THE ACQUISITIVE IMPULSE: PLANTATION SOCIETY, FACTIONS, AND THE ORIGINS OF THE BARBADIAN CIVIL WAR (1627-1652).

摘要

In April 1650 Barbadian sugar producers stood poised to fight one against another. The traditional interpretation paints this conflict as a simple extension of the English Revolution. Monarchists, it is maintained, after the defeat of King and cause, fled England for Barbados. By 1650 their numbers had so greatly increased that they were able to forcibly take over the Barbadian government, declare themselves for Charles II, and banish a number of old planters loyal to Parliament.;The purpose of the dissertation is to present an interpretation of the Barbadian Civil War which is rooted in the reality of plantation society. Chapters one through three of the thesis covers the socio-economic background of the conflict. Chapter one begins with an examination of the "acquisitive impulse" not only as the historical force responsible for the formation of plantation society, but also as the driving ethos of this social system. Chapter two describes how the acquisitive impulse interacted with the material conditions present in Barbados to bring about the productive relationships that are commonly associated with the Barbadian plantation system. Chapter three discusses the internal workings of the plantation system, and how they gave rise to a set of social circumstances which ensured that Barbados remained a dependent colony of England. Chapters four through five examine the political difficulties that beset Barbados before 1650. Chapter four investigates how the acquisitive impulse interacted with the fragile political structure of Barbados to produce factions which occasioned a considerable amount of turmoil during the proprietorship of the Earls of Carlisle (1627-1643). Chapter five describes how the outbreak of the Civil War in England disrupted the colonial relationship, giving Barbadians a precarious independence. Chapter six is concerned with the Civil War. It describes how the triumph of Parliament in 1650 caused planters to divide against each other. It also shows how the social roots of the colonial relationship obliged planters to submit to Parliament, even though many longed for home rule. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).;The central difficulty with this approach to the Barbadian Civil War is that it takes no notice of plantation society. No mention, for instance, is made of the island's slave population which comprised over half of the colony's inhabitants by 1650. Despite the fact that slaves did not actively participate in the conflict, their very presence determined the course of the upheaval.