Themes in American History: Capitalism, Slavery, Democracy

Blog Post Assignment #1

In the reading, Many Thousands Gone, Ira Berlin explains many changes over time that occurred in the transition from societies with slaves to slave societies. A dramatic difference between societies with slaves and slave societies was the mark of lineage. In a society with slaves, slaves adopted names that included surnames. Their successors bore names that did not include surnames and could have even gone as far as to be called a name more associated with that of an animal than a person. This worked to destroy the potential of lineage for slaves. This also made it so slaves were bound to the position of juveniles throughout their life cycle. Condemned to a permanent childhood, slaves in a slave society served as extensions of an owners’ estate. They had no right to intimate or personal affairs without the intrusions of planters.

In the beginning, the ethnic origins of a slave mattered little to planters. Slavey transportation included many ethnic origins such as Africans, Native Americans, and Jewish slaves. Eventually, with the destruction of the Native American population, plantation slavery became exclusive to African slavery. This process redefined the meaning of race, with a greater emphasis on the pigment of the skin than ever before. Slave societies employed racial ideologies to rationalize societal order. This transition strengthened the beliefs of white supremacy. Under these distinctions, slaves were not just demoted to the positions of juveniles but were viewed as savages.

The different outlook on slaves’ position is society affected the implementation of violence. In a society with slaves, the use of force and brutality was persistent and common. However, in a slave society, violence was also systematic and merciless. Slave masters employed terror and severe disciplinary action. This attributed to the death of millions. According to Ira Berlin, this change occurred slowly. It was built upon unevenly and repeatedly and Africans were transported from the Old World to the New World.

Capitalism, A Very Short Introduction- Fulcher

In the text Capitalism, A Very Short Introduction by James Fulcher, he defines capitalism as “the investment of money in the expectation of making profits”. He starts off the text by describing one of the early examples of a capitalistic venture, sending people out to sea to gather resources which were uncommon back at the mainland. When I first learned of capitalism I pictured people adjusting prices or using new technologies in order to get customers and stimulate competition. However after reading this text I understand that capitalism can be as simple as buying low and selling high. Fulcher explains how people from Europe who didn’t have access to certain spices and goods found in foreign countries would have to pay a lot to utilize them. With this being the case, people realized they can make a lot of profit if they go abroad and find these goods. They purchase the goods at a very low price or steal them and then go back to their hometown and sell them. In the East India Company’s first expedition to the East Indies, the shareholders of the voyage racked up an impressive 95% profit using this strategy. However, this was only the beginning as everything started to expand to the point where companies are now publicly traded allowing anyone to get a piece of the pie. 

When anyone thinks of America, they think of how it’s capitalism creates economic freedom and allows the country to prosper. Some may even think that the idea was first practiced there. However, it is clear that many other nations were doing this and brought the economic system over to the United States. Additionally, when you look at the current stock market you must ask yourself, how did something so big become so widespread throughout the world? Reading this piece made me understand that the stock market can be dumbed down to something as simple as buying something that you think will increase in price and then selling it. You’re paying for the risk of losing your money to potentially make a profit. Capitalism is a very complex system, however it is so present in the world today that it is seen in our lives everyday. 

James Fulcher’s Capitalism

 

James Fulcher explains the beginning of capitalism throughout history. Fulcher describes capitalism as the process of investing money in the expectation of making a profit. Fulcher would examines different types of capitalism between the UK, Japan, Sweden, and the United States as most countries have a capitalist government Fulcher wanted to study of different area reacted to it. James Fulcher would call back on the advancements and dominance of capitalism in the 17th century saying it could be taking advantage of the people.

The earliest forms of capitalism came in the form of  “Merchant Capitalism.” Merchant Capitalism was the acquired profits through the trading systems. Merchant Capitalism was at its peak during the 17th century, due to the ability to talk during trading, the advancements of capitalism started to spread throughout the world. As capitalism was fairly new the profit share was extremely one sided. For example, the English East India Company would sell profits or goods on cargo ships while giving the shareholder almost 95% of the profits made during the exchange.  This does not mean capitalism was not without risk; during one of the journey’s one of the ship ignored the warnings of pirated waters, causing them to be overthrown and ending up with the captain being killed and the goods being stolen. The effect of this was the investors entire capital being lost.

Modern capitalism is not far from its origin. As many countries today still use capitalism in their governments today. It has become more balanced due to the monopoly laws in place making not just one person benefiting off of one person work. In the end, capitalism is still about making profits from your investment of money. No matter where you may invest your money into, if profit exists capitalism exists. Capitalism has expanded through the United States has occurs every single day even if you don’t realize it.

