American States of Nature - The Origins of Independence, 1761-1775

List of contents

• 1. Introduction


• 1.1. The background and varieties of state of nature theorizing


• 1.2. The distinctive American state of nature discourse


• 1.3. Method, scope, and outline


• 2. The state of nature: sources and traditions


• 2.1. The uncivilized state of nature


• 2.2. Advertising America


• 2.3. Nathaniel Ames' Almanac (1763)


• 2.4. The state of nature in pre-revolutionary colonial education


• 3. Rights and constitutions: from Paxton's case to the Stamp Act


• 3.1. John Adams, James Otis and Paxton's Case (1761)


• 3.2. Abraham Williams, Election Sermon (1762)


• 3.3. Otis, Rights and Considerations (1764-65)


• 3.4. Thomas Pownall


• 4. The Stamp Act and the state of nature


• 4.1. Warren's Case (1765-67)


• 4.2. Enter Blackstone


• 4.3. Boston against the Stamp Act


• 4.4. The road to repeal


• 4.5. Richard Bland, Inquiry (1766)


• 5. Creating, contesting and consolidating an American state of nature


• 5.1. The constitutive state of nature


• 5.2. English Liberties (1680-1774) and British Liberties (1766-67)


• 5.3. Ancient constitutionalism


• 5.4. The freedoms of conscience, speech, religion, and the press


• 5.5. Loyalist vs patriot states of nature (1769-72)


• 6. The turn to self-defense


• 6.1. Colonial independence


• 6.2. The Boston Pamphlet


• 6.3. Christian resistance


• 6.4. The Boston Tea Party and the political economy of the state of nature


• 6.5. Rival epistemologies


• 7. The First Continental Congress: the consolidation of an American constitutional trope


• 7.1. Galloway's Plan and the state of nature


• 7.2. Loyalist vs Patriot states of nature (1773-76)


• 8. On slavery and race


• 8.1. Chattel slavery


• 8.2. Native Americans


• 9. Conclusion


• Appendix I.


• Appendix II.


• Bibliography

About the author

Mark Somos is Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellow and Senior Research Affiliate at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, and co-editor-in-chief of Grotiana. He is the author of Secularisation and the Leiden Circle, co-editor (with László Kontler) of Trust and Happiness in the History of European Political Thought, and co-author (with Dániel Margócsy and Stephen Joffe) of The Fabrica of Andreas Vesalius: A Worldwide Descriptive Census, Ownership, and Annotations of the 1543 and 1555 Editions.

Product details

• Authors: Mark Somos, Mark (Senior Visiting Research Fellow Somos, Somos Mark
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.05.2019
• EAN: 9780190462857
• ISBN: 978-0-19-046285-7
• No. of pages: 424
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; USA, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, LAW / Legal History, military history, HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877), HISTORY / Military / United States, c 1800 to c 1900, Political science & theory, Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions, Legal History, United States of America, USA, Political science and theory, Battles & campaigns, Specific wars and campaigns, c 1860 to c 1869, Civil wars, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / General, HISTORY / Revolutions, Uprisings & Rebellions