The emergence of consumerism and its wider political and economic impacts;…

The idea

This topic links empire to everyday British life between 1688 and c.1730. Consumerism grew as imported goods such as sugar, tobacco, tea and calicoes reached British shops and homes, creating new habits of buying and new trades, and these purchases tied ordinary families to colonial economies. Ports were the engine of that trade: Bristol, Liverpool and London developed as slave ports whose merchants fitted out ships for the Atlantic trade, while smaller ports also took a share. Ideas of a racial hierarchy developed to justify enslaving Africans, and those ideas affected settled minority communities in Britain. Opposition existed too: enslaved people resisted, and campaigners and writers argued against the trade. Coffee houses became meeting places where merchants, politicians and pamphleteers exchanged news and organised political action.

What earns the marks

• Identifies consumer goods such as sugar, tobacco, tea and calicoes as imports that changed British buying habits.
• Explains that Bristol, Liverpool and London developed as slave ports fitting out ships for the Atlantic trade.
• States that smaller ports also took part in the slave trade rather than only the three named cities.
• Describes how ideas of a racial hierarchy were used to justify the enslavement of Africans.
• Recognises that enslaved people resisted slavery as well as campaigners opposing the trade.
• Explains that coffee houses served as meeting places for political activism and the exchange of news.

Common mistakes and how to put them right

• Assumes only London, Bristol and Liverpool were involved.

  Put it right: Smaller ports also participated.

• Treats consumerism as unrelated to empire.

  Put it right: Connect imported goods to colonial trade and slavery.

• Believes opposition came only from white campaigners.

  Put it right: Include slave resistance as a form of opposition.

• Ignores the impact of racial ideas on settled minority communities in Britain.

  Put it right: Address that impact.

Exam tips

• Read the question stem carefully to see whether it asks about consumerism, ports, racial ideas, opposition or coffee houses.
• Eliminate options that name only the three large ports when the question asks about wider involvement.
• Link each option back to the 1688–c.1730 period rather than later abolition campaigns.
• Check that an option about opposition includes resistance by enslaved people, not just political campaigning.