Subjects and Sovereign

Bonds of Belonging in the Eighteenth-Century British Empire

Bibliographic Data

ID19980636
AuthorsHannah Weiss Muller (0000-0001-6068-9135, corresponding author)
Year2017
Pages344
Publication date2017-07-20
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueSubjects and Sovereign (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190465810.001.0001
OpenAlexW4256720120
ISBN9780190465810
Open LibraryOL28635459M
LanguageEN
Citations received11

In the aftermath of the Seven Years’ War, when a variety of conquered and ceded territories became part of an expanding British Empire, crucial struggles emerged about what it meant to be a “British subject.” In Grenada, Quebec, Minorca, Gibraltar, and Bengal, individuals debated the meanings and rights of subjecthood, with many capitalizing on legal ambiguities and local exigencies to secure access to political and economic benefits. In the hands of inhabitants and colonial administrators, subjecthood became a shared language, practice, and opportunity as individuals proclaimed their allegiance to the crown and laid claim to a corresponding set of protections. Approaching subjecthood as a protean and porous concept, rather than an immutable legal status, Subjects and Sovereigns demonstrates that it was precisely subjecthood’s fluidity and imprecision rendered it useful to a remarkably diverse group of individuals. This book revisits the traditional bond between subject and sovereign, arguing that this relationship endured as a powerful site for claims-making throughout the eighteenth century. Muller analyzes both legal understandings of subjecthood, as well as the popular tradition of declaring rights, to demonstrate why subjects believed they were entitled to make requests of their sovereign. She reconsiders narratives of upheaval and transformation during the Age of Revolution and insists on the relevance and utility of existing structures of state and sovereign. Emphasizing the stories of subjects who successfully leveraged their loyalty and negotiated their status, Subjects and Sovereign also explores how and why subjecthood remained an organizing and contested principle of the eighteenth-century British Empire

Allegiance · Constitution · Empire · Genealogy · Political science · Politics · Sovereignty · State (computer science) · Subject (documents) · Australian History and Society · History · Law · 18th century · Bibliography · Citizenship · Colonies · Great britain · Kolonie · LAW · law and legislation · Law, bibliography · Monarchy · politics and government · Politische Identität · Untertan

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