(How from the beginning white supremacy and class structures was deliberately built into the constitution of the United States) An adaptation of the works of historians Michael Parenti and Howard Zinn) continued…
What is perhaps the most astounding truth behind the desire for nationhood around 1776 and a separate state from the British Empire and the historical raison d’etre is that this group of men, the founding fathers discovered that a separate statehood would protect their wealth and stature and allow from land grabs from the English landed class. The creation of a nation would allow the American wealthy to take over land, political power and profits from the English, and in the process they could hold back or manage a number of potential rebellions from the poor and underprivileged and create a consensus of popular support for a new and privileged leadership. When viewed through the hazy, overly romanticized mists of time, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the holiest brotherhood of celibate St Franciscan monks imbued with the power of angels bequeathed to the American people a “Sermon on the Mount” set of clay tablets of Mosaic proportions, yet the truth is far too provincial, too banal, too pedestrian and oh so fraught with human frailty folks.
By the time France was defeated by the British in the 7-years war, it seemed that there were only two factors standing in the way of American-style nationhood, the British and the “Indians.” Before and after the Bacon Rebellion of 1676, there were at least 80 odd riots and slave rebellions against the elite class and British rule. Contrary to popular belief, this wasn’t as a result of some grand strategy, but rather a series of tactical responses to the conditions of the day which proved fortuitous to the founding fathers desires for a separate state and the protection of their accumulated wealth interests. To offset the costs of the war with France, England looked to the colonies to pay for the war, its annual revenues reaching 2800 000 pounds in 1770 from just 500 000 pounds in the early 1700’s.
This required that they (the British) tighten their grip on the colonies to secure the income and necessitated placating the Indians by promising them vast swathes of land south of the Appalachians. At this point the American leadership were less in need of English rule, and England more in need of the colonies wealth. War was good for the wealthy, brought glory to the generals, death to the privates and even more perilous unemployment opportunities, or the lack thereof for the poor.
Gary Nash’s study of tax lists showed that by the early 1770’s, the top 5% of the Boston taxpayers controlled 49% of the city’s taxable assets. This was consistent with New York and Philadelphia too, with the ever widening equality gap in wealth increasing unabated. No matter the raucous town hall debates and caucuses by the poor, it always seemed to be the wealthy lawyers that took up their causes in the name of equality and justice. We have here a forecast of the mould of American politics that would continue to this day, the modelling and leading of the angry poor and disenfranchised aspirations for the exclusive benefits of the wealthy and the powerful.
To be continued…
