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 The Revolution on the Corner of Main and Hardy

J. Rixey Ruffin

in A Paradise of Reason: William Bentley and Enlightenment Christianity in the Early Republic

William Bentley began his tenure as assistant pastor of the East Church in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1783, and immediately came into conflict with the much older senior pastor. But within two years, ... More

William Bentley began his tenure as assistant pastor of the East Church in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1783, and immediately came into conflict with the much older senior pastor. But within two years, the senior pastor was gone, driven out by the church he had served for half a century. That minister, James Diman, was a Calvinist, but Bentley believed in a theology of salvation called Arminianism—in the benevolence of God and the possibility of salvation through moral behavior. The church's members picked Bentley's Arminianism over Diman's Calvinism. How and why they did so sheds light on the power of the sacraments (Communion and baptism) in New England Christianity, on the unique relationships in Congregationalism between members, parishioners, and pew proprietors, and on the liberating potential of the American Revolution, particularly in the economic power gained from privateering.Less

The Military Resources of the Nobility

Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools

in War, State, and Society in England and the Netherlands 1477-1559

This chapter examines the resources deployed by the nobility in their participation in warfare. In England, their recruitment of troops became less important over time as retinues raised from their ... More

This chapter examines the resources deployed by the nobility in their participation in warfare. In England, their recruitment of troops became less important over time as retinues raised from their estate tenants and household servants were superseded by drafts from the county militias. In the Netherlands, great nobles led bandes d'ordonnance, permanently waged by the prince but staffed by the captain's clients and other contingents animated by their local influence. Generals there also cultivated entrepreneurs able to raise mercenaries beyond the borders of the Netherlands. Noblemen's private arsenals were better stocked with artillery in the Netherlands than in England, and their private fortifications better maintained and modernized. The English, however, were more likely to own ships that could be turned to war or privateering.Less

Piracy and Privateering

David M. Williams and Andrew P. White

in A Select Bibliography of British and Irish University Theses about Maritime History, 1792-1990

A bibliography of post-graduate theses concerning Piracy and Privateering throughout Maritime History

Slave Merchant

Peter Earle

in The Earles of Liverpool: A Georgian Merchant Dynasty

When William Earle settled in Liverpool after retiring from the sea, his main (but not only) occupation was trading in slaves. This activity has been analysed with the aid of two data-sets, one ... More

When William Earle settled in Liverpool after retiring from the sea, his main (but not only) occupation was trading in slaves. This activity has been analysed with the aid of two data-sets, one providing detailed information on Liverpool shipping, 1744-86, and the other focussed on the slave trade. Just what such a business involved can be found in William’s one surviving letter-book (1760-61) which shows in detail his relations with his suppliers, captains, potential purchasers in America and the West Indies, co-partners, and the financier in London who discounted his bills. These were difficult years and the letters illustrate the problems of trading in wartime, such as capture by the French and very high insurance rates. William’s reaction to this was to finance privateers himself, a subject also included in this chapter.Less

Grocers’ Hall

David Brown

in Empire and Enterprise: Money, Power and the Adventurers for Irish Land during the British Civil Wars

Chapter 4 charts the development of English state finance and policy towards Ireland during the first English Civil War. Following the outbreak of formal hostilities in England, the Adventurers ... More

Chapter 4 charts the development of English state finance and policy towards Ireland during the first English Civil War. Following the outbreak of formal hostilities in England, the Adventurers seized control over parliament’s financial and military committees, using a network centred on Grocers’ Hall. The role of Grocers’ Hall is highlighted by demonstrating the process by which the functions of parliament’s Committee for Irish Affairs were transferred to it, leaving the Adventurers in command of parliament’s policy for Ireland. The Adventurers sent a naval task force to attack royalist targets in Ireland before the outbreak of war in England and worked to undermine Charles’ attempts to broker a ceasefire with the Irish rebels.Less

Convoys and Companies: Privatising Economic Warfare at Sea in the Dutch Republic, 1580–1800

Erik Odegard

in Economic Warfare and the Sea: Grand Strategies for Maritime Powers, c. 1600-1945

When the Dutch Republic and Habsburg Spain went to war again in 1621, the Dutch were confronted by a well-run campaign against its trade and fisheries mainly operating out of Dunkirk. This chapter ... More

