There were 26—not 13—British colonies in America in 1776. Of these, the six colonies in the Caribbean—Jamaica, Barbados, the Leeward Islands, Grenada and Tobago, St. Vincent; and Dominica—were among the wealthiest. These island colonies were closely related to the mainland by social ties and tightly connected by trade. In a period when most British colonists in North America lived less than 200 miles inland and the major cities were all situated along the coast, the ocean often acted as a highway between islands and mainland rather than a barrier.
The plantation system of the islands was so similar to that of the southern mainland colonies that these regions had more in common with each other, some historians argue, than either had with New England. Political developments in all the colonies moved along parallel tracks, with elected assemblies in the Caribbean, like their mainland counterparts, seeking to increase their authority at the expense of colonial executives. Yet when revolution came, the majority of the white island colonists did not side with their compatriots on the mainland.
A major contribution to the history of the American Revolution, An Empire Divided traces a split in the politics of the mainland and island colonies after the Stamp Act Crisis of 1765-66, when the colonists on the islands chose not to emulate the resistance of the patriots on the mainland. Once war came, it was increasingly unpopular in the British Caribbean; nonetheless, the white colonists cooperated with the British in defense of their islands. O'Shaughnessy decisively refutes the widespread belief that there was broad backing among the Caribbean colonists for the American Revolution and deftly reconstructs the history of how the island colonies followed an increasingly divergent course from the former colonies to the north.
Andrew O'Shaughnessy speaks on the British Colonies and the American Revolution (CSPAN 2014)
Andrew O'Shaughnessy speaks on "An Empire Divided" for the Society of the Cinicinatti in 2014 (3 Videos)
Praise for "An Empire Divided: Revolution and the British Empire"
“Promises to reshape the way Americans think of the Revolution."—Publishers Weekly
"The best word on a subject basic to American and Caribbean history."—Kirkus Reviews
"O'Shaughnessy demonstrates in compelling detail and strong narrative why understanding the West Indies during the American Revolution is important to understanding the Revolution itself."—Edward Countryman, Southern Methodist University
"Immensely significant."—John J. McCusker, Trinity University
"This book will enrich debates not only about white society in the West Indies or about the scope of the American Revolution but also about the nature of the British Atlantic world of the eighteenth century."—Peter J. Marshall, King's College, London
"A well-organized, thought-provoking, masterly narrative history."—Military Review
"Succeeds admirably in restoring the British West Indies to its central place within the war that divided an empire."—Georgia Historical Quarterly
"O'Shaughnessy's fine book is to be recommended to all who are interested in the American Revolution and in the political contours of the British Atlantic empire."—American Studies
"O'Shaughnessy's excellent, clearly written book is an important contribution to Caribbean and U.S. history. He successfully explains why the Caribbean colonists, far from supporting the American Revolution, preferred to keep the British empire intact. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice