 1793. The other problem for the company was to decide as to from whom

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the revenue was to collected. The nawabs used to collect it from the zamindars some of them
were big landlords who controlled large areas and had their own armed retainers. In 1790, 12
big zamindari houses were responsible for paying more than 53% of the land revenue
assessment in Bengal, others were smaller zamindars who paid revenue either directly to the
state of through bigger zamindars. Peasants undertook cultivation and paid zamindars at
customary rates from often varied from sub division to sub division and sometimes extra-
legal charges called Avwabs were collected as well. The permanent settlement in 1793 were
made with zamindars, every bit of land in Bihar, Bengal and Orrisa became a part of
Zamindari or estate and the zamindar had to pay the tax fixed for it, if he did so then he was
the proprietor of the said estate or zamindari, he could sell, mortgage that land and land could
also be inherited by the heirs. But failure to pay the revenue would lead to confiscation of the
zamindari by the government and its sale through auction. The new purchaser would have
ownership rights over the land, this was so called creation of private ownership of property in
land. The magic of private property would bring in the desired improvement in agriculture.
So, the permanent settlement vested the land ownership right in zamindar, who previously
enjoyed only revenue collecting rights. Therefore, who were left out of the permanent
settlement and were left at the mercy of zamindars. Their customary occupancy rights were
ignored and they were reduced to the status of tenants. The provision of Patta or the written
agreement between peasant and zamindar providing the rent to be paid was rarely followed
by the zamindars nor was it liked by the peasants, who always feared to lose in any formal
record of rights and obligations. The burden of high land revenue shifted towards the
peasants.

The subsequent regulations of 1799 and 1812 gave the zamindars the right to cease the
property of the tenants, in case of non-payment of rent without any permission from any court
of law. So, therefore as a cumulative effect of the support to the coercive power of the
zamindars, the condition of actual cultivators declined under the permanent settlement.

Though the settlement was pro-zamindar they did have to face a number of difficulties. It
may seem that the settlement was greatly in favour of the zamindars but we should not forget
that they were also now obliged to pay a fixed amount by fixed dates every year, and any
failure on their part meant the sale of the Zamindari. Furthermore, many of the zamindaris
were rated for large sums that left no margin for shortfalls due to flood, drought or other
calamity.

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According to Daniel Thorner, the creation of private property in land was a misnomer as the
absolute ownership was with the Britishers, the imperial authority. Zamindars had to pay a
fixed amount of revenue, by the end of the day (Sunset law), failure leading to the auction of
zamindari. Often, they found it difficult to collect the rent as the demands were too high and
they were uncertain of the nature. The result was the frequent sale of zamindari estates,
between 1794-1807, land yielding about 41% of the revenue in Bengal and Bihar was sold in
auction. In Orissa between 1804-1818, 51.1.% of the original zamindars were wiped off
because of the auction sales. This, of course, meant the collapse of most of the old zamindari
houses but contrary to the old myths, those who got these estates were not exactly new men.
The old zamindaris were parcelled out by their amlas and rich tenants or by the neighbouring
zamindars among themselves. The new legal reforms could not provide any relief to the poor
cultivators, these reforms on the other hand only strengthened the position of the group of
rich peasants called Jotedars, who are believed to be actually controlling landholdings at the
village level.

At the village level, zamindars only enjoyed revenue-collecting rights. Beneath all the
changes effected by the colonial policies, the power of this class and their control over the
rural societies remained unaffected. According to Ray herein lay the basic continuity of the
basic rural structure of the colonial Bengal. According to Sugata Bose, the Jotedars
domination is confined only to northern Bengal, in the rest of the region he discovered two
other distinct modes of the present economy.

SUBSIDIARY ALLIANCE

The next major expansion of British rule in India took place under the Governor General ship
of Lord Wellesley, who arrived in India in 1798 at a time when the British were engaged in a
world-wide battle with France. Until then, the British had pursued a policy of consolidating
their gains and resources in India, and making territorial gains only when it was possible to
do so without provoking the major Indian powers.

• Lord Wellesley decided that the time had come to bring as many Indian states under
British control as possible. By 1797, the two most powerful Indian powers, Mysore and the
Marathas, had lost ground.

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• The Third Anglo-Mysore war had reduced Mysore to a shadow of its former glory, and the
Marathas were wasting their power in mutual intrigues and wars.

• In other words, political conditions in India were favourable for an expansionist policy:
aggression was both easy and profitable. Furthermore, Britain's trading and industrial classes
desired further expansion in India; previously, they had favoured a policy of peace, believing
that war was harmful to trade.

• By the end of the 18th century, however, they had come to believe that British goods
would only sell in India on a large scale once the country was completely under British
control.

• The Company, too, supported such a policy if it could be implemented successfully and
without jeopardising profits. Finally, the British in India were determined to prevent French
influence from spreading across the country and, as a result, to curtail and crush any Indian
state that attempted to do business with France.

• The Company's dominion in India was threatened by the impending invasion of Zaman
Shah, the ruler of Kabul, who could count on support from Indian chiefs in northern India and
who had been invited by Tipu to join a concerted effort to drive the British out.

To achieve his political aims Wellesley relied on three methods:

1. Subsidiary Alliance
2. Outright wars
3. The assumptions of the territories of previously subordinate rulers

While the practice of helping Indian rulers with paid British force was quite old. It was given
definite shape by Wellesley who used it to subordinate the Indian States to the paramount
authority of the company. Under his subsidiary alliance the ruler of aligned Indian states were
compelled to accept the permanent stationing of a British force within its territory and to pay
subsidy for its maintenance. All this was done allegedly for its protection but was in fact a
form through which the Indian ruler paid tribute to the company. Sometimes the rulers ceded
part of his territory instead of paying the annual subsidy. The subsidy treaty would agree to
the posting at his Court of a British resident that he would not employ any European in his
service w/o the approval of the British. That he would not negotiate with any other Indian
ruler w/o consulting the governor. In return the British undertook the to defend the ruler from

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his enemies they also promised noninterference in the internal affairs of the allied states but
this was a promise seldom kept.

Subsidiary alliance was disastrous for the Indian States, in reality by signing the alliance
Indian state virtually signed away its independence, it lost the right of self-defense and also
maintaining diplomatic relations and deploying foreign experts. They also lost the right of
settling the disputes with their neighbors. In fact, the Indian rulers lost all vestiges of
sovereignty in external matters and became increasingly subservient to British who interfered
in the day-to-day admin of the state. In addition, the system tended to bring about the internal
decay of the protected state. The cost of this subsidiary force provided by the British was
very high and in fact much beyond the paying capacity of the state. The payment of the
arbitrarily fixed artificially bloated subsidy invariably disrupted the economy of the state and
impoverished its people. This system also led to the disbandment of the armies of the
protected state. Lakhs of soldiers and officers were deprived of their hereditary livelihood ,
spreading misery and degradation in the country.

NIZAM OF HYDERABAD

Lord Wellesley signed his first treaty with the Nizam in 1798. The Nizam was to dismiss his
French trained troop and replace it with British army maintaining 6 battalions. Also the
British guaranteed their help against Maratha encroachment. By another treaty in 1800 the
subsidiary force was increased and in lieu of cash payment the nizam ceded part of his
territory to the company.

NAWAB OF AWADH

The nawab was forced to sign in 1801 in return for a larger subsidiary force the Nawab was
made to surrender the British nearly half of his kingdom consisting of Rohilkhand and land
between Ganga and Yamuna. Moreover, the Nawab was no longer to be independent even
within the part of Awadh left with him. He must accept advice or order from the British,
regarding the admin of the state. His police were to be reorganized under the control and
direction of the Britishers. His own army was to be disbanded and the British had the right to
station their troops in any part of the state.

