Sovereignty

In this chapter, I outline a special type of sovereign entitlement that is claimed by a specific class of settlers: those who have come to stay, those who will not return “home”. 1 It is an animus manendi that distinguishes the settler from the other colonists — as the very word “settler” implies, it is the intention to stay (as opposed to the sojourners’ intention to return) that contributes the crucial differentiating trait. Thomas Jefferson, for example, supported “extending the right of suffrage (or in other words the rights of a citizen) to all who had a permanent intention of living in the country ”. “Take what circumstances you please as evidence of this”, he added: “either having resided a certain time, or having a family, or having property, any or all of them.” 2 Animus manendi is thus manifested by residency, suitable reproduction, and possession. 3

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