RT Book
T1 From empire to humanity: the American Revolution and the origins of humanitarianism
A1 Moniz, Amanda B.
LA English
PP New York
PB Oxford University Press
YR 2016
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/856259322
AB "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 "--
AB 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
NO Includes bibliographical references (pages 257-300) and index
CN E209
SN 9780190240356
K1 Humanitarianism : United States : History : 18th century
K1 Humanitarianism : Great Britain : History : 18th century
K1 Humanitarianism : West Indies, British : History : 18th century
K1 Social reformers : History : 18th century
K1 Political activists : History : 18th century
K1 Physicians : Political activity : History : 18th century
K1 Imperialism : Social aspects : History : 18th century
K1 Cosmopolitanism : History : 18th century
K1 United States : History : Revolution, 1775-1783 : Influence
K1 United States : History : Revolution, 1775-1783 : Social aspects
K1 Nordamerikanischer Unabhängigkeitskrieg : Humanitäre Hilfe : Ideengeschichte
K1 USA : Großbritannien : Humanitäre Hilfe : Wohltätigkeit : Geschichte 1700-1830