Lord Wellesley controlled Karnataka, Surat, Madras, and Thanjur. In 1801 lord Wellesley
forced a new treaty on the puppet nawab of Karnataka compelling him to cede his territory in

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return of handsome pension. Madras presidency was created by attaching Karnataka and
territories of Malabar. Similarly, the territories of the rulers of Thanjur and Surat were taking
over and were provided with pension. In 1805 Wellesley was called back to London.

DOCTRINE OF LAPSE

The Doctrine of Lapse, a policy of annexation, was implemented by the East India Company
in the Indian subcontinent about princely states, and it remained in effect until 1859. Lord
Dalhousie, who served as the Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856, formulated a
strategy to address concerns about the succession of Hindu Indian states. This policy was
utilized as an administrative approach to extend the influence of the British aristocracy.

Before the introduction of this ideology, princely states had a longstanding tradition of
adopting heirs. In the absence of a competent natural successor, an heir apparent would
traditionally be chosen from a group of candidates known as bhajans, who were groomed for
succession from an early age. With the implementation of the Doctrine of Lapse, Indian kings
encountered a rejection of traditional adoption practices. In the case of dependent nations,
Lord Dalhousie asserted the paramount power’s right to approve adoptions and to act at its
discretion in their absence. This translated into a rejection of last-minute adoptions and the
annexation of states without a direct natural heir by the British.

Features:

According to this doctrine any princely state under the direct or indirect control of the East
India Company could be annexed be the company if the ruler had not produced a biological
male heir. This doctrine was not introduced by Lord Dalhousie even though he was the one
who documented it and used it to acquire territories for the British. As per this doctrine any
adopted son of the Indian ruler could not be proclaimed as heir to the kingdom. the adopted
son could only inherit his father’s personal property and estates. the adopted son would also
not be entitled that his father was receiving or to any of his father’s titles. This challenged
Indian ruler long held authority to appoint a heir of their choice. Some of the states that were

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annexed were Satara (1848), Jaitpur (1849), Udaipur (1852), Jhansi (1853), Nagpur (1854)
along with other states. It was as per this policy that NANA SAHAB, the adopted son of the
Maratha Peshwa Bajirao II was denied titles and pensions. And finally, Awadh was annexed
to the EIC under the terms of this doctrine on the grounds of internal misrule on 7 th February
1856, this annexation was one of the reasons for the Revolt of 1857.

EFFECTS OF DOCTRINE OF LAPSE

he Doctrine of Lapse led to widespread resentment and opposition among the Indian princely
states. Many rulers who had adopted heirs or were planning to do so felt threatened by the
British policy. The annexations resulting from the Doctrine of Lapse heightened tensions
between the British and the Indian rulers, contributing to the overall discontent.

Many Indian states lost their sovereignty and became British territories this led to lot of
unrest. A lot of people were unhappy with the illegal features of this doctrine.

NANA SAHAB and RANI OF JHANSI had grievances against the British as formers
pension was stopped by the company after his foster father died and the Rani’s adopted son
was denied the throne under this doctrine.

The 'illegal' nature of this doctrine enraged many people, and this was one of the causes of
the Indian Revolt of 1857.

In 1856, Dalhousie returned to the United Kingdom. After the Indian Revolt erupted in 1857,
his leadership was severely criticized as one of the rebellion's causes.

However, after a while, the conditions of policy became increasingly aggressive, and it
was Surendra Sai, Orissa's famous revolutionary, who spoke out against the "Doctrine of
Lapse," claiming that aggression had laid the groundwork for revolt.

CONCLUSION

The British initially arrived in India for trade, but their ambition to monopolize resources led
to a significant increase in their power on the subcontinent. The Doctrine of Lapse,

15
essentially an expansionist strategy of the British East India Company, involved forcefully or
cunningly annexing neighbouring Indian states to expand the British Empire’s territory.
Dalhousie implemented this doctrine to enhance the British East India Company’s dominance
over the Indian subcontinent, thereby boosting their profits. This approach, however, resulted
in the British becoming unpopular, and the rulers of various states emerged as fierce
adversaries, contributing to the underlying causes of the 1857 revolt.

DRAIN OF WEALTH THEORY

BACKGROUND

One characteristic of the colonial era was the exploitation of Indian resources. The main
reason Britain invaded India was to control a reliable supply of cheap raw materials to
support its own industrial base there. Indians’ income was used to purchase expensive
finished items that were imported from Britain, which helped Britain become wealthier at
India’s expense. In addition, the British government expanded its colonial influence outside
of India by using Indian labor. Indian soldiers in the British army received lower pay than
their British colleagues. Revenue from India and the export surplus produced by India’s
overseas trade were used to fund the British Government’s military and administrative costs
to govern colonial control in India. British rule as a result plundered Indian wealth for its own
purposes.

INTRODUCTION

The drain of wealth theory stems from the concept of mercantilism, which suggests that an
economic drain occurs when a country experiences an unfavorable trade balance, leading to
the outflow of gold and silver.

In the 50 years before the Battle of Plassey, the East India Company brought approximately
$20 million worth of bullion into India to balance its exports against Indian imports.However,
after the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the situation shifted, and the drain of wealth started to
flow outward as England gradually gained monopolistic control over the Indian economy.
This shift occurred as the East India Company gained political power, and its servants
obtained a privileged status, enabling them to accumulate wealth through practices such as
dastak (free passes for trade), dastur (customary payments), nazarana (gifts), and private
trade.

16
To further restrict or prohibit the importation of Indian textiles into England, the British
government implemented various measures. For instance, in 1720, the wearing or use of
Indian silks and cotton in England was explicitly forbidden, with penalties imposed on both
the weavers and sellers.

These policies and regulations contributed to the drain of wealth from India to England, as
the British government sought to protect its textile industry and limit the economic growth
and prosperity of India.

Dadabhai Naoroji was an early pioneer in the study of colonialism and poverty. He was
convinced that the main reason behind poverty was the colonial rule that was draining the
wealth and prosperity of India. The drain of wealth was the portion of India’s wealth and
economy that foreigners captured. Dadabhai Naoroji propounded the Drain of Wealth theory
in 1867. Many researchers have further analysed and developed it, including R.P.
Dutt and MG Ranade. In 1867, Dadabhai Naoroji proposed what is known as the ‘economic
imperialism’ theory, in which he stated that British economic policies were completely
draining India. He mentioned this theory in his book, Poverty and Un-British Rule in India,
and it is also known as the ‘Drain Theory’.

He criticised that out of the revenues raised in India, approximately one-fourth of the money
which is raised in India goes to England, which is the main cause of India’s poverty.

Dadabhai Naoroji gave six factors that caused external drain. These are:

 External rule and administration in India.

 Funds and labour needed for economic development was brought in by immigrants
but India did not draw immigrants.

 All the civil administration and army expenses of Britain were paid by India.

 India was bearing the burden of territory building both inside and outside India.

 India was further exploited by opening the country to free trade.

 Major earners in India during British rule were foreigners. The money they earned
was never invested in India to buy anything. Moreover, they left India with that
money.

17
The revenues collected from India were used to pay the salaries and pensions of British
civil and military officials working in India, the interest on loans taken out by the Indian
government, and the profits of British capitalists in India. This was one method by which
money was being sucked out of India. The drain manifested itself as an excess of exports
over imports for which India received no economic or material benefit.Remittances to
England by European employees for the support of their families and the education of their
children—a feature of the colonial system of government. Interest charges on public debt
held in the Britain (which excluded interest payment on railway loans and other debts
incurred for productive works). Private fortunes amassed by the Company's servants in the
form of illegal gifts and perquisites from Indian princes and other Bengal residents.
Employees of the company earned a lot of money by participating in the inland trade.
The East India Company provided military assistance to the Indian Princes in their struggle
for power against a rival claimant majorly after the implementation of Subsidiary Alliance. A
large portion of this money ended up in the pockets of British citizens.

