Money is the root of all evil. In the chapters “Persons of Mean and Vile Condition” and “Tyranny is Tyranny,” I feel that economic issues ultimately started the many atrocities of this time period. Indentured servitude ultimately stemmed from the rich getting richer, and the gap between the rich and poor grew drastically. After reading these chapters I would argue that America’s horrible past can be attributed primarily to the American Elite. The American Elite did so much to try to tarnish the relationship between the poor whites and the black and the indigenous people. The American Elite set laws into place that prevented interracial sex and prohibited white business owners from hiring black people for skilled labor. The American Revolution seems to have been a way for the American Elite to avoid a rebellion and keep their economic status.
Economic divide has always been a problem in America. I believe the indentured servitude has connections to the economic system in America today. Minimum wage is sub eight dollars in many states including my home state of Pennsylvania. This is not a wage that can support a person in America, let alone a family of five. We can see how wrong it was to have indentured servants, yet people work twelve hours a day at a minimum wage job, and they can barely support themselves. Times have obviously changed greatly, and a minimum wage worker still has life way better off than an indentured servant, but the premise of the argument still stands. There is so much to be learned from the development of early America, and I feel like more can be done to increase the standard of living for all people.
I think your comparison between modern wage workers and indentured servants is really interesting. A lot of people argue that minimum wage should not be a living wage as minimum wage jobs are often perceived as occupations for teenagers, young adults, students, or other people who might otherwise not need to independently support themselves. Meanwhile, anyone who can’t afford to pursue higher education might be forced to pursue wage jobs, and though proponents of the American Dream like to claim that this involves the promise of working one’s way up to greater vocational success, it’s extremely difficult to find higher-paying jobs that don’t require college degrees, furthering the class divide in modern America.
While i agree with alot of what you said in the first paragrpah, the second paragrpah poses some questions that are discussed daily in washington, and there is a reason for the minimum wage being the way it is. Basic economics outlines supply and demand curves, and the minimum wage is a price floor. If the wage is to be continually raised evey time a dmeocratic canidate takes office, there will be more unemployment. The more companies have to pay their emplyoees, the fewer employees they can afford to have. So it is a tradeoff, less people with jobs and fewer make more money, or the other way.
I agree with your statement that economic problems starts many issues. It’s very sad to see how prominent social classes are in our society today. We create judgements and our sense of self identification through these social classes. Why are social classes utilized to identify one another? There is so much more to an individual, but we continue to include class in our process of identification. Why?
The actions of the American Elite during this time stood out to me as well. I think it is very interesting how they acted out of fear that the poor, indentured, and slaves would rebel against them. It is very ironic, as they regarded themselves as the mighty and powerful so they were able to set laws and restrictions on their subjects, yet they were doing this out of fear of their subject’s power.