When the Dutch Republic and Habsburg Spain went to war again in 1621, the Dutch were confronted by a well-run campaign against its trade and fisheries mainly operating out of Dunkirk. This chapter studies how the Dutch Republic responded to this threat. It argues that consistent efforts were made to outsource protection of trade and fisheries to those groups which profited from it. Rather than centralising decision-making and monopolise violence at sea, the Dutch state devolved responsibility to lower levels of government, corporations and chartered companies, and private firms. These ships were mainly uses for convoy duty. This chapter argues that this devolution was instrumental in protecting Dutch commerce and provided ships to the fleet in crises such as the Battle of the Downs as well. But from the middle of the seventeenth century this system would deteriorate and more tasks would be taken up by the admiralties themselves.Less

Captain Quelch’s Warning: The Transformation of Pirate Nests, 1704–1713

Mark G. Hanna

in Pirate Nests and the Rise of the British Empire, 1570-1740

This chapter examines the cultural turn against heroic sea marauding during the period 1704–1713, with particular emphasis on the execution of Captain John Quelch and its significance for the ... More

This chapter examines the cultural turn against heroic sea marauding during the period 1704–1713, with particular emphasis on the execution of Captain John Quelch and its significance for the regulation of privateering. On June 30, 1704, Quelch and six of his men were executed in Boston for alleged acts of piracy. After the Reverend Cotton Mather's exhortation, the prisoners were given one last opportunity to address the audience. Quelch issued a cryptic but damning warning that challenged not only the authorities who had found him and his fellow prisoners guilty but also the entire community. This chapter considers New England Governor Joseph Dudley's initiative aimed at fighting French privateers who were threatening New England shipping, along with the local community's anger over Quelch's trial and subsequent execution. It also discusses the influx of slaves relative to white immigration in New England in relation to the closing of colonial ports to pirates in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. Finally, it explores the factors that led to decreased support for piracy.Less

Kingston

Christine Walker

in Jamaica Ladies: Female Slaveholders and the Creation of Britain's Atlantic Empire

Chapter Two focuses on the urban and seafaring pursuits of a diverse group of women living in early eighteenth-century Kingston. Women of European, Euro-African, and African descent comprised a ... More

Chapter Two focuses on the urban and seafaring pursuits of a diverse group of women living in early eighteenth-century Kingston. Women of European, Euro-African, and African descent comprised a considerable portion of the city’s free population. They worked in a range of occupations. Some were wealthy merchants who participated in privateering ventures while others operated small-scale shops and taverns. The majority of Kingston’s women entrepreneurs were also enslavers. After gaining a monopoly on the slave trade with the Spanish Empire, the South Sea Company made Kingston its base. The city’s female inhabitants readily exploited their access to the burgeoning market in captive Africans. By the mid-eighteenth century, slaveholding was nearly ubiquitous among Kingston’s free and freed women, who treated enslaved people as crucial laborers and as valuable property.Less

. Black Markets for Black Labor: Pirates, Privateers, and Interlopers in the Origins of the Intercolonial Slave Trade, CA. 1619–1720

Gregory E. O’Malley

in Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade of British America, 1619–1807

This chapter examines how piracy and privateering contributed to the slave trade in English, Dutch, and French America between 1619 and 1720. It shows that even before England possessed colonies from ... More

This chapter examines how piracy and privateering contributed to the slave trade in English, Dutch, and French America between 1619 and 1720. It shows that even before England possessed colonies from which to exploit slaves, pirates and privateers were already seizing Africans from the Spanish and Portuguese. The captives were enslaved in Africa for sale to Atlantic traders and then seized in American waters by pirates for delivery to a range of colonies. As a result, many Africans arriving in the Americas found themselves the subject of illicit trade. The chapter discusses the implications of these black- and gray-market trades—piracy, privateering, interloping—for the development of slavery and the slave trade in British America.Less

Britannia’s Rules: (1750–1914)

David Bosco

in The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World's Oceans

As Britain became the dominant naval power with increasingly global reach, its approach to the oceans underwent an important shift. London abandoned its claims to sovereignty over nearby waters and ... More