Economic nationalists argued that the main goal of British policy in India was to turn India
into a valuable market for the home country and to transform India into a supplier of cheap
and secure raw material producing agrarian country.

CONCLUSION

The Theory of Wealth Drain was developed by Indian nationalist thinkers primarily to
analyse the root causes of poverty in India. The drain, as defined by nationalists, was the
transfer of wealth and commodities from India to England without the former receiving any
economic, commercial, or material returns. As a result, the Drain in Indian terms inevitably
took the form of an excess of export over import. The Drain of Wealth was commonly
referred to as "a phenomenon of colonial rule."

18
June 4,2024, History
Economic Nationalism In India:
Economic nationalism in India developed within the context of its subordination
to Britain.
Britain had industrialized by mid. 19th century, socially pushing out in all
directions for raw material for it’s
The drive to secure this unequal trade led to intense rivalry among the European
powers in late 19th Century, resulting in what has been called as Partition of the
world.
On the other hand there were ever increasing attempts from the parts of the
imperialist European powers, to remove the barriers of the trade, within particular
colonial territories and administrative unification of a defined territorial space.
In India after 1858 the colonial state was consolidated and its institutional
structure was expanded on an unprecedented scale.
The mean stream of economic nationalist thoughts was formulated in the period
b/w 1870s and 1905. However, there was a small group of people in Maharastra
who even earlier discussed and wrote on some issues, concerned with eco.
Exploitation of India by British. In fact cognition of the -ve economic colonial
rules can be traced back to 1830s in the writings of Raja Ram Mohan Roy. He
complained against the tribute paid to Britain and showed his concern for the
plight of the self cultivating peasants. But in the 1840s certain maharashtrian
intellectuals such as Bhaskar Panduram, Govind Vitthal Auntey and Ram Krishna
Vishwanath criticised the British rule for economically exploiting india,
particularly by draining it’s resources. There were convinced instead of being
good for India, British Colonial rule was the most bitter curse India has ever been
visited with.Although they also critique British rule on political and social
ground, there severest critiques on economic front. Bhaskar Panduram Tarkhatkar
declared that he wanted to show how regirous the present policy of British has
been in operation in regards to draining India of it’s wealth and reducing it to
poverty. He argued that destruction of home Industry in Maha. And india as a
whole resumed in poverty and misery of the artisans. He also criticised the no
tariff policy of the government, where by the British goods were forced upon
india, without paying any duty.
During 1870s and 1880s a wide ranging and comprehensive nationalist critique of
19
British Rule emerged in India. The most important proponents of the emerging
political economy of nationhood were dadabhai naraoji, Mahadev Govind randaet
Romesh Chandra Dutt, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, G. Subramaniyam Ayyar, GB
Joshi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Surendra Nath Banerjee. They realised that India
was being integrated within Global capitalism, in a subordinate position. Ranadey
Defined this position as dependent colonial economy. According to him the
country was being transformed in a plantation, growing raw produce to be
shipped by the British agents in British ships. To be walked into fabrics by British
skill and capital and to be reexported to the dependency by British Merchant.
These nationalist writers also criticised the process of ruralisation and
deindustrialization to which India was subjected.Moreover the theory of drain of
wealth as formulated by the DD Naraoji, remained the most popular nationalist
economic plan to denounce the British rule.
DRAIN OF WEALTH:
The critique of the drain of wealth from India, became probably the most popular
sentiment in the anti-colonial nationalist narrative, that the colonial rulers were
taking out India’s money leading to the countries impoverishment was conceived
as biggest economic evil of the colonial regime.
Drain was conceived as unilateral transfer of resources, from India to Britain
without any corresponding economic and commercial gain
Indian Social Reform Movements
June 6th
Indian society in 19th century was caught in a vicious web created by religious
superstitions and dogmas. All religions in general and hinduism in particular had
become a compound of magic, animism and superstitions and unnameable rights
such as animal sacrifice and human torcher instead of idol worship. The priests
exercised overwhelming and unhealthy influence over the mind of people. The
faithful lived in submission not only to god but even to whims and fancies and
wished of the priest.The social condition for people were depressing. The most
distressed was the position of women. The birth of a girl was, marriages a burden
and her widowhood inauspicious. Other factor such as cast sought to maintain the
system of segregation, hierarchal ordained on the basis of social status, fostered
social division and restricted social mobility. There were innumerable other
practices marred by constant status, authority. Rejecting them as features of a
20
decadent society. The reform movements sought to create a social climate for
modernization. Conquest of India by the British during the 18th and 19th century,
exposed some serious weaknesses and drawbacks of Indian social institutions.
The response indeed was varied but the need to reform social and religious life
was a commonly shared conviction. It also brought in completely new sets of
ideas, the exposure to post enlightenment rationalism that came to signify
modernity brought a change in the outlook of selected group of Indians.
Introduction of western education in India, had the far reaching impact on the
Indian Society. Through the glasses of utility, progress a select group of
individuals began to explore the nature of their own society. There was a gradual
appearance of public opinion. The debate between the orientalist and scholar of
eastern society of Indian on one side and utilitarian, liberals and missionaries on
one end also enabled the spread of these ideas atlas in the upper section of the
moiety. The resultant cultural change led to introspection about the Indian
traditions, institution and culture. Socio-intellectual revolution that took place in
the 19th century in the fields of Philosophy, literature, politics science, social
reforms is often known as Indian renaissance, the imp. Part of this reniss. Was
reforming Hinduism from within, on the basis of post enlightenment rationalism.
The post was focused in Bengal. However, the use of reins. Is slightly
problematic, as in European history it is used to refer to the rebirth or revival of
Greek-o-Roman learning in the 15-16 century. After the long winter of dark med.
period. But in Indian context it implied rediscovery of rationalism from within
India’s past. If we go through history, we find in India the status of women in
society was comparatively good, during the early Vedic period. There was no
concept of dowry, child marriage and sati in the Vedas. General girls were married
off after attaining age of maturity. There was no concept of CM and widows were
allowed to remarry. In Rigveda prayers were offered to a widow for a leading a
prosperous life, which indicates that there was no system of sati. In the early
Vedic era the women’s position was laudable as they enjoyed more rights. In the
Later Vedic Era we notice rigidity escalated in Hindu society and society started to
project
itself as patriarchal and women were seen as inferior, subordinate and subjugated
to the males in the family. The were deprived of proper rights and man social
atrocities such as sati, child marriage, dowry, polygamy and purdah system came into
21
practice that were not only horrible bur also made the status of women in society
deplorable.

