Rawthentic
6th March 2007, 04:09
After reading extensively on the American Revolution I have found out how much students are constantly lied to on it, especially in high school classrooms. We were taught that the American Revolution was an event that united the entire colonies in an effort to throw off the British imperial yoke. The reality is, that after the Revolution, the condition of slaves, Indians, women, poor whites and indentured servants had not changed at all. The ruling colonial elites, such as the George Washingtons, the Alexander Hamiltons, and the Thomas Jeffersons were all wealthy slave owners who managed to bring over a section of the poor whites, who since the landing of the Mayflower in 1621 had engaged in intense class struggle along with Indians and slaves, to their side with the rhetoric of liberty and equality. The reality is, as all American wars have shown, that there the few elites that declare wars, and the majority workers who fight it. Even during the Revolution, there were several poor white revolts against the massive wealth that merchants were making off of their labor. This is the side of history that we never hear.
Shay's rebellion, named after a former Revolutionary War soldier who got payed very poorly and was left to rot after the War, gave the signal to the ruling class (ie: the Founding Fathers) of the need to destroy the Articles of Confederation for a more centralized government. The Founding Fathers were brilliant in that they managed to create a liberal enough government to mask itself under the ideals of John Locke, who was an advocate of private property and mercantile capitalism, yet centralized enough to protect the interests of the ruling class from the aforementioned class struggle. They also created a sort of middle class of better off whites who acted as a buffer to the class hatred the poor whites and slaves had to the wealthy. In essence, the slaves, women, Indians, and indentured servants did not change in their condition, their direct rulers were only replaced by the Founding Fathers.
This has a historical connection. Every American war has had the need to recruit soldiers under the idea that they can higher themselves in the social ranks. In other words, they join out economic necessity, not for "God and Country". The majority of soldiers joined and still join out of a need and for a cause they usually don't understand or identify with. Ever since the Revolutionary War, the ruling classes have made it seem as if we as a nation have a common interest to fight such war, when we die in it and they profit off of it. The history of the US is one of intense class struggle, ever since the first settlers got here.
Thoughts on this?
Shay's rebellion, named after a former Revolutionary War soldier who got payed very poorly and was left to rot after the War, gave the signal to the ruling class (ie: the Founding Fathers) of the need to destroy the Articles of Confederation for a more centralized government. The Founding Fathers were brilliant in that they managed to create a liberal enough government to mask itself under the ideals of John Locke, who was an advocate of private property and mercantile capitalism, yet centralized enough to protect the interests of the ruling class from the aforementioned class struggle. They also created a sort of middle class of better off whites who acted as a buffer to the class hatred the poor whites and slaves had to the wealthy. In essence, the slaves, women, Indians, and indentured servants did not change in their condition, their direct rulers were only replaced by the Founding Fathers.
This has a historical connection. Every American war has had the need to recruit soldiers under the idea that they can higher themselves in the social ranks. In other words, they join out economic necessity, not for "God and Country". The majority of soldiers joined and still join out of a need and for a cause they usually don't understand or identify with. Ever since the Revolutionary War, the ruling classes have made it seem as if we as a nation have a common interest to fight such war, when we die in it and they profit off of it. The history of the US is one of intense class struggle, ever since the first settlers got here.
Thoughts on this?