Treason and Rebellion in the British Atlantic, 1685–1800

Abstract

This book examines internal political conflicts in the British Empire within the legal framework of treason and sedition. Following the exporting and adapting of treason laws in the colonies, this book considers how relationships with natives and European rivals affected the definitions of treason in practice. Offering a new study of treachery and loyalty through a transatlantic perspective, Treason and Rebellion in the British Atlantic is a valuable study of the legal and political history of Britain’s early empire. This study places these conflicts within a political and legal framework of the laws of treason and sedition as they developed in the British Atlantic. The treason laws originated in the reign of Edward III, and were adapted and modified in the 16th and 17th centuries. They were exported to the colonies, where they underwent both adaptation and elaboration in application in the slave societies as well as those dominated by free settlers. Relationships with natives and European rivals in the Americas affected the definitions of treason in practice, and the divided loyalties of the American revolutionary war added further problems of defining loyalty and treachery. Treason and Rebellion in the British Atlantic, 1685-1800 offers a new study of treason and sedition in the period by placing them in a truly transatlantic perspective, making it a valuable study for those interested in the legal and political of Britain’s empire and 18th-century revolutions.