12-06-2024
SOCIO-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT
1)Transitional: No interference of any foreign power
2)Cultural
Uneven development of colonial milieu and the persistence of indigenous forms of
socio religious dissent produced two types of movements within the period of the
British , i.e, transitional and acculturative
Transitional movement have their origins in the pre-colonial world and arose from the
indigenous form of socio religious dissent with little or no influence from the colonial
milieu either because it was not yet established or it had failed to affect the
individuals involved in a particular movement. The clearest determiner of a
transitional movement was the absence of anglicized people (not knowing English)
among its leaders and a lack of concern with adjusting its concepts and programs to
the colonial world. The transitional movement linked the pre-colonial period with the
era of English political domination. Once in contact with it, the transitional
movements made limited adjustments to that environment.
The second of the two types of movements termed Acculturative within the colonial
milieu led by individuals who were products of cultural interactions. The founder of
such a movement may or may not have into the world of British culture but his
followers and those who moved into position of leadership were largely English
educated Indians influenced by specific culture of England. Acculturative movement
sought an accommodation to the fact of British supremacy, to the colonial milieu that
such supremacy had created and to the personal position of its members within the
colonial world. The basis of such movement and many of their declared aims rested
on the indigenous heritage of social and religious protests.
First region which felt the need of socio-religious movement was Bengal and its
adjoining territories of Assam and NE. With incorporation of Bengal into the
expanding culture of north India brought with it Sanskrit, Hinduism and caste
structure. Brahmin priest ascended to foremost position in the society but never with
the same degree of dominance as in the central Gangetic plains or South India. Th
Kshatriya or warriors and Vaisya or merchant caste were absent, instead two smaller
22
groups the Kayashthas (writer clerk class) and the Vaidyas (once physicist and later
landlords) marked the next level below the Brahmins. Thus, the mass of Bengali was
classed as Shudras or peasants beneath them were the untouchables. Within this
region Buddhism and to a lesser degree Jainism provided a long-standing challenge to
Hinduism. In the first decade of 13th century, the Hindu-Buddhist worlds of Bengal
was significantly altered by Islamic conquerors. The estb. Of Muslim rule cut ties of
political influence and economical support of Hindu States. Over the centuries Islam
also changed the socio-religious composition of Bengal through conversion. Eastern
Bengal became heavily Muslim so much so that by the 19th century they constituted
the majority of the population. Hindus resided throughout Bengal in smaller % in the
east and larger in the west. The creation of Bengali Muslim population was
concentrated at two ends of the socio-economic spectrum. A small elite urban based
and composed mostly of the ruling class who conquered and governed this region and
through of peasant untouchable class, illiterate, uneducated, rural and poor. Middle
section was missing in this hierarchy of the Muslim population. Between the ruling
elite and the mass existed numerous Hindu groups who staffed the governmental
administration and conducted most of the economic functions of the province.
The first transitional movement in Muslims was known as Faraizi. Socio religious
movements among Bengali Muslims drew upon the dynamics of the society for their
motivation but the concepts, symbols and intellectual framework came from Indian
Islamic thoughts as centered on Delhi and Saudi Arabian Cities of Mecca and Madina.
These were the two main sources although ideas might occasionally reach Bengal
from other centers of Islam. The Mughal emperor Akbar adopted a policy of
accommodation with the Hindu nobility. This approach was successful in establishing
the empire but it alienated many orthodox Islamic leaders. Under Akbar the state
could no longer be dependent onto enforce Islamic laws and practices. Akbar’s
actions stimulated a counter trend of protests and movements in return. One of the
ablest privilege exponents of Sheikh Ahmed Sahrindi called for a strict adherence
from the surrounding sea of Hinduism. Sarhindi’s teaching gained acceptance as the
Mughal empire moved away from the policies of Akbar and towards the orthodoxy of
emperor Aurangzeb. With the disintegration of the Mughal empire new and more
severe crisis struck Indian Muslims, Shah Balli Ullah of Delhi linked the decline of
muslim power and morality to ignorance that resulted in inability to comprehend the
true nature of Islam. He advocated an education focused on the Quarn and Hadee that
23
would empower Muslims to regain their past status and to bring an end to the internal
struggles between differing Muslim groups and purged their faith of non-Muslim
customs. Thus, he shared many similar aims of Al- Baha but was less radical and
uncompromising in his approach. Bali Ullah wanted to extinguish the conflict among
Indian Muslims since communal unity was needed to restore Islam politically to its
power pre-eminence. Shah Bali Ullah translated Quran into Persian; a language
known larger than Arabic among his fellow Muslims. this act was bitterly opposed by
orthodox leaders but one of his sons Shah Abul-Qadiq . Faraizi movement was
founded by Shariat Ullah.

