Making the British Empire, 1660–1800

217 Pages·2020·10.715 MB·English

by  Jason Peacey (editor)

StudieS in imperialiSm
General editor: andrew S. thompson and alan lester FoundinG editor: John M. MacKenzie M
Making the British eMpire, 1660–1800 a Making the
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This volume reappraises the origins and nature of the first British empire. n
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methodologically and thematically, it offers new perspectives and
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approaches from some of the most important scholars in the field.
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The aim is not to return to older modes of scholarship, but to learn from
the ‘new imperial history’ while reintegrating political and institutional B 1660–1800
perspectives. Contributors explore contemporary debates, both within the r
metropole and across the empire, and how these affected imperial ‘policy’ it
and its implementation, not least in the face of profound challenges on the i
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ground. These debates ranged widely and were political and intellectual as
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well as religious and administrative. They related to ideas about political

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realities of the imperial project, including the costs and losses of empire, M
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Featuring contributions from a remarkable selection of scholars, including
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Sir John Elliott, Julian Hoppit, Steve Pincus, Jennifer Pitts and Philip J.
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scientists working in a range of areas. Its novel approaches and provocative 6
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arguments will help to shape the field on this most important of topics.
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Jason Peacey is Professor of Early Modern British History at University College 1
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ISBN 978-0-7190-8856-8
Cover image: Vintage World Map, 2015
© Michal Bednarek, bednarek-art.com
Cover design: riverdesignbooks.com
9 780719 088568
EditE d by Jason PE acEy
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
General editors: Andrew S. Thompson and Alan Lester
Founding editor: John M. MacKenzie
When the ‘Studies in Imperialism’ series was founded
by Professor John M. MacKenzie more than thirty years
ago, emphasis was laid upon the conviction that
‘imperialism as a cultural phenomenon had as significant
an effect on the dominant as on the subordinate societies’.
With well over a hundred titles now published, this
remains the prime concern of the series. Cross-disciplinary
work has indeed appeared covering the full spectrum of
cultural phenomena, as well as examining aspects of
gender and sex, frontiers and law, science and the
environment, language and literature, migration and
patriotic societies, and much else. Moreover, the series has
always wished to present comparative work on European
and American imperialism, and particularly welcomes the
submission of books in these areas. The fascination with
imperialism, in all its aspects, shows no sign of abating,
and this series will continue to lead the way in
encouraging the widest possible range of studies in the
field. ‘Studies in Imperialism’ is fully organic in its
development, always seeking to be at the cutting edge,
responding to the latest interests of scholars and the needs
of this ever-expanding area of scholarship.
Making the British empire, 1660–1800
SELECTED TITLES AVAILABLE IN THE SERIES
WRITING IMPERIAL HISTORIES
ed. Andrew S. Thompson
GENDERED TRANSACTIONS
Indrani Sen
EXHIBITING THE EMPIRE
ed. John McAleer and John M. MacKenzie
BANISHED POTENTATES
Robert Aldrich
MISTRESS OF EVERYTHING
ed. Sarah Carter and Maria Nugent
BRITAIN AND THE FORMATION OF THE GULF STATES
Shohei Sato
CULTURES OF DECOLONISATION
ed. Ruth Craggs and Claire Wintle
HONG KONG AND BRITISH CULTURE, 1945–97
Mark Hampton
Making the
British empire,
1660–1800
Edited by Jason Peacey
MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © Manchester University Press 2020
While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in Manchester University Press,
copyright in individual chapters belongs to their respective authors, and
no chapter may be reproduced wholly or in part without the express permission
in writing of both author and publisher.
Published by MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS
ALTRINCHAM STREET, MANCHESTER M1 7JA
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7190 8856 8 hardback
First published 2020
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs
for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and
does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Cover image: Vintage World Map, 2015 © Michal Bednarek, bednarek-art.com
Typeset by Sunrise Setting, Brixham
For Annette

