Download or read book Competing Visions of Empire written by Abigail L. Swingen and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title explores the connections between the origins of the English empire and unfree labour by exploring how England's imperial designs influenced contemporary politics and debates about labour, population, political economy, and overseas trade. It pays particular attention to how and why slavery and England's participation in the transatlantic slave trade came to be widely accepted as central to the national and imperial interest by contributing to the idea that colonies with slaves were essential for the functioning of the empire.