| Description |
x, 216 pages ; 24 cm |
|
regular print |
| Series |
Ideas in context ; 67 |
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Ideas in context ; 67
|
| Contents |
1. Introduction -- 2. The moral philosophy of Tudor colonisation -- Tudor moral philosophy: the vita activa and corruption -- Alexander Barclay's scepticism -- John Rastell's apology -- Richard Eden's projections -- Thomas Smith and Ireland -- Humphrey Gilbert's projects -- The moral philosophy of Gilbert's projects -- Walter Ralegh's projects -- The moral philosophy of Ralegh's projects -- 3. The moral philosophy of Jacobean colonisation -- The Virginia Company -- The participants -- The vita activa and corruption -- Moral philosophy after tobacco -- Newfoundland and Nova Scotia -- New England -- 4. Rhetoric - ǹot the Words, but the Acts' -- The foundation of commonwealths -- Linguistic possession -- Plain style and 'Asiatic' corruption -- 5. Law and history -- Religious justifications -- Natural law: res nullius, trade and friendship -- Conquest and just war -- Legal humanism -- Nostalgia for native virtues -- The denial of dispossession |
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6. The Machiavellian argument for colonial possession -- William Shakespeare, The Tempest -- John Smith -- 7. Conclusion |
| Summary |
Humanism and America is the first major study of the impact of the Renaissance and renaissance humanism upon the English colonisation of America. The analysis is conducted through an interdisciplinary examination of a broad spectrum of writings on colonisation, ranging from the works of Thomas More to those of the Virginia Company. Andrew Fitzmaurice shows that English expansion was profoundly neo-classical in inspiration, and he excavates the distinctively humanist tradition that informed some central issues of colonisation: the motivations of wealth and profit, honour and glory; the nature of and possibilities for liberty; and the problems of just title, including the dispossession of native Americans. Dr Fitzmaurice presents a colonial tradition which, counter to received wisdom, is often hostile to profit, nervous of dispossession and desirous of liberty. Only in the final chapters does he chart the rise of an aggressive, acquisitive and possessive colonial ideology |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Subject |
Renaissance -- England.
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Humanism -- England.
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| SUBJECT |
United Kingdom -- Colonies -- America http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85056660 -- History -- 16th century.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2002006122
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United Kingdom -- Colonies -- America -- History -- 17th century.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2007100296
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England -- Intellectual life -- 16th century.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85043301
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England -- Intellectual life -- 17th century.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85043302
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| LC no. |
2002031401 |
| ISBN |
0521822254 : |
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