 

 

 

 

James Fulcher-Capitalism

In the past several decades, capitalism has played an important role in our society. In the article, “What is capitalism” author James Fulcher in this article, he explained how capitalism affects different countries. The author believes that almost all economic activities in capitalist society are “investment” and “profit”. Capitalism is about investing for profit. He examined the different forms of capitalism in the United Kingdom, Japan, Sweden, and the United States, and discussed whether capital has broken away from the boundaries of the state and is moving toward optimization. He also cited the tulip frenzy in the Netherlands in the 17th century, the recent financial crisis in Southeast Asia, Enron corporation in the United States, and World Communications as examples, and thus discussed the future of capitalism.

The reading adds to my knowledge of the subject of what I previously thought about this aspect of American or global history was that I found out how capitalism plays a significant way in American. For example, in the article, Fulcher states, “Capital is money that is invested in order to make more money.” And “Capitalists existed before capitalism proper. Since the earliest times merchants have made money by investing in goods that they sold at a profit.” (Fulcher pg. 14) this part shows me how capitalism was during the past, the merchants made money by the profit of the item they sell to others. In addition, what I knowns about that Capitalism production depends on the exploitation of wage labor, and works have become what Marx called “wage slaves”.

The historic transformation, or change over time, that the author is describing in the reading was capitalism has gone through three stages: early commercial capitalism, modern industrial capitalism, and now financial capitalism. According to the historian, this change of capitalism happens and takes place gradually because in the earlier time period the British East India company conducts long-distance trade through the investment of the rich, for example in the exchange for spice gold, pepper, cloves, and nutmegs. If the ship successfully returns to England, the merchant can make far more profit than the investment. If it sinks on a rock or encounters a pirate, then the merchant will lose all their money. This was the early commercial capitalism that Fulcher mention in the article. Within the emergence of the Industrial Revolution, large machines need to be manipulated by workers, so the use of workers appeared. Industrial capitalism required regular and continuous work, “Expensive machinery had to be kept constantly in use. Idleness and drunkenness, even wandering around and conversation, could not be allowed.” (Fulcher pg.7) Then the following comes with the financial capitalism which basely talks about how high-value goods works, for example in the article Fulcher states, “If the price of the corn is high but the harvest is some way off, a farmer can lock into the existing price by making a deal with a merchant to sell the corn at this price in three months’ time.” (Fulcher pg.10) This shows the way of how farmer wants to keep the high price before the price decrease, so they will decide to make deals with the merchant to keep the high price.

Fulcher’s article gives a lot of ideas of how capitalism work and how it changes throughout time.

Blog Post Assignment #1

  • What was the historic transformation, or change over time, that the author is describing in the reading?…

 

It is often presumed that the progression of our current state of economy, -Free market Capitalism-, has been  stagnant throughout modern history, with the trading  systems of the Old World being the foundation of Capitalism itself.  The concept of Capitalism has always been prevalent in much of the world’s past economies and societies, with profit being a main source of motivation for the seemingly unwavering ambitions of the nations of the Old World, however, it must be noted that Capitalism, -as done so in James Fulcher’s’ “Capitalism: A Very Short Introduction”-, and all that it entails has been shaped over time to become what it is now;”…the investment of money in the expectation of making a profit [or capital]” (Fulcher 2), as it has had differing phases and/or forms that has been accommodated to the time and place in which it was being practiced in. Fulcher throughout the text, implies this.

 

The earliest form of Capitalism, Merchant Capitalism, -as indicated by Fulcher- was the accumulation of profits through trading systems. It occurred within the 17th century in Europe. With it, travel and the means to travel were necessary for this kind of Capitalism to take place. And thus, expeditions involving the movement of large cargo ships and crews led by nationally representative trading companies that were “controlled and administered” by rich merchants were launched to help exchange and transport goods between various European, Asian and African countries. These expeditions despite being successful and efficient in their tasks, were not exempt from risk. An example of this is the expeditions led by the East India Company of England in 1601-1608, where,-after a few successes were accomplished in acquiring spices from the East Indies for trade-, some of the ships that were sent on these ventures such as, Susan, Hector and Ascension  were either found ” …lost at sea…with most of [their] crew found dead [or]…wrecked… [which ultimately led to] the investors [people who funded the expeditions] in this expedition [to lose] all their capital.”(Fulcher 1). Merchant Capitalism given all the risks that occurred under it, continued to serve as the economic system many of the Old World followed until the establishment and integration of the New World and the various kinds of products it had to offer into the international economy, which in a century or so later, following the 17th, brought about Industrialization and Capitalist Production.

