Andrew David Edwards | University of Oxford (original) (raw)
I'm a historian of global capitalism and early modern America.
At Oxford, I help run the workshop on Political Economy and Culture in Global History with Peter Hill and Juan Neves. Our readings can be found here: https://politicaleconomyculture.wordpress.com/
Address: Oxford, UK
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Papers by Andrew David Edwards
Journal of American History , 2017
The problem of money in the Stamp Act crisis comes down to basic definitions. What was money? Aft... more The problem of money in the Stamp Act crisis comes down to basic definitions. What was money? After the Seven Years War, Parliament sought to alter the monetary basis of British North America, in part, by levying taxes and fees in silver colonists insisted they did not have. The Stamp Act of 1765 made silver absolutely necessary. Without silver, the simplest legal instruments of law and commerce became unattainable. The result was absurd: the Stamp Act was a law that made the operation of law impossible. This paradox provides a new explanation for widespread American resistance to the Stamp Act and the origin of debates that led to revolution.
Law & Social Inquiry, 2017
This essay argues that Christine Desan's Making Money: Coin, Currency and the Coming of Capitalis... more This essay argues that Christine Desan's Making Money: Coin, Currency and the Coming of Capitalism intervenes decisively in debates over the origin of money, while making a fundamental contribution to the legal history of money, the philosophy of money, and the history of capitalism. Desan shows money to be a mode of governance, created by rulers to extend their power, and maintained and managed by their successors. She argues that British politicians reinvented money at the end of the seventeenth century, creating the essential institutional basis for contemporary capitalism. The essay builds on Desan's analysis, showing how the tools she develops to understand the origins and development of British money can help us explain the expansion of capitalism, and the transition to capitalism associated with the American Revolution.
This article argues that the commodity “nature” ascribed to early modern money should be understo... more This article argues that the commodity “nature” ascribed to early modern money should be understood as an ideological effect of Chinese domination of the early modern global monetary system. In the three centuries before 1800, Chinese demand for silver anchored a global system that made silver valued by weight and fineness the apparently natural money of the world, just as it in late Ming and Qing China. We argue that this naturalization should be understood as resulting from Chinese power, and that the early modern era is perhaps best understood as an era of Chinese global hegemony. We follow the effects of this Chinese monetary hegemony through three different fields. First, we trace it through early modern English financiers and philosophers’ formulation of the ideal qualities of a universal money, deliberately based on the Chinese model. Second, we show the importance of Chinese demand for silver for evoking and determining the character of the British Empire in India. And finally, we show how officials naturalized silver as money in early modern Ottoman statecraft
Journal of American History , 2017
The problem of money in the Stamp Act crisis comes down to basic definitions. What was money? Aft... more The problem of money in the Stamp Act crisis comes down to basic definitions. What was money? After the Seven Years War, Parliament sought to alter the monetary basis of British North America, in part, by levying taxes and fees in silver colonists insisted they did not have. The Stamp Act of 1765 made silver absolutely necessary. Without silver, the simplest legal instruments of law and commerce became unattainable. The result was absurd: the Stamp Act was a law that made the operation of law impossible. This paradox provides a new explanation for widespread American resistance to the Stamp Act and the origin of debates that led to revolution.
Law & Social Inquiry, 2017
This essay argues that Christine Desan's Making Money: Coin, Currency and the Coming of Capitalis... more This essay argues that Christine Desan's Making Money: Coin, Currency and the Coming of Capitalism intervenes decisively in debates over the origin of money, while making a fundamental contribution to the legal history of money, the philosophy of money, and the history of capitalism. Desan shows money to be a mode of governance, created by rulers to extend their power, and maintained and managed by their successors. She argues that British politicians reinvented money at the end of the seventeenth century, creating the essential institutional basis for contemporary capitalism. The essay builds on Desan's analysis, showing how the tools she develops to understand the origins and development of British money can help us explain the expansion of capitalism, and the transition to capitalism associated with the American Revolution.
This article argues that the commodity “nature” ascribed to early modern money should be understo... more This article argues that the commodity “nature” ascribed to early modern money should be understood as an ideological effect of Chinese domination of the early modern global monetary system. In the three centuries before 1800, Chinese demand for silver anchored a global system that made silver valued by weight and fineness the apparently natural money of the world, just as it in late Ming and Qing China. We argue that this naturalization should be understood as resulting from Chinese power, and that the early modern era is perhaps best understood as an era of Chinese global hegemony. We follow the effects of this Chinese monetary hegemony through three different fields. First, we trace it through early modern English financiers and philosophers’ formulation of the ideal qualities of a universal money, deliberately based on the Chinese model. Second, we show the importance of Chinese demand for silver for evoking and determining the character of the British Empire in India. And finally, we show how officials naturalized silver as money in early modern Ottoman statecraft