Order and the Atlantic world: A study in the British war against the pirates, 1695--1725

This thesis examines the legal and political environment that allowed piracy to expand during the period that many historians now refer to as the "Golden Age of Piracy" (1695-1725). Towards the end of the sixteenth century, metropolitan officials in London began to take a concerted interest in regulating trade and bringing the traditional system of reprisals under control. What they found, however, was a great deal of resistance to these new policies in the North American colonies. The level of uniformity of this resistance varied from port to port. London's legislative initiatives were rooted in what had essentially become a lawless situation both on the American main, as well as the Caribbean. While the trend in the sub-field of pirate history has been to focus on the periods before and after the First War of Spanish Succession, this thesis examines the correspondences of colonial and metropolitan administrators precisely during this period. These reveal a dissonance in how piracy and privateering were discussed during the conflict that is critical to understanding the violent outbreaks of the Golden Age. As is shown, metropolitan efforts to rationalize trade within a mercantilist economic framework were often seen as hindrances to colonial affairs. Furthermore, the lack of adequate defenses for the colonies often encouraged Governors to seek out their colonies' security through private means. Pirates and privateers were intimately tied to this rift between London's ideological expectations and the colonies' practical necessities. While romanticized to posterity, the widespread outbreak of piratical violence during the Golden Age was, in fact, endemic to a British Atlantic world that was in a state of often bloody and violent flux