Exclusionary Empire
English Liberty Overseas, 1600–1900

Exclusionary Empire examines the transfer of English traditions of liberty and the rule of law overseas from 1600 to 1900.

Jack P. Greene (Edited by)

9780521132701, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 12 October 2009

320 pages
23.8 x 15.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.45 kg

'Exclusion and empire have always been uneasy yet inseparable companions, and the transference overseas of 'English liberties' a persistent leit-motif in the history of British colonial expansion. Shared identity in this world was explicitly exclusive. Against a background of revived interest in white settlement and the 'British world', this valuable collection draws attention to the repressiveness of transferred liberties – self-government, property rights, and the rule of law – as claimed and monopolised by white settlers. Drawing on older traditions of commonwealth history, it also highlights the importance of viewing comparatively the illiberal trajectories of different colonial territories.' Andrew Porter, King's College, London

Consisting of an introduction and ten chapters, Exclusionary Empire examines the transfer of English traditions of liberty and the rule of law overseas from 1600 to 1900. Each chapter is written by a noted specialist and focuses on a particular area of the settler empire – Colonial North America, the West Indies, Ireland, the early United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa – and on one non-settler colony, India. The book examines the ways in which the polities in each of these areas incorporated these traditions, paying particular attention to the extent to which these traditions were confined to the independent white male segments of society and denied to most others. This collection will be invaluable to all those interested in the history of colonialism, European expansion, the development of empire, the role of cultural inheritance in those histories, and the confinement of access to that inheritance to people of European descent.

Introduction: empire and liberty Jack P. Greene
1. The languages of liberty in British North America, 1607–1776 Elizabeth Mancke
2. Liberty and slavery: the transfer of British liberty to the West Indies, 1627–1865 Jack P. Greene
3. 'Era of liberty': the politics of civil and political rights in eighteenth-century Ireland James Kelly
4. Liberty and modernity: the American revolution and the making of Parliament's imperial history Eliga Gould
5. Federalism, democracy, and liberty in the new American nation Peter S. Onuf
6. Liberty in Canada, 'multiple subjects, multiple freedoms' Philip Girard
7. Contested despotism
problems of liberty in British India Robert Travers
8. '… a bastard of tyranny under the guise of liberty': liberty and representative government in Australia, 1788–1901 Richard Waterhouse
9. How much did institutions matter?: cloning Britain in New Zealand James Belich
10. The expansion of British liberty overseas: the South African case Christopher Saunders.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX], Colonialism & imperialism [HBTQ], British & Irish history [HBJD1]