24 JUNE 2024
Shariat Ullah founder of the Faraizi’s, was born in 1781 in the village of Shmail in
easter Bengal. In 1799 at the age of 18, Shariat left for Mecca Sharif. The first two
years, he studied under emigrant Bengali Maulana Muraz, and for next 14 year he
became a scholar of Hunnafi Scholar Tahil-Sombal. When he returned to Bengal in
1888 as a scholar of Islamic Law and Philosophy. He Began perching but he soon
returned to Mecca, where he obtained a formal permission of his teacher to initiate his
own religious campaign. After returning to Bengal in 1820-21 he quickly attracted
adherents among the peasants of Eastern Bengal. Shariat’s Message was one of the
religious purification. He was deeply shocked by improper beliefs and rituals popular
among bengal Muslims and called for a return to Faraiz(farz), specifically the
profession of faith i.e. Kalma, attending daily prayers, fastening in Ramadan, payer
the poor tax and pilgrimage to Mecca. Along with these rites, Shariat stressed the
principle of Tawhin (Monotheism). Deviation from the original message of Mohd.
Was the result of Vidah (problematic sinful Innovation) or Shirk (polytheism). In
practical terms Shariat, condemned the worship conducted at the shrines of various
Islamic Saints. Rituals connected with the birth of a child and intense wailing at the
ceremonies to honour the Shia- Hero’s. Some of these rituals were blamed on Hindu
Influence either retained by converts to Islam or simply accepted by Uneducated
Muslims copying the customs of non-muslim communities. Scripturalist
fundamentalism of Shariat-Ullah won acceptance primarily among peasants of
Eastern Bengal. In order to effectively reach this audience, the Faraizi Leaders
Preched in Bengali and used that language in their Initiation Ceremony rather than
24
Persian, Arabic or Urdu. They introduced a distinct pattern of dress than distinguished
the members of their movement from the rest of the community. Militant, United and
composed mainly of illiterate peasants and artisans. The Faraizi soon faced opponents
as they soon penetrated the districts of Easter Bengal districts of Dhaka, Faridpur and
Wadakrganj. Farazi directly challenged the orthodox or Sadiqui Muslims, who wished
to maintain the practise of Islam as it was then.The Sadiqui were mainly the
descendants of the muslims who had entered Bengal after the conquest. Many of them
were members of the Landlord class, a group seen by Farazis as ideological and
economic enemy. Hinduism was also an opponent which they believe was a fountain
of Polytheism and innovation. Once more economics heightened the religious
tensions because the majority of Landlords in EB were Hindu’s. As early as 1831
Barasat had become the centre of Faraizi led disturbances. Indigo factories were burnt
and peasants refused to pay rents to Hindu Landlords, as they often demanded illegal
payments. Hindu Landlords collected money for ceremonies such as Durga Puja.
Shariat-ullah urged followers to reject such demands and they did. Through out the
1830’s the conflict fled b/w Faraizi's and Landlords with each side blaming the
other.The trend towards rural conflict continued after the death of ShariatUllah in
1840 when his son Dadu-Miyan succeeded as the head of the community.
Dadu-Miyan:
After becoming the head of the community, he quickly proved himself an energetic
leader. He was able to create an effective organisational structure for the Faraizi’s in
their struggle’s with opposing movements and the landlord planter class of Bengal. At
first he organised his followers along two lines of authority. Siyas: which focused on
political issues and secondly Deeni: Which concerned with religion. He later fused
them into a single hierarchy, DM held the position as the supreme leader or Ustaad,
under him served three levels of officials. UparastKhalifa, Superintendent Khalifa,
Gaon Khalifa. Unlike his father, DM entered the world of politics and economics with
a direct challenge to status-quo. He proclaimed that all land belong to God and that
the land tax was thus illegal and immoral. This declaration was extremely popular
among muslims peasant but completely unacceptable to landlord, indigo planters and
police. Serious clashes took place in 1841-42 as a result DM and 48 of his followers
were arrested, tried and convicted. Finally in 1847 the conviction was set aside by the
HC of Calcutta this was a dramatic victory for Faraizi’s, one that greatly increased
their prestige and also brought about a decade of peace b/w them and landlords. He
25
died in 1860. After his death his son Nayan-Miyan assumed the leadership of this
movement. Taraquih Mohmadiya was founded by Syyid**** in Rae-Barreily. In 1806
he visited Delhi where he met Shah Abdul Aziz and was impressed enough to take
(The initiation by a religious receptor) becoming his religious disciple. He was at the
same time initiated into three different Sufi orders, he returned home in 1817 and
agains left and returned to Delhi. After 1817 Sayyid returned to Acculturative
Movement Acculturative movement among Muslims.
Sayyid Ahemed accepted the basic teachings of Shah Bali Ulah and like him called
for the removal of sinful innovation or elements of polytheism or idolatry. He rejected
customs and rituals from Indian, Roman and Persian civilizations unless they were
consistent with the Quran and Sunna. Syed ahmed was adamant against the concept of
an intermediary b/w the God and Men telling his listeners that they could not seek aid
from the saints, Imams, Angels and Fairies. As with Bali-Ullah he accepted Sufism,
acting himself as Sufi teachers to his own disciples. Syed Ahmed was however more
sever with Shia belief since he saw them as another source of error. His ideas were
propagated through pamphlet and books. The ideas of Syed Bareli contained one
major difference. Syed ali intended to put his beliefs into actions through Jihad. Fatwa
declaring that British territory was Dar—ul-har/Islam. And in acco. From Islamic law,
Jehad can only be conducted from the ares of Islamic control. Consequently, Sayed
ahmed to begin his struggle from the NW frontier of the Sikh Kingdon. From April
1824 after his return to Bareliy from pilgrimage to Mecca, Sayedd collected funds and
recruits for the coming campaign in November 1826, he started war against sikhs
from the Tribal Land of Yusuf-Zai. In February 1827, Sayed ahmed elected Imam and
enrolled Mujahideen and his name was read in the Khutbah. After the death of SA,
this movement got faltered and it’s HQ shifted from Delhi to Patna. New leadership
arose from two brother Wilayat Ali and Inanyat Ali. By the mid of 1840 both brothers
faced challenges as they faced rapidly changing situation after the death of Sikh ruler
Ranjit Singh this kingdom suffered from internal conflicts and later on came under the
British rule.
Sir Syed ahmed khan and the Aligarh experiment. Born into a prestigious family in
Delhi spent his childhood in the Mughal court. His family was connected to Abdul
Aziz and he himself studied the work of Shah Bali Ullah. He did not study English
but acco. To the old fashion studied Persian and Arabic but was fascinated by return to
science and astrology. He did not receive any religious education and instead
26
developed a personality which appealed more to court official than Ulema. In 1838,
Sir ahmed entered into british service and gradually advanced up the judicial ladder
until his retirement in 1877. During these years he was posted in a no. of
towns(mostly in Delhi). During the Mutiny, Syed Ahmed remained loyal to the British
yet this event reshaped his life and gave him a cause that he served until his death.
The uprising directly threatened Syed Ahmed and all those who served the British
empire/ Indian state. The English were bitter, revengeful, and sus of the Muslim
community, whom they believed were responsible for the Mutiny. SA belonged to a
minority community strict of its past. He reacted by writing three political statements:
Asbab-i-Bawgawat-i-Hind(causes of the Indian Revolt)in which he laid much of the
blame for the uprising on missionary activities and attepted to demonstrate that Islam
as a religion was not responsible. Syed Ahmed produced two pamphets in English
namely, Loyal Mohammedans of Indian, that contained accof muslims who remained
allied with British raj and a third publication was the History of the Revolt in Bijnor,
in which he tells his own experience in revolt. So acc. To SA the future of Islam rested
with the fortunes of Musim especially with those in N India, in order to end British
suspicion and continuance of British rule and used public subscription from
ceremonies of loyalty, he shifted to famine belief and by the mid of 1860s had
experimented with creating both a college and an orphanage. These projects failed but
through them Syed Ahmed learned the techniques necessary for mobilising the
individuals and resources and become a leader of Muslim Community as well.
26 June 2024
Sir Syed Ahmed did not believe in himself instead he began to discuss the need to
translate Science and arts into the languages of north India. In 1863, he travelled to
Calcutta and spoke to Muslim literary society here he called for the European science
and tech argued that nothing in Islam forbid these learnings. His views stood in sharp
contrast with Muslims who saw no value or utility in importing non-Muslim
knowledge. In 1856 Syed Ahmed created the British Indian association of the North-
Western province as expression of his desire for closer relation with the British. For
Syed Ahmed when he visited England this visit left him with a depressed vision of
Muslim society in particular and India in general. “The natives of India when
contrasted with the English in education, manners and up brightness and are like them
as a dirty animal in front of an able and handsome man.” To end this state of
decadence Syed Ahmed felt that some of the characteristics of the English
27
society______. His goal raised fundamental questions concerning the validity of
prophet Mohammad and his texts. Syed Ahmed approached these issues with two
basic suppositions: first he maintained that the Quran contained ultimate truth and
existed prior to the knowledge of Science. Secondly, he said science and natural law
was itself a proof thus there could be no contradictions between the Quran and natural
law, if there is any Quran was itself misinterpreted or natural law was misinterpreted.
Opposition to Syed Ahmed grew from two levels, one of thought and the other of
practice. Many disagreed with his interpretations of Islam, in addition orthodox
Muslim were appalled when he insisted that it was alright to wear shoes inside a
mosque, to take part in Hindu and Christian celebration and to eat at European style
dining table. Syed Ahmed defended his actions and emphasised the need for new
interpretations as a method of adjustment to change circumstances.

Namdhari Movement:
Baba Dayal Das founded the Nirankari, a movement of purification and return. Dayal
Das concluded that Sikhism was decadent filled with falsehood, superstition and error.
Sometimes during the decade of 1840s, he called for the return of Sikhism to its
origins and emphasised the worship of God as Nirankar(formless). Such an approach
meant a rejection of idol, rituals associated with idolatry and the Brahim priests who
conducted these rituals. A repudiation of Brahmin priest meant also a rejection of
those Sikhs who aligned with them. Dayal Das quickly ran into opposition from the
established religious authorities consequently the movement progressed in secret until
the British gained control of Punjab. The Nirankaris focused more on the deficiencies
in the religious practices rather than the critique of theology. The appropriate path to
God was based on Worship rather than complex rituals. He urged his disciples to meet
each morning ____. His disciples were to worship the formless God, to obey the
shabad of Guru to clean the shoes and feet of the congregation, to serve one’s parents
to avoid bad habits, and to earn one’s livelihood through work. In accordance with
Sikh tradition Dayal Das taught a religious code for the householders.in addition he
taught that women should not be treated as impure and unclean during childbirth.
Disciples should not use astrology or horoscopes in setting the time for ceremonies,
dowry should not be displayed during marriages, neither lighted lamps nor prasad
should be placed in river and no one should feed brahmins as payment for conducting
rituals, eating meat, drinking liquor, lying, cheating all were forbidden. Each should
28
follow a strict moral code and only use a proper lifecycle ritual as taught by Dayal
Das. The new ceremonies included those of birth, naming of a child, a shortened
marriage ceremony and a death rite requiring that the body be immersed in a river or
cremated. All ceremonies eliminated the services of the brahmin priests.

