Introducing Capitalism in Early American History

 John Larson, Purdue University

SHEAR 2015

Set up the situation:  Traditional British economic culture had served as a check on the acquisitive impulse

-hierarchical: limited WHO was free to act-restrictive: limited WHAT actors were free to do-proprietary: limited ACCESS to resources on which to do it

 

Colonial experience had always been a little transgressive-people TOOK opportunities not allowed them-people ACQUIRED fortunes not expected-Brits never understood the importance of this-imperial crisis fueled by this failure to understand each other

  Thus, the Revolution becomes an act of liberation

-radical republicanism promises liberty, equality, self-government-revolutionary elites understand this rather narrowly—remove British interference -more ordinary individuals hear something more tangible-liberty promises the lifting of what irritates you right now

Larson, Introducing Capitalism, SHEAR 2015

Liberty is land and slaves:

-how many colonists had made themselves rich and free -embarrassing? Maybe (but on way out) -do the cotton revolution -do Cherokee removal -do westward movement -do Jim Oakes, Mills Thornton -end with Walter Johnson:

“buying a Negro made a white man white!”

Larson, Introducing Capitalism, SHEAR 2015

Liberty is pioneering:

-another major way colonists grew rich and free -the yeoman’s promise—TJ’s America -do Land Ordinance 1785 -do NW Ordinance 1787 -throw in Greenville Treaty, more Indian removal -Ohio Valley stories

Larson, Introducing Capitalism, SHEAR 2015

Liberty is innovation:

-long rewarded but never sanctioned by British culture -start with Franklin and self-fashioning -stress widespread demand pressures—not top down -do bridges, canals, steamboats -technique improvement “bastard workshop”

-do Paul Johnson, Sean Wilentz -do Slater’s mill and the dependent mill village -do Lowell and the big time

Larson, Introducing Capitalism, SHEAR 2015

Liberty is exploitation:

-this too is a continuity, now expanded dramatically -Africans and Indians already screwed -bound white labor common as well -early modern household unit: markets outside, patriarchy in -nine children in Slater’s mill--supplementary $$ -bring in “putting out” yarn (Slater), palm hats, butter -bring in Lowell Girls -add urbanization, mobility, communities of strangers -add market forces, panic of 1837, stir vigorously -end with George Fitzhugh:

“liberty and equality are new—and absurd!”

Larson, Introducing Capitalism, SHEAR 2015

Liberty, lust, and capitalism

-the majority of white Americans after 1800 were living out the promise of liberty

-conditions in America in 1800 rewarded many individual initiatives rather easily

-like college freshmen, early Americans began hooking up for fun and profit—and it WAS fun and profitable

-down the road came dependency and disease—creeping on cat’s paws

 

Larson, Introducing Capitalism, SHEAR 2015