 

Capitalist Production has been donned as more significant to the overall establishment of our modern day Capitalism than other forms of Capitalism themselves because Capitalist Production, as Fulcher implies, “…depends on the exploitation of wage labour, which also fuels the consumption of the goods and services produced by capitalist enterprises.”(Fulcher 18). Capitalist Production which sought out labor as a form of product in contrast to the more traditional kinds of product to the greater scale of the economy, is what eventually led to Financial Capitalism.

 

Financial Capitalism, -the obtaining of money profits through financial operations or systems-, when involving risk, unlike it’s predecessor, Merchant Capitalism and  although still possible and impactful, risk, weighs differently and less so.This is possible through, as Fulcher describes as “Speculation,…[which] occurs when something is bought in the expectation of selling it, without increasing its value by processing it in some way, at a higher price in the future…it is…a way of avoiding risk.” (Fulcher 17).  Financial Capitalism, given that it was created in the late 19th century, in all its more modern methods and techniques like the stock market and banking, is more reflective of and influential towards our current form of Free Market Capitalism.

 

Fulcher makes note that Capitalism through all of its phases and gradual changes was and still is transformative as markets, products and the means to invest money into them for profit will always be changing.

Edmund Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom

The passage talks about why Virginia and many other colonies moved toward having slaves. Morgan explains how people would be transported to Virginia to work and be under a contract. Those who were under a contract were called a servitude. Servitude was the closest thing to what slavery was before slavery actually became a thing in Virginia.
A enduring issue during the time was that servitude would lead to slavery. People were given longer sentences for a mistake they had made. In the early 17th century the first African slaves were in Virginia. At first the slaves would die because their immune system was not used to the disease in the New World that people from Europe brought. Many did not see the point in buying them to do labor if they were going to die. Slaves were not a good investment for those who want workers. Tobacco fields needed a lot of labor and workers willing to work in harsh conditions. Many Virginians owned land that had tobacco fields. English servants were not efficient too. So Virginians would look toward slaves but slaves cost more then servants. Tobacco and sugar became a demand from England so those who had land needed to find a way to buy slaves. Some ways that they did this was “When they wanted to buy slaves in Barbados, they could send cattle and hogs in exchange.”(303) Slaves were treated like objects. Their conditions and treatment would only get worse. Slaves would work hard and have no break from the harsh labor. Women were not known to work but slave women were an exception. When slave women were pregnant the children they had would be enslaved since birth. They would become the property of the master and would only help the growth of enslaved people in Virginia. Laws were made more toward servants who tried to run away. Slaves never had freedom unlike servants that have to work till their contract is over and they would become free. In order to keep the slaves from running they would be punished. Masters want the slaves to fear them in order to have control over the slaves because unlike the servants they had a sort of freedom. Virginians only saw slaves as a profit because slaves would work hard for nothing in return. Virginians made profit off those who were working hard and treated poorly.

Blog Assignment #1: James Fulcher Capitalism

     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. 

Fulcher’s Capitalism

In his text about Capitalism, James Fulcher provides both historical and current events that demonstrate the effects of capitalism, and the characteristics a capitalistic society portrays. Fulcher dwelled upon the competitive cotton industry that James M’Connel and John Kennedy took over. The idea of creating a profit and searching for ways to maximize a profit was and still is an idea of great importance. However, “Profit depended ultimately on the workers who turned raw cotton into yarn” (Fulcher, 5). Because of this, many workers were put into long hours of labor. Many conflicts, including wages, arose because of the greed and hunger that many people sought in order to reach this level of maximizing a profit.

 

This idea has not changed much today. In fact, the desire for profit and wealth is even stronger and can cause individuals to act out in a way where it negatively affects themselves and others around them. This is shown in Nick Leeson’s case, where he found ways to cover up any shortcomings from the money that he was accumulating in order to receive the most amount of money possible. However, this also demonstrates how errors in capitalism derive from an upper level power. M’Connel and Kennedy were able to extend the hours of the workers, as entrepreneurs, by resetting the clock. Leeson was able to swindle his way around money because he was one of the best at what he did.

 

Ultimately, capitalism is essentially making a profit from the investment of money. However the investing is done or where the money to invest came from, as long as a profit exists for an individual, there is a representation of how capitalism works. Capitalism is found almost everywhere in the United States of America and is something that occurs every single day, whether we notice it right away or not.

The Difficulties and Dilemmas of Democracy

One of the big news stories today was the victory of California Governor Gavin Newsom over Larry Elder, in what is known in California as a “recall” election.