NAMDHARI
The Namdharis which was a transitional movement. Baba Ram Singh who founded
this movement, he was born into a poor carpenter family in Ludhiana District. In
1841, Baba Ram Singh met Balak Singh of Hazur in Cambellpur district and became
his disciple. Balak Singh urged his listeners to live a simple life and to reject all
rituals except for repeating God’s name. those who accepted his leadership saw him as
a reincarnation og Guru Gobind Singh. Before his death he chose Ram Singh as his
successor. In 1857, baba Ram Singh formally inaugurated Namdhari movement with a
set of rituals modelled after the Guru Gobind Singh’s Khalsa. Ram Singh used a
recitation of Gurbani, Ardas, a flag and baptism for entering the sect. Each of gthe
baptied sikh was required to wear the five symbols with the exception of Kirpan
which was no longer allowed by the British Government. Instead pf the sword Ram
Sigh advised to keep laathi, in addition the namdhari wore white cloths and white
turban and carried a rosary to further set them apart from all others. Ram Singh
demanded that his adherence _____popular saints were rejected along with the rituals
conducted by brahmin priest and the authority of the hereditary custodians of the Sikh
Gurudwaras. He also condemned the claims to special status by the Sodhis and Bedis,
decendants of the Sikh Gurus. The namdharis were told to abstain from drinking,
stealing, adultery, falsehood, and cheating. The consumption of beef was strictly
forbidden since production of catle remaind the most ardently held values. The
namdharis granted women a degree of equality, they too were initiated to baptism,
allowed to remarry when widow, dowry were rejected and child marriage forbidden.
As he articulated his ideas the movement grew and his village Bhaini became a point
of pilgrimage later known as Bhaini Sahib. Ram Singh attracted many of his disciples
from the peasants and untouchable castes and transformed them in to a disciplined
community. Sangats were org in many villages___. Each sangat had its own place of
worship, a granthi, and a free kitche. The Punjab govt became uneasy with the
namdhari because among the namdharis a prophetic letter appeared that described
Ram singh as the reincarnation of ____.where he was held until the end of 1866. By
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1863 the namdhairs were estimated to have b/w 40K-60K members and approx. 1
lakh by 1871. The impressive growth of this movement as well as its militant
ideology led the Punjab govt to keep them under close surveillance and to prohibit the
Namdhari missionaries from preaching the Sikh troops of the British Indian Army.

27 June 2024
TRANSITIONAL MOVEMENT AMONG THE HINDUS
ARYA SAMAJ
Founder of Arya samaj, Dayanand Saraswati was born in Tankara. Young Dayanand
was born as Moolshankar. He studied religious texts and Sanskrit in preparation for
his life as an orthodox Shaivite. He questioned and then rejected his expected role.
His life’s direction changed in November 1816 when he met and became the disciple
of swami Birjanand. After nearly 3 years with Birjanand he came up with new set of
goals namely purified Hinduism and save it from contemporary re. state. He also
developed a . for Dayanand all was to be found in the Vedas for anyone who used
proper analytical and grammatical tools needed to understand Vedic Sanskrit. He
separated all Hindu scriptures into two categories: Arsha and Un-Arsha. The Arsha
included the Vedas and any texts based on a proper understanding of the Vedas and
un-Arsha were the products of the post-Mahabharata period when true Vedic
knowledge was lost and ignorance prevailed. The Vedas thus comprised the yardstick
within which all the other texts were judged as were questions of religion, custom and
rituals. Dayanand began to preach a purified Hinduism, one that rejected the popular
Puranas, polytheism, idolatry, the role of brahmin priests, nearly all rituals and the ban
on widow remarriage. In short almost all of contemporary Hinduism. He still dressed
and lved as sadhu, spoke sanskrit and debated with orthodox preists. In the later
period he visited Calcutta in 1872 and met Devendra Nath Tagore as well as other
Brahmos. When he left Bengal, Dayanand had abandoned the dress of mendicant and
spoke Hindi to reach the audience of middle class of an educated Hindus, among them
his message found a much greater acceptance. In 1875 he published his first edition of
the Satyartha Prakash(the light of truth) in which he elaborated his concept of true
Hinduism. Dayanand condemned all that he considered false that is orthodox
Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, for him there his only
one true faith Vedic Hinduism. Dayanand attacked idolatry, child marriage , elaborate
rituals, brahmin priest and at the same time insisted on the infallibility of the vedas.
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 Orthodox Hindus were outraged and critiques such as brahma samaj -. The Arya
samaj ‘lacked any central organization. Dayanand’s death.

UNIT III(1st July)

1857 REVOLT

NATURE

According to Benjamin Disraely, this rebellion of 1857 was formidable rebellion and
it needed to be so that the British could retain the jewel in the crown that is the Indian
Empire.

According to J. W Kaye and Charles Ball, the religion and caste purity were the main reason
because of which the sepoy of the Bengal Army mutinied. They also felt that the Bengal army
was recruited mostly from the Asraf Muslims and from Brahmins of Awadh. Therefore, they
felt panic about the loss of their caste. When certain issues like these cartilages emerged other
rumors like the mixture of powdered bones into flours also emerged.

V.D.Savarkar was the first Indian historian was the first to label the 1857 mutiny as the first
war of independence as early as 1909. Other historians like R.C. Majumdar, S.N. Sen, agreed
upon one point that 1857 was not merely a mutiny it was much more than that. They also
stressed on the fact that the rebellion was motivated by several different factors amongst the
rebel.

S.P. Chaudhary very clearly demarcated between the military rising and civil rebellions. He
says that although the rebellion started as a sepoy mutiny in the barracks however it did not
remain confined to one. It spread quickly in the civilian areas in the villages and of course it
was also because they wanted an able leadership, which could only be found in the
countryside. Thus, in villages the leadership passing on to several local nawabs and rajas and
talukdar and etc. so the military rising and civil rebellion, both complemented each other.

S.N.Sen talks about the organizational aspect of the mutiny. He especially talks about the
distribution and circulation of chappati in preceding phase of the rebellion.

Thomas Metcalf, also does not see this movement as mere mutiny or first war of
independence but he sees it as a traditional movement seeking to restore old pre-British order.

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Talmez Khaldun also sees this movement as the restoration of lost feudal privileges of rajas
and nawabs, etc. another angle for looking at the 1857 movement is from the perspective of
seeing it as a popular revolt. In this context, Rudrankshu Mukherjee, in his area study of
Awadh sees that the rebellion was a popular movement. He also found the elements of
complementarity and interdependencies b/w the peasants and the talukdars of Awadh. He says
that when in 1856 the New Land Revenue Settlements were imposed on Awadh, it created a
havoc for the economy of the province and in that context, there were also an issue of lost
privileges of the nawabs and the talukdars. He also talks about the issue of Magnet
Leadership; he says that peasants participated in the revolt in huge numbers and although
most of the times they followed their landlord but sometimes this concept of magnet
leadership did not work. Sometimes peasants stuck out on their own and independent
rebellion were staged by them independent of their landlords. So, Rudrankshu Mukherjee is
mainly talking about the issue that the peasants were not only involved in a subaltern role but
sometimes they were also taking the lead in the movement.

03 June 2024

Lata Singh in her article Visibilizing the other history: Courtesan, she has tried to bring in the
role of the invisible sections of the society commonly known as the Tawaiaff who don’t
occupy space in the as the bourgeois nationalist discourse as the dominant histography
consistently focused on respectable women. She brings to the fore the role of singing and
dancing community of the 19th century North India in the revolt of 1857 by decoding a play
known as Azizimia Nisha (by Tripurari Sharma). This play highlights the political acumen of
women performers b y looking at the role of artisans in 1857. She had added an important
dimension to the histography of the movement.

