When America was young, it embraced the ideas of Adam Smith and the free market. These principles sparked the Market Revolution which would brew during the antebellum period. The abolition of slavery forced capitalists to find another source of cheap labor, which resulted in the working conditions of the gilded age, and the virtual re-enslavement of many freedmen. Social Darwinism provided a scientific lining to the distraught working conditions that were built around this capitalist system. - Zack Dutke
The author includes the theories of both Adam Smith and Karl Marx as a way to show the two paths that Early Americans could have walked down. We know which path they “chose,” leaning towards Capitalism; however, this inherently prevents and dampens the possibility of utopian freedom that they were chasing in the revolution. Americans became subservient to a new king that continues to shackle the world to this day: money. - Garrett Welch
Antebellum era America witnessed a blooming market sparked by ideas of thinkers such as Karl Marx and Adam Smith. Smith favored a model which mirrors in many ways todays Capitalist society, while Marx presented thoughts and ideas that we today would associate with Communism. A large part of the conversation hinged on slavery, the backbone of much of America's economy, via agriculture, following the Revolutionary war. With abolition came the need for Smiths capitalist society in which cheap labor and hard work kept the nation afloat. - Declan Forrer
Although emancipated after the war, freed slaves were enrolled in another scheme of economic oppression, one of capitalist industrialist interest. Although technically free, emancipated slaves and non-whites fell under more oppression than the already poor industrial working class. The reconstruction era failed to reach equality whether it be economic or civic. Social Darwinism, in unison with rampant racism, especially in the South, kept minorities at the lowest echelon of the working class. -Valerian Girardeau
The idea of Capitalism, created by Adam Smith, was a concept that many Americans took hold of. The increase in production, according to Smith, was due to the specialization and discrete attention that was paid to the task. He claims that human nature was major driving factor of the market revolution. For example, the use of money naturally increased due to the convenience it held. - Hank Leighty
As America was starting out, they really hadn't figured out what system they wanted to do to make money. The UK was attaining raw materials from the US, especially when they were the colonies, but as that lessened slightly industry ramped up, other ways to make money were needed. They started to rely on interior trading with other states and territories which further advanced the market economy and the system of capitalism. -Emma Galvin
The Market Revolution also further divided the country between the North and the South with one relying on agriculture and slavery and the other on ever increasing industry. With this came people like Fitzhugh who began justifying slavery as a way to produce more raw materials without the need to pay the labor. These raw materials would be exported out, but a big bulk of these products were being shipped up north to use in industry, such as cotton for textile factories.- Emma Galvin
The North and South were both very prosperous during the Antebellum period, but the ways in which they were prosperous were extremely different. One thing that contributed to the differences in the development was shown in the form of how the North was content to leave the South alone and vice versa. It was only when a more prominent need for integrated commerce arose that the two sides started caring more about what the other was doing. - Ewan H
As the early economy in the colonies developed, England wanted to put more “rules” towards the independent merchant mentality of the colonies to recuperate the lost income from the wars that were being fought at the time. This led to the beginning roots of rebellion of the colonist as they look towards politics for an explanation for their discomforts with England’s new enforcements. - Lesley Morales-Sanchez