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SUMMARY:American States of Nature: The Origins of Independence - Dr Mark S
 omos (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International La
 w)
DTSTART:20190425T161500Z
DTEND:20190425T173000Z
UID:TALK122806@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:44502
DESCRIPTION:In this seminar\, Mark Somos (Humboldt Foundation Fellow\, Max
  Planck\nInstitute for Comparative Public Law and International Law) will 
 sketch\nthe key arguments of his recently-released monograph [https://glob
 al.oup.com/academic/product/american-states-of-nature-9780190462857?cc=au&
 lang=en&]\, with questions and comments from Duncan Kelly (Professor of Po
 litical Thought and Intellectual History\, Cambridge)\, and then an open Q
 &A and discussion. Brief excerpts of the monograph will be circulated in a
 dvance to seminar participants to enable their engagement.\n\nSomos’ wor
 k traces the thousands of references to a ‘state of nature’ in\njuridi
 cal\, theological\, medical\, political\, economic\, and other texts in\nt
 he British American colonies between 1630 and 1810. ‘State of nature’\
 ncould refer to humans’ pre-political condition\; interstate relations\;
 \nnudity\; hell\; or innocence. However\, Somos argues that\, by the 1760s
 \, a\ncoherent and distinctively American state of nature discourse starte
 d to\nemerge\, combining existing meanings and sidelining others in moment
 s of intense contestation such as the Stamp Act crisis (1765–66) and the
 \nFirst Continental Congress (1774). This American state of nature\, in\nw
 hich the colonists’ natural rights became collective rights\, came to\nj
 ustify independence as much as well-known formulations of liberty\,\nprope
 rty\, and individual rights did.\n\nSomos suggests that the founding gener
 ation self-consciously transformed the flexible ‘state of nature’ conc
 ept into a powerful theme that shaped the Revolution and early constitutio
 nal design\; as well as the Latin American and European revolutions\, and 
 reforms that looked to the US\, until the mid-nineteenth century. From mar
 itime disputes to gay\nmarriage\, a distinct American state of nature disc
 ourse continues to\nframe US constitutional and international law to this 
 day.\n\n*Please contact md718@cam.ac.uk if you are not already on the semi
 nar\nmailing list\, and would like copies of the material circulated.*\n\n
 All are welcome\, and do please forward on to colleagues who might be\nint
 erested.
LOCATION:Lauterpacht Centre for International Law\, 5 Cranmer Rd
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