As Britain became the dominant naval power with increasingly global reach, its approach to the oceans underwent an important shift. London abandoned its claims to sovereignty over nearby waters and used its diplomatic and economic weight to push for a three-mile limit to territorial waters. At the same time, Britain shifted away from mercantilism and toward an embrace of free ocean commerce. As the anti-slavery movement gained influence in Britain, London used its maritime might to crack down on the slave trade and to stamp out piracy in several parts of the world. Britain was far from consistent in its defense of ocean freedom, however, and it often used its maritime muscle to interfere with shipping. By the end of the 19th century, however, interdictions at sea were becoming less common, and ocean commerce was booming. The first international attempts to study the health of fisheries and regulate shipping began.Less

‘In a National Light’: War and the Ethics of Imperial Politics

D.H. Robinson

in The Idea of Europe and the Origins of the American Revolution

This chapter shows how continentalism and colonial British nationalism created a distinctive language of political legitimation in the colonies during the mid-eighteenth century. This standard of ... More

This chapter shows how continentalism and colonial British nationalism created a distinctive language of political legitimation in the colonies during the mid-eighteenth century. This standard of behaviour was imposed on a wide range of wartime activities, from the voluntary and commercial practices of militia associations and privateers to fast and thanksgiving days. But it also assumed a critical role as a barometer against which to judge the conduct of colonial legislatures, and it was in this capacity that it underwrote a dramatic revolution in colonial politics during the crisis point of the Seven Years War. The same barometer was also applied to British statesmen and military men like William Pitt, the Earl of Bute, and Admiral John Byng. At the end of the conflict, the beginnings of the patriot movement would use its rhetoric to debate the virtues of the Treaty of Paris.Less

Trade in War and Peace

Jeremy Baskes

in Staying Afloat: Risk and Uncertainty in Spanish Atlantic World Trade, 1760-1820

Chapter 6 explores the effects of war on Spanish transatlantic commerce, focusing especially on the American Revolutionary War and the wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon. War had profound ... More

Chapter 6 explores the effects of war on Spanish transatlantic commerce, focusing especially on the American Revolutionary War and the wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon. War had profound impact on long-distance trade, leading merchants to alter their business strategies to deal with expanding risk and uncertainty. Hostilities disrupted commodity and information flows, expanded privateering, and raised the costs of shipping, all of which introduced greater riskiness into commerce. At the same time, war-induced shortages expanded the potential profitability of trade for those who were willing to endure the risk. This chapter also examines the government-sanctioned corsairs that attacked enemy vessels during wartime, looking especially at the economics behind privateering as well as merchants' efforts to evade such predations.Less

The Dutch Seaborne Empire: Qua Patet Orbis

Leonard Blussé

in The Oxford World History of Empire: Volume Two: The History of Empires

In the course of the seventeenth century Dutch merchants created a seaborne empire that provided them with the primacy in world trade. This chapter focuses on the defining traits of the Verenigde ... More

In the course of the seventeenth century Dutch merchants created a seaborne empire that provided them with the primacy in world trade. This chapter focuses on the defining traits of the Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC, or Dutch East India Company, 1602–1799) and the West Indische Compagnie (WIC, or Dutch West India Company, 1621–1674, 1674–1791), both limited liability joint stock companies with monopoly rights on the navigation to, respectively, Asia and the American continent. Both companies were founded as “companies of the ledger and the sword” in the middle of the Dutch Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648) with the Spanish crown, and collapsed in the final years of the ancien régime. The VOC developed with leaps and bounds into an island empire in Southeast Asia that after the demise of the VOC survived into the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, first as the Netherlands East Indies and today as the Republic of Indonesia. The WIC never succeeded to wrestle itself loose from close state intervention and, facing the challenges of independent merchants, had to give up its monopolies and simply survived as an umbrella organization for the plantations in Suriname and a couple of islands in the Caribbean. Compared to their neighbors in Europe, the relatively affluent Dutch never felt a strong urge to emigrate and as a result none of their overseas possessions, with exception of the Cape Colony, developed into a settler colony.Less

Conclusion

Joshua M. White

in Piracy and Law in the Ottoman Mediterranean

The conclusion recapitulates the book’s key arguments, fast-forwarding to the mid-eighteenth century to test the assertion that the Ottoman Mediterranean was a legal space, defined in large part by ... More

