Oracles of Empire : Poetry, Politics, and Commerce in British America, 1690-1750

This innovative look at previously neglected poetry in British America represents a major contribution to our understanding of early American culture. Spanning the period from the Glorious Revolution (1690) to the end of King George's War (1750), this study critically reconstitutes the literature of empire in the thirteen colonies, Canada, and the West Indies by investigating over 300 texts in mixed print and manuscript sources, including poems in pamphlets and newspapers. British America's poetry of empire was dominated by three issues: mercantilism's promise that civilization and wealth would be transmitted from London to the provinces; the debate over the extent of metropolitan prerogatives in law and commerce when they obtruded upon provincial rights and interests; and the argument that Britain's imperium pelagi was an ethical empire, because it depended upon the morality of trade, while the empires of Spain and France were immoral empires because they were grounded upon conquest. In discussing these issues, Shields provides a virtual anthology of poems long lost to students of American literature. This innovative look at previously neglected poetry in British America represents a major contribution to our understanding of early American culture. Spanning the period from the Glorious Revolution (1690) to the end of King George's War (1750), this study critically reconstitutes the literature of empire in the thirteen colonies, Canada, and the West Indies by investigating over 300 texts in mixed print and manuscript sources, including poems in pamphlets and newspapers. ... British America's poetry of empire was dominated by three issues: mercantilism's promise that civilization and wealth would be transmitted from London to the provinces; the debate over the extent of metropolitan prerogatives in law and commerce when they obtruded upon provincial rights and interests; and the argument that Britain's imperium pelagi was an ethical empire, because it depended upon the morality of trade, while the empires of Spain and France were immoral empires because they were grounded upon conquest. In discussing these issues, Shields provides a virtual anthology of poems long lost to students of American literature.-- Dust jacket Frontmatter (page N/A) Acknowledgments (page xi) Introduction: The Issue of Empire in the Literary Self-Understanding of British Americans (page 1) 1. The British Empire and the Poetry of Commerce (page 11) 1. The Literary Topology of Mercantilism (page 13) 2. The Tide of Empire (page 21) 3. The Material Redeemers (page 36) 4. Staples (page 56) 2. The Paper Wars Over the Prerogative (page 93) 5. The Problem of Prerogative (page 95) 6. The Paper Wars in Massachusetts (page 103) 7. The Spread of Boston Principles (page 138) 3. The Rhetoric of Imperial Animosity (page 173) 8. Empire of Evil (page 175) 9. Gallic Perfidy (page 195) 10. The Tenuousness of Imperial Identity (page 221) Notes (page 229) Bibliography of Primary Spources (page 259) Index (page 283)