Competing Visions of Empire: Labor, Slavery, and the Origins of the British Atlantic Empire

288 Pages·2015·1.86 MB·English

by  Abigail L. Swingen

C V e
ompeting isions of mpire
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C
ompeting
V
isions
e
of mpire
Labor, Slavery,
and the Origins of
the British Atlantic Empire
Abigail L. Swingen
New Haven & London
Published with assistance from the Annie Burr Lewis Fund.
Copyright © 2015 by Yale University. All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any
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publishers.
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Set in PostScript Electra and Trajan types by IDS Infotech Ltd.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Swingen, Abigail Leslie.
Competing visions of empire : labor, slavery, and the origins of the British Atlantic
empire / Abigail L. Swingen.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-18754-0 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. West Indies, British—History—17th
century. 2. West Indies, British—Economic conditions—17th century. 3. West Indies,
British—Commerce. 4. Slavery—West Indies, British—History—17th century.
5. West Indies, British—Historiography. 6. Imperialism—History. 7. West Indies,
British—History—18th century. 8. West Indies, British—Economic conditions—18th
century. 9. Slavery—West Indies, British—History—18th century. I. Title.
F2131.S94 2015
972.9’03—dc23
2014027080
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Alan and Ruby
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Author’s Note xiii
Map xv
Introduction 1
one Unfree Labor and the Origins of Empire 11
two Commonwealth and Protectorate Imperialism: The Western
Design and Its Consequences, 1654–1660 32
three Restoration Imperialism: The Shaping of Imperial
Administration, 1660–1671 56
four Politicized Empire: The Crown, the African Company, and
Centralization, 1671–1678 82
five Exclusion, the Tory Ascendancy, and the English Empire,
1678–1688 108
six The 1690s: War, Unfree Labor, and Empire 140
seven The Slave Trade, the Asiento, and the National Interest,
1698–1718 172
Conclusion 196
Notes 199
Index 259
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The creation of a book over the course of several years always results in the
accumulation of serious debts of gratitude. This project began as a dissertation
at the University of Chicago under the guidance of Steven Pincus, John Brewer,
Ted Cook, Tamar Herzog, and Ralph Austen. In addition, Allan Macinnes of
the University of Strathclyde came to Chicago as a visiting professor in 2003 and
kindly allowed me to sit in on his class on Jacobitism and has remained a stal-
wart supporter of the project. Their expert supervision helped guide the project
from a haphazard proposal into a relatively coherent thesis. I particularly wish
to thank Steve, whose guidance has not ceased and who has always made grad-
uate advising one of his top priorities. I aspire to be half the adviser and scholar
he is. I would also like to thank my mentors at Swarthmore College back in the
1990s, Pieter Judson, Tim Burke, and Marjorie Murphy.
An amazingly supportive community of scholars at the University of Chicago
and beyond has helped shape this book in workshop settings, conferences, and
informal arenas. At Chicago, Brent Sirota, James Vaughn, Lisa Clark Diller,
Heather Welland, Chris Dudley, Fredrik Albritton Jonsson, Ryan Frace, Kathrin
Levitan, Douglas Kanter, Michael Brillman, Craig Hargett, Lyman Stebbens,
Gerry Siarny, Paul Cheney, Dan Riches, and Colin Wilder all sat through
numerous chapter drafts in workshops and seminars and offered helpful sugges-
tions and advice. Thanks also go to Josh Arthurs, Cam Hawkins, John Deak,
Tania Maync- Daly, and Ben Nickels. I wish to thank scholars who have helped
in other ways, by reading drafts of chapters or the entire manuscript, providing
support while working in archives, or engaging in lively conversations. These
include Rob Hermann, Phil Stern, Rupa Mishra, Carl Wennerlind, Nick
Popper, Leslie Theibert, Megan Lindsay Cherry, Ted McCormick, Kristen
Block, Ed Rugemer, Bill Bullman, Caroline Boswell, Will Pettigrew, Dan
ix