Creating the British Atlantic: Essays on Transplantation, Adaptation, and Continuity (Early American Histories)

Set mostly within an expansive British imperial and transatlantic framework, this new selection of writings from the renowned historian Jack P. Greene draws on themes he has been developing throughout his distinguished career. In these essays Greene explores the efforts to impose Old World institutions, identities, and values upon the New World societies being created during the colonization process. He shows how transplanted Old World components—political, legal, and social—were adapted to meet the demands of new, economically viable, expansive cultural hearths. Greene argues that these transplantations and adaptations were of fundamental importance in the formation and evolution of the new American republic and the society it represented. The scope of this work allows Greene to consider in depth numerous subjects, including the dynamics of colonization, the development and character of provincial identities, the relationship between new settler societies in America and the emerging British Empire, and the role of cultural power in social and political formation. In These Essays Greene Explores The Efforts To Impose Old World Institutions, Identities, And Values Upon The New World Societies Being Created During The Colonization Process. He Shows How Transplanted Old World Components -- Political, Legal, And Social -- Were Adapted To Meet The Demands Of New, Economically Viable, Expansive Cultural Hearths. Green Argues That These Transplantations And Adaptations Were Of Fundamental Importance To The Formation And Evolution Of The New American Republic And The Society It Trpresented. -- Back Cover Of Paperback. Pt. 1. Perspectives : -- Hemispheric History And Atlantic History -- Reformulating Englishness : Cultural Adaptation And Provinciality In The Construction Of Corporate Identity In Colonial British America -- State Formation, Resistance, And The Creation Of Revolutionary Traditions In The Early Modern Era -- Colonial History And National History : Reflections On A Continuing Problem -- Pt. 2. Governance -- Transatlantic Colonization And The Redefinition Of Empire In The Early Modern Era : The British-american Experience -- Traditions Of Consensual Governance In The Construction Of State Authority In The Early Modern European Empires In America -- Britain's Overseas Empire Before 1780 : Overwhelmingly Successful And Bureaucratically Challenged -- Of Liberty And Of The Colonies : A Case Study Of Constitutional Conflict In The Mid-eighteenth-century British American Empire -- : The Perils Of Success -- An Empire Of Freemen? : The British Debate Over The Status Of Overseas Representative Assemblies, 1763-1783 -- Pt. 3. Identities -- Empire And Identity From The Elizabethan Era To The American Revolution -- By Their Laws Shall Ye Know Them : Law And Identity In Colonial British America -- Liberty, Slavery, And The Transformation Of British Identity In The Eighteenth-century West Indies -- Alterity And The Production Of Identity In The Early Modern British American Empire And The Early United States -- State Identities And National Identity In The Era Of The American Revolution -- Pt. 4. Social Construction -- Social And Cultural Capital In Colonization And State Building In The Early Modern Era : Colonial British America As A Case Study -- Pluribus Or Unum? : White Ethnicity In The Formation Of Colonial American Culture -- The Cultural Dimensions Of Political Transfers : An Aspect Of The European Occupation Of The Americas -- Early Modern Southeastern North America And The Broader Atlantic And American Worlds. Jack P. Greene. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. By the mid-eighteenth century, observers of the emerging overseas British Empire thought that Jamaica--in addition to being the largest British colony in the West Indies--was the most valuable of the American colonies. Based on a unique set of historical lists and maps, along with a variety of other contemporary materials, Jack Greene's study provides unparalleled detail about the character of Jamaica's settler society during the decade of the 1750s, as the first century of British settlement drew to a close. Greene's sources facilitate a close examination of many aspects of the island's development at a particularly critical point in its history. Analysis of the data generated from this material permits a fine-grained account of patterns of landholding, economic activity, land use, social organization, and wealth distribution among Jamaica's free population during a period of sustained demographic, economic, social, and cultural expansion. Calling attention to local variations, the study puts special emphasis on the complexity and vitality of Jamaica's settler population, the island's economic and social diversity, the ubiquity and adaptability of slavery, the character and size of settler households, the range of urban professions, the value of urban housing, and the gender and racial dimensions of wealth holding. Greene's detailed analyses amplify and enrich these subjects, offering the most refined portrait to date of Jamaican society at a crucial juncture in its formation and providing scholars a quantitative base for analyzing Jamaica's political economy in the second half of the eighteenth century.--Publisher website In these essays, the author explores the efforts to impose Old World institutions, identities, and values upon the New World societies being created during the colonization process. He shows how transplanted Old World components - political, legal, and social - were adapted to meet the demands of new, economically viable, expansive cultural hearths. The author argues that these transplantations and adaptations were of fundamental importance to the formation and evolution of the new American republic and the society it represented. -- Description from back cover of paperback "In these essays Greene explores the efforts to impose Old World institutions, identities, and values upon the New World societies being created during the colonization process. He shows how transplanted Old World components -- political, legal, and social -- were adapted to meet the demands of new, economically viable, expansive cultural hearths. Green argues that these transplantations and adaptations were of fundamental importance to the formation and evolution of the new American republic and the society it represented."--Page [4] de la couverture