The conclusion recapitulates the book’s key arguments, fast-forwarding to the mid-eighteenth century to test the assertion that the Ottoman Mediterranean was a legal space, defined in large part by the challenge of piracy. Recounting an incident from the 1740s, in which Cretan seamen traveled to Tripoli to acquire licenses to attack Venice—with which Tripoli then considered itself at war—it reflects on the path by which Tripoli and the rest of North Africa came to be excluded from the Ottoman Mediterranean legal space, such that neither administrators in Istanbul nor sailors in Candia considered Tripoli truly “Ottoman.” It then reconsiders the connections between legal corsairing/privateering and illegal piracy, and the complex roles religion and subjecthood played in fixing the line between them.Less

The Cockpit of Europe

Luis Martínez-Fernández

in Key to the New World: A History of Early Colonial Cuba

This chapter focuses on the interconnectivity of war and peace in Europe with a variety of forms of European incursion in the Caribbean during the 1500s and 1600s. It traces the emergence and ... More

This chapter focuses on the interconnectivity of war and peace in Europe with a variety of forms of European incursion in the Caribbean during the 1500s and 1600s. It traces the emergence and evolution of piracy and privateering as well as European colonial expansion by settlers and buccaneers. It provides a systematic analysis of how belligerence in the Old World (such as the prolonged Wars of Religion) impacted Cuba and the rest of the region. It also explores Spain’s efforts to protect its colonies through fortifications, fleet systems of navigation, and increased military presence.Less

The Spectrum of Piracy

Kevin P. McDonald

in Pirates, Merchants, Settlers, and Slaves: Colonial America and the Indo-Atlantic World

The focus on the role of pirates in this trade network provides an important counterbalance to both scholarly and popular portrayals of pirates. The first chapter examines pirates and piracy in the ... More

The focus on the role of pirates in this trade network provides an important counterbalance to both scholarly and popular portrayals of pirates. The first chapter examines pirates and piracy in the longue durée, arguing that piracy is best understood along a fluid spectrum rather than as a static category. Individuals legally defined as a pirate might commit a single act of piracy or spend their entire lives pillaging on the high seas, with others falling somewhere in between. Piracy was merely one of many alternate maritime vocations undertaken by similarly situated groups in patterns that depended on local, regional, and global circumstances. The chapter also develops an analytical framework termed “the piracy/slave trade nexus.” This first chapter concludes with a case study of a pirate-slave ship, the Margaret, to demonstrate the significance of the pirate/slave trade nexus for the colonial New York economy. Examining the passengers, crew, cargo, correspondence, and other relevant documents of the Margaret unveils a fascinating social and cultural world of the Indo-Atlantic pirate trade network. This case study provides detailed evidence that pirates were not rogues and outcasts; they maintained familial and economic connections within the established and traditional colonial hierarchies.Less

Honour and anger: shipboard politics in 1627

Eleanor Hubbard

in Revolutionising Politics: Culture and Conflict in England, 1620-60

This chapter uses the uncontested ‘election’ of the sea captain Sir Francis Stewart in 1627 to explore what voting meant to early modern Englishmen when deferential assent was apparently the only ... More

This chapter uses the uncontested ‘election’ of the sea captain Sir Francis Stewart in 1627 to explore what voting meant to early modern Englishmen when deferential assent was apparently the only option. The election’s aftermath showed that the sailors tendered their deference in the expectation that the captain would care about them when their hopes for reciprocity were dashed, they came to suspect that their captain’s eminence had blinded him to their needs. Indeed, Stewart interpreted his men’s expressions of grievances as personal slights and reacted with explosive anger. Two economies of honour thus came into conflict: one expandable and circulatory, in which deference and care were markers of reciprocal esteem, the other zero-sum, in which the status of superiors was bolstered by the humiliation of their inferiors. Stewart was conversant with the first, but shifted into the second when it became clear that the voyage’s rewards would be meagre. For the sailors, the expandable, circulatory model was the only one that offered any satisfaction: when deference became self-abasement, they refused to play along. Taken as a whole, the troubled voyage shows how potent mixtures of material grievances and wounded honour could fuel fighting men’s incendiary challenges to authority.Less