Freedom's debt : the Royal African Company and the politics of the Atlantic slave trade, 1672-1752 / William A. Pettigrew.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pettigrew, William A. (William Andrew), 1978-

Contributor:

Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Royal African Company.

Slave trade--Political aspects--Great Britain--History--17th century.

Slave trade.

Slave trade--Political aspects--Great Britain--History--18th century.

Royal African Company--History.

Slave trade--Africa--History.

Slavery--Law and legislation.

History.

Africa.

Slave trade--West Indies, British--History.

Slavery--Law and legislation--Great Britain--History.

Slavery.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

262 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill : Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, by the University of North Carolina Press, [2013]

Summary:

"In the years following the Glorious Revolution, independent slave traders challenged the charter of the Royal African Company by asserting their natural rights as Britons to trade freely in enslaved Africans. In this comprehensive history of the rise and fall of the RAC, William A. Pettigrew grounds the transatlantic slave trade in politics, not economic forces, analyzing the ideological arguments of the RAC and its opponents in Parliament and in public debate. Ultimately, Pettigrew powerfully reasons that freedom became the rallying cry for those who wished to participate in the slave trade and therefore bolstered the expansion of the largest intercontinental forced migration in history. Unlike previous histories of the RAC, Pettigrew's study pursues the Company's story beyond the trade's complete deregulation in 1712 to its demise in 1752. Opening the trade led to its escalation, which provided a reliable supply of enslaved Africans to the mainland American colonies, thus playing a critical part in entrenching African slavery as the colonies' preferred solution to the American problem of labor supply"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Prologue: "This African Monster"

Part One. Deregulation, 1672-1712

The Politics of Slave-Trade Escalation, 1672-1712

The Interests : "A Well-Governed Army of Veteran Troops" versus "an Undefinable Heteroclite Body" of "Pirates" and "Buccaneers"

The Ideas : Challenging "The Tales of...Mandevil"

The Strategies : "As Witches Do the Devil"

Part Two. Re-regulation, 1712-1752

The Outcomes : Tropical Burlesques

The Legacies : Free to Enslave

Epilogue: Confused Commemorations

Appendix 1: Data Supplements for Annual Slave-Trading Voyages, 1672-1752

Appendix 2: A Directory of Independent Slave Traders, 1672-1712

Appendix 3: A Directory of Lobbying Independent Traders, 1678-1713

Appendix 4: A Directory of Royal African Company Directors, 1672-1750

Appendix 5: Africa Trade Petitions to Parliament on the Royal African Company's Monopoly, 1690-1752.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781469611815

1469611813

OCLC:

838415692

Online:

Cover image