Imperial Federation

Common card · No. 328500

The Imperial Federation were a series of proposals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to create a federal superstate to replace the existing British Empire, presenting it as an alternative to colonial imperialism. No such proposals were ever adopted, but various schemes were popular in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and other colonial territories. The project was championed by Unionists such as Joseph Chamberlain as an alternative to William Gladstone's proposals for home rule in Ireland. Many proposals were put forward, but none commanded majority support. The major advancing group, Imperial Federation League, the main advocacy group, split into two factions in 1893, with one group promoting imperial defence and the other encouraging imperial trade. Various proposals were put forward, with most of them calling for a single state with an imperial parliament headquartered in London. Such proposals were never put into effect, and decolonisation would eventually happen to a vast majority...

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