As we begin to move towards an exploration of our class theme of Democracy, it seems like an appropriate time to draw on current events to enhance our understanding of what this contested term means, and how that meaning has changed over time and been used (and abused) in different places around the world, including within the United States.

Under California’s unique system, voters can vote an elected governor out of office before the end of his or her term (4 years) by collecting enough signatures to hold a referendum—a special election in which a question is put directly to voters. In this case, many people were angry at Gov. Newsom’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, which included relatively strict mask mandates and forced business closures (not unlike Gov. Cuomo’s approach in New York). Newsom inadvertently added fuel to the fire when pictures were leaked of him attending a 2020 dinner at an expensive San Francisco restaurant, unmasked. The incident added to perceptions of Newsom as a hypocritical elitist who is out of touch with ordinary Californians.

In theory, California’s recall system represents a form of direct democracy—in which questions of great import are put directly before the people, can use the democratic process to unseat the most powerful political figure in the state. But as this New York Times article points out, certain aspects of the process seem fundamentally undemocratic. Under the terms of the recall, only a simple majority—greater than 50 percent—is needed to unseat the governor. But once that threshold is reached, the candidate with the next largest number of votes is automatically elected governor. In practice, that means that, if Newsom had received only 49 percent of the votes, Elder could have replaced him by winning only 25 percent—or only a little more than half the number of voters who voted for Newsom.

The article goes on to cover some of the history of California’s recall system, which dates back to 1911, when voters approved a series of reforms meant to curb the power of railroad corporations, which then dominated the state. But ironically, as the article points out, in recent years referendums and ballot initiatives have been used by corporate interests, such as Uber and Lyft, who can promote their agendas simply by collecting signatures and using the power of the internet and social media.

Opponents also argue that such special elections are also extremely costly—the current recall effort cost the state $276 million—and distract from important issues at critical times, in this case as California confronts the ongoing pandemic as well as a series of wildfires and other environmental issues related to climate change.

In the past, recall elections and other ballot initiatives have had a tremendous impact on California. In 2003, then-Governor Davis was replaced by actor Arnold Schwartzenegger after a recall effort. Proposition 13, a referendum aimed at reducing property taxes, has been blamed for the declining quality of California’s public schools since the 1970s, and in the 1990s, a majority voted to deny certain benefits to undocumented immigrants under Proposition 187.

In this case, Gov. Newsom defeated the recall effort by something like a 64 to 36% margin. The lopsided result was blamed on the extreme ideas of his Republican opponent. Elder, a conservative radio talk-show host, has a history of making disparaging comments about women, opposes the minimum wage and abortion, and said that the descendants of slave owners, rather than the descendants of slaves themselves, should receive reparations (Elder himself is African American). These views are out of step with the majority of Californians, but the terms of the recall election made it possible that Elder could have won—before today’s result, many were predicting a close election.

What do you think? Is California’s recall system truly democratic? If not, what reforms could be taken to make the process more representative? What is democracy anyway, and why does it seem to be such a hot topic in 2021, after a century or more in which America’s system of government appeared to many to be among the most stable and democratic in the world?

Edmund Morgan, “American Slavery American Freedom”

    The argument that the author shows why and how Virginians had started to turn toward a slave-labor economy in addition to this how it had imported workers to England as well as Virginians imported workers from England to ensure their profits.  

      Edmund Morgan suggests that as soon as Virginians found tobacco, that the colony was on the road for slavery. The forcing servants into slavery might have led to massive rebellion, that the enslave Virginians, that on chapter 15 it states that “Virginians had only men who were already enslaved after the initial risks of the transformation had been sustained by other elsewhere”. (297) This quote illustrates that the people that were already a servant will become enslaved. Therefore in 1660, with a decline in immigration due to an end to England’s. population problems, it became more advantageous for Virginia planters to buy slaves. Edmund Morgan further explains that the Virginia planters had advantages over other plantation economies. They could have replaced the slaves at a lower rate than sugar planters, giving a greater return to the investment of a rise in the price of tobacco meant they could have pay from them, as well as tobacco required, that in chapter 15 it states that, “And man small amount of capital, insufficient for the outlay of sugar plantation.”  (303) This actively illustrates the quote that the small production equipment was not enough for the capital. Therefore, the men who wanted to get into plantation production went to Virginia. Another reason that the author would argue with is that the men who arrived had garnered more of the prestige in England that they brought slavery to Virginia by buying where it states that, “These were the man who brought slavery to Virginian, simply by buying slaves instead of servants.” (304) This actively illustrates that people that are servants are no longer servants but slaves. Therefore, by the end of the century, more than half of Virginia’s labor force was enslaved.