"Absolute Power and Authority"

John Locke and the Revisions of The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina

Authors

  • James Farr Northwestern

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5206/ls.2020.10310

Keywords:

Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, slavery, John Locke, proprietary absolutism

Abstract

This essay offers a detailed textual study of the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina in light of its history of extensive revisions. In due course, it considers Locke’s considerable secretarial presence and, more guardedly, his authorial presence in these revisions. The Fundamental Constitutions imagined an aristocratic republic in a colonial setting; and its fundamental ideology was one of proprietary absolutism. Its ever-changing articles on absolute power, slavery, and religion are of greatest interest. Important in themselves, they also invite inquiry into their points of contact with Locke’s political theory.  

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Published

2020-10-29

How to Cite

Farr, James. 2020. “‘Absolute Power and Authority’: John Locke and the Revisions of The Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina”. Locke Studies 20 (October):1-49. https://doi.org/10.5206/ls.2020.10310.

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Articles