America
Essay by 24 • March 6, 2011 • 755 Words (4 Pages) • 1,291 Views
America in the mid-18th century was a land of turmoil. This country had just been created and was dealing with birthing pains. America in this time was not a land of social and economic liberties because the people had not yet learnt how to deal with the various liberties. It was however a land of religious freedom. America was a baby learning to move it limbs and making mistakes every now and then.
America in the mid-eighteenth century was a land with a growing population. A large portion of this population were slaves. Slaves were the backbone of the tobacco industry. They were the driving the force behind Virginia and Maryland's prosperity. There also many indentured servants that served various masters. The slaves had no rights and the indentured slaves had little rights. This proved that America was not a land of social freedom. The white land owning men of America had many rights because they ran the government but that doe not make America a land of social freedom. Another facet of this oppression was women. Women were not given the right to vote and were denied many rights. Even though there were some rights accorded to certain people, it does not make America a land of social freedom. In New York in 1733, the rights of speech and freedom of press were accorded to the American populace. This was a step in the right direction but was far from being enough. Apparently, America was not very free because it was not a land of economic freedom either.
America was a land abounding in opportunity. Thomas Jefferson said that a man could work his way from England to the America by becoming an indentured servant. A few years later, that same man would have made enough money to buy some land and support a family. Though he was right in a sense, he missed the fact that the land available to this man would not be desirable land because the desirable land had already been given to those who had ties to the government of England. Also, those with the more land would be able to afford to do better. Those who had started later would be at a serious disadvantage. If they were farmer, the products they produced would not be nearly the same as those with more land. Because of this, they had to charge more for the same goods to make a decent profit while the ones with more land would be undercutting their prices and out competing them for customer. For those wishing to start in industry, they would find a monopoly that would crushes all opposition. Another side of his oppression came from England. The king of England decreed that no settler shall purchase
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