Prof. Badri Narayan in his article Reactivating the Past: Dalit and Memories of 1857 and
Charu Gupta’s Dalit Virangana (Jhalkari Bai) and the Revolution of 1857. They explored
new dimension of the movement in Northern India. Narayan focuses on oral history and
myths build around the Dalit heroes, who let down their lives fighting against the British.
Dalit version of the revolt find space in the narrative based on conversing accounts of the
myths, realities, histories and the re telling of the past which they feel have been ignored by
the dominant historiography.

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 UNIT V

RENAISSANCE

The term renaissance is derived from a French word meaning “rebirth” it refers to an
experience of the European world that began from the 14th century and was characterized by
a rebirth of learning, art and culture. People of this period felt that there was a sharp break
b/w their own and dark age that had preceded them, and moreover there were similarities b/w
their own civilization and that of the Greek and Romans, who had flourished b/w 400 B.C.
and 300 A.D. , later historians have sometimes agreed and sometimes disagreed with this
point of view, Jules Michelet in his book “La Renaissance”, held that the two most
significant feature of this epoch were the discovery of the world and the discovery of man.
The renaissance began in Italy and it lasted from 1300 to 1600 A.D. Historically it followed
the medieval period and led to the modern world, which began with the enlightenment.
Politically medieval Europe was dominated by the feudal hierarchy this meant that the
peasants were subject to land owners who in turn would be subject to a higher lord and so on,
all the way up to the king.

King

Feudal Lord

Vassel

Serf/ peasants

In the field of learning the Catholic church was dominant and all arts, sciences and
philosophical learning were regarded as servants of Christian theology. Hence, medieval
architecture expressed itself in Cathedrals while medieval art expressed itself in the form of
religious paintings. Even the ancient authors were read principally from the pov of mastering
the Latin language so as to study theology which was taught in Latin. Scholasticism was the
term used to describe the attitude and methodology which was declining by the middle of
the14th century. The renaissance put an end to this subservience of art, science and

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philosophy. Beginning from the 14th century, there was increasing tendency to study these
subjects for their own sake and not merely as the servants of theology. This led to a flowering
of the arts and science and paved the way for a modern period of philosophy. This new found
independence in thought was also manifested in the protestant reformation which ended the
Church’s dominance in the Northern Europe. The feudal system was also collapsing during
this period partly due to the increasing number of urban dwellers and traders who did not fit
in land based feudal hierarchy. Ultimately all these changes amounted to a totally new vision
of human through renaissance humanism. The revival of art and learning were financed by
the commercial revival of Europe through the rise of great banking families in Italy during
the 14th century followed by the discovery of sea routes to India and America towards the end
of 15th century. The renaissance transformed medieval Europe beyond recognition. It resulted
in the development of an intellectual independence that no longer took arguments from
authority for granted but instead strove to explore and discover new frontiers in philosophy,
science and technology. Hence, it took Europe to the threshold of the age of reason. The age
of renaissance

July 5, 2024

HUMANISM

The chief characteristic of the renaissance way of thinking was humanism. Basically, it meant
a decisive shift in concern for human as distinct from divine matters. It controlled man,
stressed his essential worth and dignity expressed invincible faith in his tremendous creative
potential and proclaimed freedom of the individual and his inalienable rights. It was centered
on a notion of man that did not reject earthly choice recognized the beauty and dignity of the
human body, opposed religious asceticism and defended men’s rights of pleasure and
satisfaction of earthly desires and requirements. It meant the glorification of human and the
natural disposition and rejected the other worldliness of catholic belief that human existence
has its origin in sin. So, the humanist rejected and even ridiculed the religious modification of
flesh and withdrawal from the world. They urged a person to seek joy on this earth and rather
than the afterlife as the church advocated. These works were permeated with the faith that a
man with an active mind and body was capable in knowing and controlling the world and
fashioning his own happiness , these ideas increasingly narrowed the domain of divine and
extended the domain of man.

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 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Industrial Revolution initially started in Britain. The period branded as era of IR was
essentially a period of transformation. It marked the final phase of the broad transformation
from feudalism to capitalism which had began with the European renaissance and the
protestant reformation in early modern Europe.

Factors:

 Crusades
 Geographical exploration
 Commercial growth
 Renaissance

The Industrial Revolution marked the end of old mode of productions and it was the final
move away from medieval feudalism. Within the feudal social setup, the economy had been
by and large self-sufficient though the exchange of goods was not totally absent.

10 July

With Industrial Revolution western and central Europe saw the rise of a full-fledged capitalist
economy. Such an economy was based on commodity production and market economy. The
capitalism made its presence felt across the whole world under the forceful thrust of
capitalism. The Asiatic society of the East and the feudal society of eastern Europe were to
undergo economic changes too. Whether or not such a series of changes should be spoken of
as Industrial Revolution can be debated at length. T. S. Ashton has argued that such changes
were not merely industrial but also social and intellectual. The word revolution itself means a
suddenness of change so it is not specific to economic processes. The phrase Industrial
Revolution was first used by J.A. Blanqui, a French socialist thinker of the 19th century, to
Blanqui the industrialization of the 18th and 19th centuries was certainly revolutionary and
marked the beginning of a new civilization, Arnold Toynbee, however, said that the Industrial
Revolution was far from revolutionary and was instead a socio-economic transformation, in
the Industrial Revolution was more of an evolution than revolution but despite these nuances
the phrase Industrial Revolution has become firmly embedded common speech.

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FACTORS LEADING TO THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:

The Industrial Revolution was multi-causal a variety of factors over centuries combined to
produce this epoch-making event like the 1) renaissance and reformation, 2) geographical
discoveries, 3) the rise of colonial empire, 4) the growth of long-distance commerce, 5)
commodity production, 6) market economy, and the 7) accumulation of capital all these led to
the birth of new mode of production.

One of the major factors which helped to bring about a revolution in the domain of
production was the rise of new scientific knowledge. Ther research Newton, Galileo and
others and their advances into new frontiers of science prepared the ground for the later
technological inventions. Equally with the decline of feudalism the rise of new monarchies
and a new middle class, flow of gold and silver from South America and the African slave
trade and many such factors. It was clear by the 16th century that industrial revolution was to
take place only in Western Europe.

The Industrial Revolution first occurred in England. There are many reasons why England
experienced the Industrial revolution first :

1) No Part of the country was far from the sea

2) Navigable rivers made inland transport easier.
3) The climate of England was favorable all year round.
4) England had coal and iron and other necessary mineral resources.
5) England was situated beside the North Atlantic Ocean and had easy access to overseas
market.
6) England was greatly influenced by science and technology.
7) England was a protestant country (above narrow-minded Catholic Church thoughts)
which according to many writers Protestantism fostered the rise of Capitalism and
made industrialization possible.
8) England was a country where free trade prevailed for the English. State took a passive
role in the Industrial development unlike in France, British economic activities were
allowed to develop in the direction that the profit motive would take it whereas in the
continent mercantilist restrictions were maintained. According to Cipolla, Britain
experienced the Industrial Revolution first because favorable social and political
structures mental attitudes and scales of value had been developed thus the
ascendancy of capitalist practices and bourgeois attitude in Britain can partially

36
 explain why Britain developed first in contrast to Holland’s trade was on the decline
and the economic disturbances caused by the French Revolution set France back by
40 years by 1830s when France had recovered, Britain had turned into workshop of
the world.

