Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Engle, Stephen D.

Abstract

In 1628, the English Parliament demanded that King Charles I sign the Petition of Right, causing the English Civil War. This war led to laws that legitimized slavery and the impressment of Anglo sailors and left behind an insurrectionary ideology that American colonists adapted during the American Revolutionary War. After the war, this ideology inspired the Constitution and later inspired slave revolts, and sailor mutinies for civil liberties won during the Revolution. As the capitalist economy grew and ensnared the new nation, this ideology entered reformer communities. American law relied on lawyers, jurists, and politicians to balance liberty, property, and a racial divide. White sailors did not face racialized slavery but experienced exploitation through American law. This relationship's intersection of economy and identity helps explain why sailors' rights helped reform American law and emancipate the slave.

Extent

102 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Thesis (MA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2022.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00014056

Format

pdf

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