nce the British made the discovery about these constitutional changes
they quite understandably believed such conditions could not be
ignored. Quite understandably, the Virginians were not willing to give
up rights and privileges which they believed were theirs, or the
semiautonomy they had enjoyed the previous 30 years.

The New Generation in Politics: Britain and Virginia

There came to power in the 1760's an entirely new political leadership
in England. The most important change was the kingship itself. George
II, who had come to the throne in 1727, died in 1760 and was succeeded
by his grandson, George III. Unlike his grandfather and his
great-grandfather, George I (1715-1727), both of whom were essentially
Hanoverians, George III "gloried in the name of Briton" and believed it
was essential for the king to be his own "prime" minister and for the
king to be active in managing the crown's political affairs in
parliament. Unlike the first two Georges, the third George could not
achieve the political stability which Robert Walpole and the Duke of
Newcastle had imposed on parliament from 1720 to 1754. It is well known
that George had a congenital disease which pushed him into periods of
apparent insanity during his long reign (he died in 1820). Present day
medical scholars now believe that this illness was perhaps porphyria or
some type of metabolic illness, which could now be treated and
controlled by diet and medication. Such illness does not appear to have
been a major factor in his actions prior to the Revolution, the first
significant attack not occurring until 1788. Instead, the stolid and
often plodding king tended to rely upon men like the unimaginative Lord
Bute or his somewhat stodgy wife, Charlotte of Mecklenberg (for whom
two Virginia counties and the town of Charlottesville are named.) The
breakdown of the once-powerful Whig political coalition also added to
the king's problems.

About the time George ascended the throne, the English Whigs who had
dominated English politics since 1720 fell victim to their own
excesses. Walpole and Newcastle had controlled and directed parliament
and the ministry through the "judicious" use of patronage and
government contracts and contacts. Nevertheless they had done so with a
consistent governmental program in mind and in a period of peace. By
the 1760's the Whigs had deteriorated into factions quarreling over
patronage, spoils, and contracts, not policy. They became t