Intellectual Origins of American Slavery
Book • 2025
The book examines English ideas on slavery in the early modern Atlantic world between 1550 and 1700.
It argues that English authors drew on ancient Roman law to justify the transformation of free persons into slaves.
The book explores how these ideas provided the foundations for the earliest defenses of American slavery.
It highlights the Roman tradition, which located the source of slavery in war.
Enslavement was the fate of captives who would have otherwise been executed.
This account was integrated into common law studies and natural rights theories by figures like Hugo Grotius and John Locke.
It argues that English authors drew on ancient Roman law to justify the transformation of free persons into slaves.
The book explores how these ideas provided the foundations for the earliest defenses of American slavery.
It highlights the Roman tradition, which located the source of slavery in war.
Enslavement was the fate of captives who would have otherwise been executed.
This account was integrated into common law studies and natural rights theories by figures like Hugo Grotius and John Locke.
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John Samuel Harpham
John Samuel Harpham, "Intellectual Origins of American Slavery: English Ideas in the Early Modern Atlantic World" (Harvard UP, 2025)
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John Samuel Harpham
John Samuel Harpham, "Intellectual Origins of American Slavery: English Ideas in the Early Modern Atlantic World" (Harvard UP, 2025)
