Oracles of Empire: Poetry, Politics, and Commerce in British America, 1690-1750This 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. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 11 | |
Part Two The Paper Wars Over the Prerogative | 93 |
Part Three The Rhetoric of Imperial Animosity | 173 |
Notes | 229 |
Bibliography of Primary Sources | 259 |
Index | 283 |
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Oracles of Empire: Poetry, Politics, and Commerce in British America, 1690-1750 David S. Shields No preview available - 1990 |
Common terms and phrases
Androboros assembly authority ballad became Belcher Benjamin Black Legend Book Boston Britain British America Burnet Byles Church colonies commerce conquest Cosby Cotton Mather Country Court culture Dudley Early American economic empire England English Evans fable French Gazette George Georgia Glorious Revolution governor Grainger History Hunter imperial Island J. A. Leo Lemay James James Oglethorpe John Joseph Joseph Dudley King Kirkpatrick land Letter Lewis Morris liberty Library literary literature London manuscript Maryland Massachusetts Historical Society Mather mercantilism merchants moral muse myth narrative native New-York Ogilvie Oglethorpe Old Charter Papers patriot peace Penn Penn's Pennsylvania Philadelphia planters poem poetic poetry poets political popular prerogative Province Ralph's rhetoric Richard Robert Robert Hunter royal Saffin salary Samuel satire slave slavery Smith song South Carolina Spanish Thomas tion tobacco Tory trade translatio studii University Press verse War of Jenkins wealth West Indies Whig William World York Weekly Journal
Popular passages
Page 53 - Altama murmurs to their woe. Far different there from all that charm'd before, The various terrors of that horrid shore; Those blazing suns that dart a downward ray, And fiercely shed intolerable day; Those matted woods where birds forget to sing.
Page 49 - Lo! swarming southward on rejoicing suns, Gay Colonies extend ; the calm retreat Of undeserved distress, the better home Of those whom bigots chase from foreign lands. Not built on Rapine, Servitude, and Woe, And in their turn some petty tyrant's prey ; But, bound by social Freedom, firm they rise ; Such as, of late, an Oglethorpe has form'd, And, crowding round, the charm'd Savannah sees.
Page 85 - The experience of all ages and nations, I believe, demonstrates that the work done by slaves, though it appears to cost only their maintenance, is in the end the dearest of any. A person who can acquire no property, can have no other interest but to eat as much, and to labour as little as possible.
Page 56 - Some of that bewitching Vegetable, Tobacco. And this being the first that ever came to England, Sir Walter thought he could do no less than make a present of Some of the brightest of it to His Roial Mistress, for her own Smoaking.
Page 148 - Rome, we see a mutiny among the common people appeased by a fable of the belly and the limbs, which was indeed very proper to gain the attention of an incensed rabble, at a time when perhaps they would have torn to pieces any man who had preached the same, doctrine to them in an open and direct manner.
Page 64 - Gives cheering cordials to the' afflicted heart; Gives to the wealthy, delicacies high; Gives to the curious, works of Nature rare; And when the priest displays, in just discourse, Him, the...
Page 27 - Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense,/ Lie in three words—Health, Peace, and Competence
Page 43 - Oh, Peace ! thou source and soul of social life ; Beneath whose calm inspiring influence, Science his views enlarges, Art refines, And swelling Commerce opens all her ports...
Page 235 - Reasons for establishing the colony of Georgia, with regard to the trade of Great Britain, the increase of our people, and the employment and support it will afford to great numbers of our own poor, as well as foreign persecuted Protestants.