Research Catalog

From empire to humanity : the American Revolution and the origins of humanitarianism

Title
From empire to humanity : the American Revolution and the origins of humanitarianism / Amanda B. Moniz.
Author
Moniz, Amanda B.
Publication
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2016]

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TextUse in library JFE 16-8940Schwarzman Building - Milstein Division Room 121

Details

Description
xi, 314 pages; 25 cm
Summary
"From Empire to Humanity tells the story of a generation of American and British activists who transformed humanitarianism as they adjusted to becoming foreigners to each other in the wake of the American Revolution. In the decades before the Revolution, Americans and Britons shared an imperial approach to charitable activity. They worked together in benevolent ventures designed to strengthen the British empire, and ordinary men and women donated to help faraway members of the British community. Raised and educated in this world of connections, future activists from the British Isles, North America, and the West Indies developed expansive outlooks and transatlantic ties. For budding doctors--including Philadelphia's Benjamin Rush, Caribbean-born Londoner John Coakley Lettsom, and John Crawford, whose life took him from Ireland to India, Barbados, South America, and, finally, Baltimore--this was especially true. American independence put an end to their common imperial humanitarianism, but not their friendships, their far-reaching visions, or their belief in philanthropy as a tool of statecraft. In the postwar years, with doctor-activists at the forefront, Americans and Britons collaborated in the anti-drowning cause and other medical philanthropy, antislavery movements, prison reform, and more. No longer members of the same polity, the erstwhile compatriots adopted a universal approach to their beneficence as they reimagined their bonds with people who were now foreigners. Universal benevolence could also be a source of tension. With the new wars at the end of the century, activists' optimistic cosmopolitanism waned, even as their practices endured. Making the care of suffering strangers routine, they laid the groundwork for later generations' global undertakings "--
Subjects
Genre/Form
History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
Chapter One: Protestantism, Empire, and Transatlantic Philanthropy, 1700-1760s -- Chapter Two: Coming of Age in the Atlantic Community, 1740s-1770s -- Chapter Three: The Unnatural War -- Chapter Four: The Empire of Humanity -- Chapter Five: Circumnavigations of Charity -- Chapter Six: The Common Cause of Humanity -- Chapter Seven: Ambivalent Cosmopolites -- Epilogue.
Call Number
JFE 16-8940
ISBN
  • 9780190240356
  • 0190240350
LCCN
2015045811
OCLC
943678081
Author
Moniz, Amanda B., author.
Title
From empire to humanity : the American Revolution and the origins of humanitarianism / Amanda B. Moniz.
Publisher
New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2016]
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Chronological Term
1700-1799
Other Form:
Online version: Moniz, Amanda B. From empire to humanity New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2016 9780190240363 (DLC) 2016016061
Research Call Number
JFE 16-8940
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