During American History, we see that people get their success from domination in society. Domination can occur in many ways and by using many methods, but only to meet one goal. That is to make money(or a profit). People who are in the lower class generally identify as poor people. But, in order to show dominance, they classified themselves as the free market. James Fulcher expressed the dominance that evolved from capitalism in the 17th century, taking advantage of the nation. Capitalism is investing in money to eventually make more profit, sometimes in risky ways. For example, in the 17th century, these merchants invested in some type of money or product and traveled long distances by ship to sell them in the market for more money. Some of these expeditions were successful and others were not as successful or were total failures. For example, the English East India Company had many voyages to sell their profit. On a couple of these voyages, the shareholders made a profit of 95% on their investment. However, on another voyage, the ship ran aground due to the “proud and headstrong master”(Page 1) ignoring local warnings about shoaling waters. The crew was ambushed(or surprised) and the captain was killed. The investors’ entire capital was lost. So at times, capitalism is beneficial for making a profit but is risky when traveling long distances overseas.
The reading adds to my knowledge about the history of capitalism in the sense that capitalism is beneficial to those who successfully make a profit by receiving their investment. But, if you didn’t invest money or if your investment money got lost, it would be really hurtful. Not only you would be hurt, but the economy will also be hurt. According to page 6, between 1810 and 1830, there were organized strikes, which were eventually shut down by the employers, and the strikers were arrested with the help of the state. The strikers were the craft and labor workers who were upset by the wage rate being so down. The wages for these workers went to the employers who were the shareholders of capitals. This is a huge problem since the nation develops from the work that laborers do. Based on the evidence, capitalism is really unfair and hurtful to those who don’t have any investments to start from and can’t build up any profit.
This is where capitalism peaks because of its strange, but successful methodology. When one person has even a little share of an investment, it can grow into more money for individuals, but little to nothing for the economy. In summary, Fulcher expressed that capitalism is the investment of money to create a profit or more money.
A very thoughtful post. You start out by emphasizing the role of “dominance,” but then (if I’m reading you correctly) seem to suggest that that dominance is masked by claims about the “free market.” Assuming for the moment that is true—and with the added knowledge that ideas about the “free market” did not emerge until the 18th century, after the period we’ve been discussing in class—how has that dominance changed or taken different forms over time? Are we more free in the 21st century than, say, colonized peoples living in the 17th?
One idea I might suggest is to think about capitalism in terms of dependence as well as dominance. In a market society (free or otherwise), capitalists must make a profit or face financial ruin; workers (i.e, everyone else) must work for an employer for wages or face starvation. That, I think, helps make sense of both the labor unrest you describe in the 19th century and the idea that for individuals, certain types of investment can bring about either great rewards or personal or societal disaster.