SOCIAL IMPACT OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:

Eventually the Industrial Revolution revolutionized the social life of Europe and the
world. Although much of Europe remained bound by its traditional ways, already in the
first half of the 19th century the social impact of Industrial Revolution was being felt and
future avenues of growth were becoming apparent. Vast changes in the no. of people and
where they live were already dramatically evident. One of the most imp impact of
Industrial Revolution was population growth. Population increase had already began in
the 18th century but they became dramatic in the 19th century. They were also easier to
discern because the record keeping became more accurate. In Britain, for example, the
first census was taken in 1801 and systematic registration of births, deaths and marriages
began in 1836. In 1750, the total European population stood at estimated 140 million. By
1800, it increased to 187 million and by 1850 it stood at 266 million. Although
industrialization itself does not cause population growth, industrialized areas did
experience a change in the population. By 1850 the proportion of active population
engaged in manufacturing, mining, etc. had risen by 47% in Britain, 37% in Belgium and
27% in France. But the actual areas of industrialization in 1850 were minimal. Being
concentrated in Northern and Central England, Northern France, Belgium and sections of
western and eastern Germany. The minimal industrialization inn light of growing
population meant a severe congestion in the countryside where the growing population
dividing the same amount of land into ever smaller plots and ever larger mass of landless
peasants. Although the western world could not become predominately urban society until
the 20th century, cities and towns had already grown dramatically, in the first half of 19 th
century. A phenomenon related to industrialization. Cities have traditionally been centers
of princely courts, government and military offices, churches and commerce. By 1850
especially in Great Britain and Belgium, they were rapidly becoming places for
manufacturing and industry, with the steam engine, the entrepreneurs could locate their
manufacturing plants in urban centers, where they had access to transportation facilities
and unemployed people from the country looking for work. In 1800, the Great Britain had
one major city, London with a population of 1 million and 6 cities between 50k-1 lakh

37
population. 50 years later, London’s population had swelled to 2363000 and there were 9
cities with over 1 lakh population and 18 cities with a population between 50k-1 lakh.
Altogether these 28 cities accounted for 5.7 million or 1/5 th of the total British population.
When the population of cities under 50k are added to this total, we realized that more than
50% of British population lived in towns or cities by 1850. Britain was forced to become
a food importer, rather than an exporter, as the number of people involved in agriculture,
declined to 20% of the population. Urban population also increased in the continent but
less dramatically.

EMERGENCE OF THE INDUSTRIAL MIDDLE CLASS

The rise of industrial capitalism produced a new middle-class group. The bourgeois or the
new middle class was not new it had existed since the emergence of cities in the Middle
Ages. Originally the bourgeois were town-dweller active as an artisan, lawyer, merchant,
or scholar who enjoyed special set of rights from the charter of the town. As wealthy
town’s people bought land the original meaning of the word bourgeois was lost and the
term became to include people involved in professions such as officials, lawyers, teachers
at various levels.

STANDARD OF LIVING

The most heated debates on the IR concerns the standard of living. Ost historians assume
that in the long run the IR increased living standard dramatically in the form of higher per
capita income and greater consumer choices. But did the first gen of industrial workers
experienced a decline in their living standards and suffer unnecessarily?

Some historians have argued that early industrialization required huge profits to be re
invested in new and evermore expensive equipment thus to make the requisite profits.
Industrialists had to keep the wages low. Although others have questioned that argument
pointing out that initial investments in early machinery were not large nor they need to be,
what certainly did occur in the first half of 19th century was a widening gap between the
rich and poor, one estimate based on income tax return, that 1 % of ____ increased from
25% in 1801 to 35% in 1848. Wages , prices and consumption patterns are some of the
criteria used for measuring the Standard of living.. b/w 1780 and 1850, both wages and
prices fluctuated widely. Most historians believed that during the Napoleonic war, the
increased prices out stripped wages. b/w 1815 and 1830 a price fall was accompanied by
a slight increase in wages. But from 1830 to the late 1840, real wages seemed to have

38
improved although regional variations question the generalization. when we look at the
consumption pattern, we find that in Britain in 1850, tea, sugar and coffee were still semi-
luxury consumed by the upper middle classes and better off artisans. Meat consumption
per capita was less in 1840 than in 1780. On the other hand, a mass market had developed
in cheap cotton goods so imp to the industrial revolution. As a final note on the question
of the standard of living some historians who take a positive view on early IR have
questioned that what would have happened to Britain’s growing population w/o the IR.
Overall we can say that some evidence exists for increase in real wages for the working
classes between 1790 and 1850.

CAUSES OF CONFLICT BETWEEN THE AMERICANS AND BRITISH

Throughout the last 50 years of 17th and the first 50 years of the 18th century, English
policies in the American colonies had been based on certain economic presumptions
which led to an economic conflict. These conflicts rested upon a general economic theory
popular in 16th, 17th and 18th centuries known as mercantilisms. Mercantile policy were
essentially concerned with the welfare of the mother country. The colonies were supposed
to be produce commodities not obtainable at home chiefly raw materials and to use
manufactured goods. Colonies were to offer opportunities for the development of a large
merchant marine and opportunities for exporters and importers and investment of capital.
Although the roots of British mercantilism can be traced back to the 16 th century, it was
not until the first half of the 18th century that the theory came. The first major mercantile
legislation was the Navigation Act of 1651 which sought to curb colonial shipping. It
stipulated that no good manufactured in Asia, Africa and America could be imported into
England or the dominions except in ships of which the proprietors and a major part of the
marines were engaged. Though the Americans were capable of developing their
independent carrying trade, they were deprived of their rights. The provisions of the
Navigation act were further tightened up by subsequent legislations. Apart from shipping
the British mercantilist restrictions opened in the spheres like import, export,
manufacture, customs, currency. Until 1763 the mercantilistic restrictions were poorly
imposed and the colonies had never thought of themselves as subservient. The British
mercantilistic network was not very diligently applied to American capitalism grew

39
within the framework of mercantilistic control. The American were able to develop
parallel economy, which took advantages of weaknesses of British Colonies but after
1763, Greville and Townshend backed by George III made their controls rigid and put an
end to policy of salutary neglect. The clash between Great Britain and American colonies
became inevitable. Louis hacker, an economic historian has argued that the American
revolution was an economic contest between American capitalism and British
mercantilism. According to him, the American revolution was more an economic conflict
than a political one.

Bernard argues that the American revolution was above all an ideological, constitutional
and political struggle. The English democratic tradition has reflected in the writings of
English political philosophers like Milton, Harrington and Locke, which helped to shape
the American minds to some extent. Those ideas were also reconditioned by the
environment of the new continent. The colonists had their own democratic traditions. The
Americans were also inspired by the religious group who left the old world in search of
more freedom.

Bernard holds that the intellectual development before independence led to a radical
conceptualization of the previous century. It was the age of the reason and the
enlightenment that symbolized the prevailing intellectual mood.

Thomas Paine, in his revolutionary pamphlet “Common Sense” asserted very plainly that
it was a matter of common sense for the Americans to break all ties with the corrupt
English monarchy.

Grenville majors named after the British prime minister consisted of the proclamations of
1763, the Revenue and Sugar Act, the Currency Act of 1764, etc. The most momentous of
the revenue measures was the Stamp Act which was passed in 1765. It provided that the
revenue stamp be affixed to all newspapers, leases, and other documents. The colonies
reacted sharply to this act. The trade with mother country Britain fell in the summer of
1765. Prominent men organized themselves into a group called the Sons of liberty and
political opposition soon flared into rebellion. Inflamed crowds paraded the streets of
Boston. The Virginia assembly passed a set of resolutions denouncing taxation without
representation as a threat to colonial liberty.

40