The English Atlantic in an Age of Revolution, 1640–1661

Carla Gardina Pestana

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9780674024120
  9780674015029
• eBook ISBN:
  9780674042070
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: British History
• Index: History

Between 1640 and 1660, England, Scotland, and Ireland faced civil war, invasion, religious radicalism, parliamentary rule, and the restoration of the monarchy. Carla Gardina Pestana offers a sweeping history that systematically connects these cataclysmic events and the development of the infant plantations from Newfoundland to Surinam.

By 1660, the English Atlantic emerged as religiously polarized, economically interconnected, socially exploitative, and ideologically anxious about its liberties. War increased both the proportion of unfree laborers and ethnic diversity in the settlements. Neglected by London, the colonies quickly developed trade networks, especially from seafaring New England, and entered the slave trade. Barbadian planters in particular moved decisively toward slavery as their premier labor system, leading the way toward its adoption elsewhere. When by the 1650s the governing authorities tried to impose their vision of an integrated empire, the colonists claimed the rights of "freeborn English men," making a bid for liberties that had enormous implications for the rise in both involuntary servitude and slavery. Changes at home politicized religion in the Atlantic world and introduced witchcraft prosecutions.

Pestana presents a compelling case for rethinking our assumptions about empire and colonialism and offers an invaluable look at the creation of the English Atlantic world.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Notes on Dating and Editorial Method
• Map: The English Atlantic, 1640–1661
• Introduction: Revolution and theEnglish Atlantic
• Prologue: The English Atlantic in 1640
• 1 The Challenge of Civil War
• 2 Puritan Ascendancy and Religious Polarization
• 3 Regicide and Royalist Rebellions
• 4 Religious Politics of a “Puritan Revolution”
• 5 Free Trade and Freeborn English Men
• 6 Lost Liberty and Laboring People in the Atlantic World
• Epilogue: The English Atlantic and the Limits of Restoration
• Appendix 1. Population Figures, 1640
• Appendix 2. London Pamphlets about New England,1641–1649
• Notes
• Index