I contend that Capitalism and the drive for cheap labor feed the roots of racism in our country. Throughout history those in power have exploited those they can dominate. At some level, we all are at-risk for being racists and exploiting others for our benefit. Although a highly efficient economic system, Capitalism stokes these exploitative tendencies as each individual seeks to maximize their own profit.
Capitalism, through the quest to maximize profits, drove early Americans to seek sources of cheap labor. This led to the exploitation of workers, fueled slavery, and subsequently spurred immigration. Furthermore, it intensified racial tensions between poor whites and slaves and between unskilled worker and new entrants. As the underclass grew, the economic elites limited their rights –first under slavery and later as free persons–to keep their power in check.
After 400 years of white control, Census now projects that by 2045, whites will be in the minority in the US. We are close to having the exploited (or at least their descendants) gain majority power. It is this looming shift in fundamental power sharing that is driving today’s surge in racism.
Colonial PeRiod:the Establishment of Slavery
Capitalism, in a fast-growing, underpopulated land, created a thirst for cheap labor. Slavery and indentured servitude were common place in Europe and these became the favored labor sources for the new world. Both pathways provided cheap sources of labor. Initially, both the English and Spanish settlers enslaved indigenous people. But the African slave trade began to grow and, increasingly, those in power ignored the expiration of African’s indentured time. Ultimately, the courts upheld the idea of slaves for life and, by the mid-1600s, Africans had replaced the native American as slaves (Smithsonian1).
Slavery became institutionalized in the US colonies. Massachusetts was the first North American colony to legalize slavery in 1641(History of MA). Although first legalized in New England, slavery took hold in the agrarian South that grew labor intensive crops such as cotton and rice. The final step in institutionalizing slavery came in 1662 with the passage of the Hereditary Slavery Virginia law. This law decrees that if the mother is a slave, the child is a slave. The Colonies followed with additional laws that further denied slaves’ rights.
During this time, “white” became a significant social category that reinforced the “us” versus “them” paradigm. The concept of “white” joined planters and indentured servants, English and Irish, and people practicing a variety of Christian faiths. It excluded slaves, free people of color, and native peoples. It was associated with a set of legal privileges such as not being enslaved; being able to marry, and owning a gun (Oxford).
The first real crack in the choke hold of the system came in the 1770s when several colonies took steps to limit the importation of new slaves. The slave populations had grown substantially and were equal the white populations in several colonies. The large numbers of slaves concerned the leadership and they wanted to limit the size of the population. For example, after the Stono (slave) Rebellion in 1739, South Carolina suspended the trade for a few years because its leaders believed that large numbers of freshly imported Africans would undermine the safety of the colony (NYPL).
The Constitution: the Great compromise
In the years leading up to the Revolutionary War, several colonies passed laws making slavery illegal. The founding of the Abolitionist Society in 1775 also reflects the growing distaste for slavery. At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, a faction of attendees opposed slavery. Major issues included how to count slaves as part of the population and ending slave importations. The compromise was to count slaves as 3/5 of a free person (ConstCenter). and the Convention set the target for ending the slave trade by 1807.
Ending the importation of slaves and the rise of immigration
Following the agreements made during the Constitutional Convention, a new federal law ended the importation of slaves in 1807. The country was growing rapidly and slave labor was, in effect, capped.
Immigration filled the labor shortage. A major wave of immigration occurred between 1815 to 1865. The majority of these newcomers came from Northern and Western Europe and they were poor. During the mid-1800s, a significant number of Asian immigrants also settled in the United States (History).
Civil War
Ultimately the institution of slavery tore the country apart. After the Civil War, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution ended slavery. During reconstruction, Congress imposed federal military rule over most of the South. Under military occupation, the federal government basically forced the former Confederate states to ratify the 14th and 15th Amendments that made slaves U.S. citizens and extended voting rights to all men.
More than a half-million black men became voters in the South during the 1870s. When Mississippi rejoined the Union in 1870, former slaves made up more than half of that state’s population and blacks were elected to high offices. But the freedom to vote quickly ended after federal troops withdrew. Even though blacks were in the majority in some Southern states, whites ,through their economic advantage, were able to regain power and limit the rights of blacks (CRF).
the late 1800s
With the return of white supremacy in the South, African Americans were once gain exploited. Many returned to the jobs they had prior to the Civil War. Typically, the land owners paid them low wages or had them work under a sharecropping arrangement.
This was also a difficult period for immigrants as the economy took a downturn following the Civil War. With the weak economy, came a competition for jobs and resentment of immigrants who took lower wages. The American people directed their anger at the exploited rather than land owners and businesses. During this time, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned Chinese laborers from coming to American (History).
Between 1880 and 1920, the US economy grew rapidly–factories opened and cities expanded. More than 20 million immigrants came seeking opportunity. The influx of immigrants solved the labor shortage but it stoked racism as many of the immigrants were from Eastern Europe. Ultimately, this led to the Immigration Act of 1924 which created a quota system. The quota restricted entry to 2 percent of the total number of people of each nationality in America as of the 1890 national census. This favored immigrants from Western Europe–and prohibited immigrants from Asia (History).
Modern Era
In 1965, Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act, which did away with quotas based on nationality. As a result of this act and subsequent legislation, the majority of current immigrants are from Asia and Latin America rather than Europe (History).
We are addicted to cheap labor. Throughout our history we have exploited various groups to extract their labor at low or no wages. Many Americans have bought into the “us” versus “them” mentality and they fear “they” will grow large enough to take over. History tells us a solution is to limit the power of others. This is how American racism was born and why it continues on today.
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