<span>An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. It was published in 1689 though</span>
Explanation:
Longitude systems going north-south, parallel to the Planet's rotational direction. As a result, the Sun would be at the same elevation for all locations in a path of longitude, i.e., it reaches local noon at same moment everywhere along the elevation. As a result, the local time is the same.
Well, if you're talking about their attempts at apealling to Parliament, then they were not successful. When they resorted to larger and illegal ideas, like dumping the tea, they were much more successful. And since they won the war, I would say they were pretty successful.