Security, taxation, and the imperial system in Jamaica, 1721-1782

Burnard, Trevor; Graham, Aaron

Abstract

White Jamaicans paid relatively high rates of taxation to support a powerful and assertive imperial state in schemes of settlement and security. They paid such taxes willingly because they were satisfied with what they got from the state. Furthermore, they believed they had a significant stake in the processes by which taxes were collected and spent. The power of the colonial state depended on the empire being a loose fraternal alliance. Nevertheless, what worked for imperial and colonial Jamaica did not necessarily work elsewhere. Jamaica provides a case study of how the imperial state worked satisfactorily for imperial rulers and those colonists whom they ruled when both the state and colonial settlers shared common beliefs and when negotiations made it clear that the interests of all parties coincided.

Citation

Burnard, T., & Graham, A. (2020). Security, taxation, and the imperial system in Jamaica, 1721-1782. Early American Studies, 18(4), 461-489. https://doi.org/10.1353/eam.2020.0012

• Journal Article Type: Review
• Acceptance Date: Sep 1, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Nov 6, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020
• Deposit Date: Sep 16, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 24, 2021
• Journal: Early American Studies
• Print ISSN: 1543-4273
• Electronic ISSN: 1559-0895
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (Penn Press)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 18
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 461-489
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/eam.2020.0012
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3778941