Liverpool Papers : A selection of material relating to the American Colonies and the United States from the Liverpool Papers, 1674 - 1823.

            Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool, was the eldest son of a prominent Oxfordshire family.   He was educated at Charterhouse, London, and at University College, Oxford, graduating in 1752.   In 1761, he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Northern Department serving under Lord Bute.   Throughout his long political career he represented several constituencies in the House of Commons.  During the American Revolution, from 1778 until 1782, he was Secretary-at-War under Lord North and, according to contemporaries, throughout this time he appeared to have a considerable amount of influence with the King.   Biographical information provided at the beginning of each microfilm reel lists several other appointments he received including:   Joint Secretary of the Treasury, 1763-1765; Lord of the Admiralty, 1766-1767; Lord of the Treasury, 1767-1773; Privy Councillor, 1773; and President of the Board of Trade, 1786-1804.   Following the American Revolution he took a leading role in developing a commercial policy between Great Britain and the United States of
America.    In 1786, he was created 1st Baron Hawkesbury, and in 1796 he became 1st Earl of Liverpool.   He died on 17 December 1808.

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, was the eldest son of Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool.    He was educated at Charterhouse, London, and Christ Church, Oxford. He was first returned to parliament in 1790 and from that time until his death he held major public offices throughout a long and distinguished political career.   From 1793 until 1799 he was a Commissioner for the Affairs of India, and in 1799 was appointed to the Privy Council.   Between 1801 and 1804 he was Foreign Secretary with a seat in the cabinet, but in 1804 he was transferred to the Home Office.    Because he was a peer, having been created Lord Hawkesbury when his father was raised to an earldom, he succeeded to the leadership of the House of Lords.   He served as Home Secretary from 1804 to 1806 and again from 1807 to 1809, and from 1809 to 1812 he was Secretary for War and the Colonies.    On the death of his father in 1808 he became Lord Liverpool, and from June 1812 until April 1827 he was the Prime Minister of Great Britain.   During that time he headed the government which successfully concluded the war with France ending the threat posed by Napoleon, and saw the nation through a period of unrest after the war.   At his death on 4 December 1828, his half brother Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson (1784-1851) became the 3rd Earl of Liverpool.            

            The items that were selected for inclusion contain material relating to the British North American Colonies, United States of America after independence, and to a lesser extent, the Caribbean region.   The selection was based upon a listing of the Papers in, A Guide to the Manuscripts Relating to America in Great Britain and Ireland, and include, as major examples, the following topics: international relations and diplomacy (Britain -United States, France, Spain), Napoleon and West Florida, British and provincial military (troops - French and Indian War, American Revolution; expenses - 1760s; operations - War of 1812, American Revolution), American loyalists, trade, customs (personnel, imports/exports), maritime matters (smuggling, shipping, merchant seamen), commerce, economics, fishing (whales, Newfoundland), fur trade, agriculture, settlement (North America 1763, western migration 1788, land grants 1764 & 1775-6, Florida 1763), state/province revenue (quit rents, taxation), and natives/indigenous people.  

A few examples of the items which have been included are as follows:   correspondence; petitions; reports; records of shipping, as well as exports and imports; papers concerning the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga and arrangements regarding prisoners, 1777-1778; outlines of articles and other documents relating to several treaties with foreign countries; papers concerning trade with the United States; observations of affairs in North America during the War of 1812; papers concerning the boundary between Canada and the United States and the protection of native interests; numerous items concerning the American Revolution and Loyalist claims; and many other records of great interest to scholars of this vital period in British, Colonial, and early United States history.

Also includes Minutes of the Privy Council for Trade and  Foreign Plantations, January 1786 - March 31, 1792.            

            Online: The accompanying finding aid prepared by Geoffrey Seed includes a biographical sketch of Charles Jenkinson and of his son Robert Banks Jenkinson, including a list of documents (with brief subject matter and reel numbering).  This is available at the beginning of each reel of microfilm; also available in print in the Loyalist red binders. The list of documents selected are also available digitally; see Electronic Finding Aid section. (Within, ff. stands for folio number.)

Minutes of the Committee of the Privy Council …(1786-92) includes a subject index at the end of each volume.  This is available in print with the Loyalist red binders.