Hume on the American colonies: morals, economy, politics

Abstract

This paper aims at portraying the ways in which moral, political and economic elements are intertwined in David Hume's thoughts concerning British colonies in the Americas. He thought the colonial undertaking resulted not only from the technical and moral development that the author considers to be the result of the establishment of the commercial societies of his time, but also from the position that England sought to maintain in the European balance of power. We contend that, although the philosopher considered the British colonialist project to be inevitable, it had moral and economic limits which, at the time of Hume himself, led to undesirable results, both in terms of the treatment of the colonists and in aspects such as slavery. To this end, some of the Essays Moral, Political and Literary, passages from The History of England and some of Hume's letters will be used.