American examples led British reformers to mobilize as they never had before. Amid the John Wilkes controversies of the late 1760s, which became a flash point for concerns over the unrepresentativeness of the British Parliament, government corruption, and rights to free speech, liberal supporters organized the Society of Supporters of the Bill of Rights with a Virginian as its secretary. Seeking to affiliate reformers’ support across Britain and the empire, while endeavoring to also support Americans during the prerevolutionary controversies, the Supporters and their successor organizations provide structure to the reform movement, whereas previously politicians had sought to maintain their “independence“ and avoid formal organizations.

Whereas Americans had quickly won redress amid the Stamp Act controversy, over the following decade the use of similar, affiliated social movement organizations exacerbated rivalries with Britain and eventually mobilized the War of Independence. First, colonists responded to the hated Townshend Acts of 1767 with boycotting associations that sought to overturn the measure through economic warfare – that only led to partial changes. American rights became a partisan issue with Britain, as colonial patriots increasingly allied with the Wilkes and Liberty movement. The enduring tax on tea and the colonial resistance it inspired in 1774 motivated British passage of the Coercive Acts, that militarized the colonial networks and led them to prepare for war. Committees of Safety and Security seized power in many locales and proved integral in mobilizing the civil war against the British.