CONTENTS
Notes on contributors—viii
Abbreviations and conventions—x
1 Introduction 1
Jason Peacey
2 The pivot of empire: party politics, Spanish America and
the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) 17
Steve Pincus
3 Party politics and empire in the early eighteenth century 38
J. H. Elliott
4 From anti-popery and anti-puritanism to orientalism 56
William J. Bulman
5 Protestantism and the politics of overseas expansion in
later Stuart England 77
Gabriel Glickman
6 Reconciling empire: English political economy and the
Spanish imperial model, 1660–90 100
Leslie Theibert
7 Legal geography and colonial sovereignty: the making of
early English ‘Bombay’ 121
Philip J. Stern
8 Compensating imperial loyalty, 1700–1800 142
Julian Hoppit
9 Sheffield’s vision: the American Revolution and the 1783
partition of North America 160
Eliga H. Gould
10 Legal pluralism and Burke’s law of nations 178
Jennifer Pitts
Index—198
[ vii ]
CONTRIBUTORS
William J. Bulman is Associate Professor of History and Global Studies
at Lehigh University. He is the author of Anglican Enlightenment:
Orientalism, Religion and Politics in England and its Empire, 1648–
1715 (2015) and co-editor (with Robert G. Ingram) of God in the
Enlightenment (2016). He has published articles in Historical Journal
and Past and Present.
Sir John Elliott is Regius Professor emeritus of Modern History at the
University of Oxford. He has published extensively on the history of
Spain, Europe and the Americas in the early modern period. His books
include Imperial Spain (1963), Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain
and Spain in America, 1492–1830 (2006) and, most recently, Scots and
Catalans: Union and Disunion (2018).
Gabriel Glickman is Lecturer in Early Modern British History at the
University of Cambridge. He is the author of The English Catholic
Community, 1688–1745 (2009) and his articles have appeared in
Historical Journal, Journal of Modern History, English Historical
Review and Journal of British Studies.
Eliga H. Gould is Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire.
He is the author of The Persistence of Empire: British Political Culture in
the Age of the American Revolution (2011) and Among the Powers of the
Earth: The American Revolution and the Making of a New World Empire
(2012), and he is co-editor (with Peter S. Onuf) of Empire and Nation: The
American Nation in the Atlantic World (2015).
Julian Hoppit is the Astor Professor of British History at UCL. He is
the author of Risk and Failure in English Business, 1700–1800 (1987),
A Land of Liberty? England, 1689–1727 (2000) and Britain’s Political
Economies: Parliament and Economic Life, 1660–1800 (2017).
Jason Peacey is Professor of Early Modern British History at UCL. He
is the author of Politicians and Pamphleteers: Propaganda in the
English Civil Wars and Interregnum (2004) and Print and Public
Politics in the English Revolution (2014).
Steve Pincus is Thomas E. Donnelly Professor of British History at the
University of Chicago. He is the author of Protestantism and Patriotism:
Ideologies and the Making of English Foreign Policy, 1650–1688 (1996),
[ viii ]
CONTRIBUTORS
1688: The First Modern Revolution (2011) and The Heart of the
Declaration: The Founders’ Case for Activist Government (2016).
Jennifer Pitts is Professor of Political Science at the University of
Chicago. She is the author of A Turn to Empire: The Rise of Imperial
Liberalism in Britain and France (2005), and Boundaries of the
International: Law and Empire (2018).
Philip J. Stern is Gilhuly Family Professor at Duke University. He is
the author of The Company State: Corporate Sovereignty and the
Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India (2011) and
co-editor (with Carl Wennerlind) of Mercantilism Reimagined:
Political Economy in Early Modern Britain and its Empire (2013).
Leslie Theibert completed her PhD at Yale University in 2014, and is
currently preparing a book entitled Empires of the Caribbean: Anglo-
Spanish Relations and the Origins of the English Empire.
[ ix ]