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  2. HIST 1904

Empire of Liberty? Britain and the World, 1780 – 1840
HIST 1904

Course Information

Description

After the losses of 1783, could Britain resolve what one historian has called the “marvelous paradox” of empire and liberty?
Historical actors of all kinds wrestled with this question as the eighteenth century gave way to the Victorian era. In this seminar we focus on controversies over imperial rule that played out in India, the West Indies, Australia, South Africa and in Britain itself. What impact did wars and revolutions in the Atlantic world have on conquest, settlement and cultures of violence in the Indo-Pacific? How did patterns of enforced labor migration – whether convict transportation, indenture or enslavement – intermesh? What rights and freedoms could be claimed by both settlers and newly conquered peoples, and how would British subjecthood be defined? Was freedom in empire a contradiction in terms or could a new and improved British world system be forged?
These problems inspired a series of official inquiries designed to bind empire together and chart its reform. The result preserves a vast archive of imperial voices from missionary activists and colonial Governors to convicts, Indigenous peoples and the enslaved. In this seminar you will write an independent primary-source based research paper drawing from these extensive published sources. For those interested in digging deeper into manuscript sources, a large collection of digitized material from Britain’s National Archives at Kew will also be made available.

Course Notes

This course can be used to meet either the "Beyond North America" History Concentration requirement or a seminar requirement.

School Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Credits 4
Cross Reg

Available for Harvard Cross Registration

Department History
Course Component Conference Course
Subject History
Grading Basis FAS Letter Graded
General Education N/A
Quantitative Reasoning with Data N/A
Divisional Distribution N/A
Course Level For Undergraduate and Graduate Students