Imperial Government and Politics

Portrait of George II

The structure of imperial government changed little in the eighteenth century. The Board of Trade, the Secretaries of State, the Privy Council, the Treasury, and Parliament all played roles, but dramatic shifts in British politics reshaped their relative focus and influence over the period—especially at the fall of Sir Robert Walpole's ministry in 1742 and again at the end of the Seven Years War in 1763.

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