Was George III really a despotic dictator, as the colonist thought?

Question

Was George III really a despotic dictator, as the colonist thought?

Answer 1

Not in the slightest.

The British had already executed one King and exiled another (bringing George's own family line to the throne) for acts of "tyranny and despotism" and consequently from 1689 the powers of the monarch had been severely limited. George had no real ability to interfere with the policies of Parliament and especially after his first year as King, being accused of acting like an "autocrat similar to Charles I" by the Whig Party because of the favouritism he showed to Tory ministers, he tried to stay staunchly apolitical.

He was prepared to offer his own opinions where he felt they were valid and he even agreed with the withdrawing of many taxes from the colonists and his hopes were centred on a political solution to their grumblings, and he always bowed to his cabinet's opinions even when sceptical of their success. The detailed evidence of the years from 1763 to 1775 tends to exonerate George III from any real responsibility for the American revolution. When John Adams became the American ambassador to Britain and met with the King, George said " I may have been one of the last to consent to the seperation but I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power."

The myth and Hollywood version of King George and the War of Independence is a straightforward fight between heroic colonial patriots and wicked, n**i-like redcoats led by a Hitleresque tyrant. The reality is quite different. But sadly most in the US learn the myth.

Answer 2

Not quite.  There is a lot of truth in the other answer, but it is not the whole story.

George III was a constitutional monarch, but he was a lot more than the figurehead of today.  What had gone in 1689 was prerogative, but influence remained.  Before 1832, if the King supported a party, it would win.  George felt that his two predecessors had neglected a lot of their potential owing to their preoccupation with their German possessions, and he was determined to assert himself.  He was determined to bring the Americans to heel.