Notable Point ยท 38:49-40:20

Why British commercial interests favored political stability

Taxes, disrupted trade, and threats to income help explain British commercial opposition to revolutionary instability.

Notes

Groups whose influence depended on earning money had reasons to fear instability. War could raise taxes and disrupt trade, threatening the economic activity that sustained their position. This helps explain why British middle-class interests could oppose a French revolutionary movement also led by economically secure people. Britain's developing constitutional monarchy limited royal authority while retaining some powers for the monarch.