Students will generally learn to think critically and 
historically about the development of modern capitalism, in 
this case in the context of the eighteenth century.  By 
emphasizing themes of crisis, anxiety, novelty and instability 
in contemporary texts, the course opens up the sense of 
contingency and dynamism in this earlier stage of capitalism, 
highlighting its historical rather than “natural” development 
in a global context.

Readings will be challenging and diverse, among them Daniel 
Defoe’s "Robinson Crusoe," Bernard Mandeville’s "Fable of the 
Bees," Voltaire, Diderot, John Law, Turgot, Adam 
Smith’s "Wealth of Nations," the autobiography of Olaudah 
Equiano, Max Weber’s "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of 
Capitalism" and "The Black Jacobins" by C. L. R. James, 
together with recent historical work on the period.  Students 
will develop both close-reading and historicist approaches and 
will be strongly encouraged to pursue interests in Dutch, 
Spanish and Portuguese colonial history alongside our 
collective focus on Anglo-French.

The course is centered around a substantial semester-long 
research project broken down into a series of assignments, from 
initial topic statement and preliminary bibliography through a 
critical review essay to the final research paper.  Students 
develop broad knowledge of the period—tested in a mid-term exam—
as well as verbal, research, close-reading and writing skills 
through intensive classroom discussion and the larger research 
project itself.

1. Eighteenth-Century Capitalism
2. Piracy and Privateering
3. The Adventure: Daniel Defoe and Beyond
4. Slavery, the Slave Trade and Caribbean Plantation Society
5. Origins of Political Economy
6. Gambling
7. Money
8. Labor and Consumption
9. The Atlantic World
10. Financial Scandals, Schemes and Bubbles: South Sea to John 
Law
11. Mercantilism and Free Trade: Turgot and Smith
12. Colonial Contact between Peoples
13. Anti-Colonial Resistance
14. Haitian Slave Revolt
15. Exploration and Enlightenment

All academic work must meet the standards contained in “A 
Culture of Honesty.”  Each student is responsible to inform 
themselves about those standards before performing any academic 
work.