EMIGRATION AS A THEORETICAL DOCTRINE DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

In: The journal of politics: JOP, Band 19, Heft 4, S. 591-615

Abstract

A central problem of Western pol'al theory has been the reconciliation of individual liberty with legitimate pol'al authority. Of major pol'al theorists, however, only Plato, Locke & Rousseau considered whether by emigration the disaffected citizen could revoke his consent. Yet if emigration has not figured notably in pol'al theory, it has in pol'al practice. A signif emigration was that of Loyalists during & after the American revolutionary war. In many instances Loyalists were driven to flee for their lives; the total number that emigrated is estimated at between 50,000 & 100,000. Emigration was consented to, but emigrants lost all property rights in the States from which they fled. IPSA.