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Encyclopædia Britannica Second Edition


The Encyclopædia Britannica Second Edition (1777–1784) is a 10-volume reference work, an edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's earliest period as a two-man operation founded by Colin Macfarquhar and Andrew Bell, in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was sold unbound in subscription format over a period of 7 years. Most of the medical and scientific articles, as well as the minor articles, were written by James Tytler. All copperplates were created by Bell.

Vol 1. A 1778; Vol 2. A-B 1778; Vol 3. C 1778; Vol 4. D-F 1779; Vol 5. G-J 1780; Vol 6. K-L 1780; Vol 7. M-O 1781; Vol 8. O-P 1781; Vol 9. P-S 1782; Vol 10. S-Z 1783, with a 204-page appendix, 1784.

The second edition is especially interesting to the American reader, as it was written during the course of the American Revolutionary War. Volume 1 was written when New York City was occupied by the King's army and the course of the war was still quite undecided. Volume 10 was written the year after Cornwallis capitulated and sovereignty was recognized. In the article Colonies, page 2072-2080 Tytler goes into great detail about the British colonies in America and the causes of the revolution, and treats it with an unsympathetic yet neutral, scholarly viewpoint.

"Because several of the colonies had claimed the sole and exclusive right of imposing taxes upon themselves, the statute 6 Geo. III. c. 12 expressly declares, that all his Majesty's colonies in America, have been, are, and of right ought to be, subordinate to and dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain; who have full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient validity to bind the colonies and people of America, subjects to the crown of Great Britain in all cases whatsoever. And the attempting to enforce this by other acts of Parliament, penalties, and at last by military power, gave rise, as is well known, to the present revolt of our colonies."

Volumes written early, such as volume 2 in the article Boston, where mention is made of "the present American war," and Volume 4 in the article New England (under E for England), have these places described as British colonies. In volume 10, written at the end of the war, the article Virginia describes it as "Late one of the British colonies, now one of the United States of North America." Later in that same volume, in the article New York (listed under Y for York), the correctly named "United States of America" is mentioned.


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