US labor writing
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Week2-TheAtlanticProletariat.pptxThe “Atlantic Proletariat”
U.S. Labor and Work - 201
Week 2
Prof. Brucher
What does “Proletariat” mean?
From the Latin proletarius: a person having no wealth or property and only served the state by producing offspring.
By the mid-17th century “proletarian” and “proletariat” were used in English to describe common workers.
Today, these terms are used to describe the working class in broad terms.
Why call it the“Atlantic Proletariat”?
Social historians argue that a wide-ranging group of workers provided the labor necessary for colonial expansion in the Atlantic economy of the Americas from the time of contact between European, African, and Native American Peoples.
Who were the Atlantic Proletariat?
Indentured Servants
Slaves
Dispossessed commoners
Transported felons
Religious radicals
Urban laborers
Soldiers
Sailors
Pirates
Native Americans
Why focus on workers?
Of course, we can look at other factors when studying the Atlantic economy:
Technological advancement and knowledge driving exploration (better sailing ships, navigation methods, etc.).
Agricultural advancement (cultivating crops).
Political developments fuelling expansion and trade (see textbook chapter 1!).
Religious motivations (Spanish, Portuguese, and French Catholic missionaries, English religious dissenters, etc.).
Why focus on workers?
Ordinary workers did the labor that was essential to the rise of the Atlantic economy from the 16th through 19th centuries, which in turn fueled the growth of the modern global economy.
At the same time, many members of the Atlantic Proletariat tried to resist or adapt to conditions that were often brutal, violent, and inhumane.
Processes that help create the Atlantic Proletariat
Expropriation: The seizure of common property used by the many (ordinary people) and put in the hands of the few (governments/kingdoms, colonial corporations). Examples:
Spanish conquistadors seizing lands in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America to create enconmiendas controlled by wealthy Spanish landlords under the Spanish crown.
Wealthy lords enclosing the commons (shared agricultural lands used by poor communities) in Great Britain.
English corporations like the Virginia Company that set up agricultural colonies on the east coast, claiming property for themselves and the English crown.
Processes that help create the Atlantic Proletariat
Exploitation: The act of mistreating someone to benefit from their labor. The work involved in expropriation was particularly exploitative:
Encomiendas: Native Americans forced to work for the Spanish landlords, clearing land and harvesting crops. African slaves later imported to the Spanish colonies.
Enclosing the commons: Poor people kicked people off the land, forcing them to become tenant farmers, move to the cities for work, or become indentured servants in America. Poor people also imprisoned and forced to work; many sent to work as sailors or to work in the Americas.
The Virginia company and other colonial corporations: pushed Native Americans off of the land (violently), forced indentured servants and later African slaves to work under brutal conditions.
Native Americans
Prior to contact with Columbus and other Europeans, there were as many as 15 to 20 million Native Americans in Mexico and anywhere from 1 to 18 million (5 million is a good estimate) north of Mexico in the present day U.S. and Canada.
Societies ranged from the highly organized city-states and empires (Aztecs) to small family-based communities, including the Lenape in the NJ/NY/PA/DE area (“Delaware” peoples).
Lenape
Traded with Dutch colonies in NY/NJ and English colonies in PA.
Conflicts with the colonists: Dutch West Indian Company director Willem Kieft led an attack against Weckquaesgeek and Tappan villages, killing 120 Native Americans.
In the ensuing “Kieft’s War” of 1643-145, hundreds of colonists were killed by the Lenape and their allies; over 1,000 Lenape were killed by Dutch and English forces.
After a century of wars and conflicts, disease, and encroaching European settlements, most Lenape were forced to leave NY, NJ, and PA after the Treaty of Easton was signed in 1758.
Lenape place names remain throughout the area: Weehawken, Mahwah, Metuchen, Raritan, Piscataway…
Pirates: “Life Under the Jolly Roger”
Capture of the Pirate, Blackbeard, 1718
