29 – Ideals vs Economics?
Can it be assumed that America encountered several false starts in attempting to transition to a society based on enlightenment ideas such as the following? “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all women and men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.”
What factors hindered our progress toward achieving an enlightened society? Is it possible we might learn from our past failed efforts? Consider the years between the adoption of the Constitution in 1789 and 1860. Do the facts reviewed in the below “American Realities from 1789 to 1860” reflect a divided nation?
First, by 1860 enlightened thinkers, commonly known as “abolitionist,” had gained enough political power to abolish slavery in northern states.
Second, during the same 71-year period, the institution of slavery had spread to many new states and had become a significate economic power, producing more than 50 percent of national exports and providing the financial capital and raw materials needed in northern industrialization. (https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/changing-america/online/1863/slavery-in-america)
From common knowledge of the American Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow can today’s reader predict the major challenges that surfaced in the years after 1860? It seems that creating an enlightened America is one of our national goals, particularly a society having no slavery or involuntary servitude. But have our efforts to achieve this important goal resulted in negative social conditions that did not exist before?
How can we move forward with our striving toward an enlightened society if we do not understand the factors involved with our failures? What have we learning since 1860 in understanding the social factors that have made our society what it is and isn’t today? What social factors created increasing numbers of the “invisible people” that Mark Laita interviews every day?
American Realities from 1789 to 1860
The below information is provided for the reader in thinking about the above questions and issues.
“The Spread of U.S. Slavery, 1790–1860” at https://lincolnmullen.com/projects/slavery/ shows federal census data for enslaved people for each ten-year period. This data determined what individuals counted as only three fifths of a person in each census.
In 1790, two years after the Constitution became effective, enslaved people were found in New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
By 1860 enslaved people were found in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and only a few in New Jersey.
By 1860 abolitionist successes resulted in no enslaved people being found in Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, and Pennsylvania.
Joseph L Bass, 1/5/2026
Can it be assumed that America encountered several false starts in attempting to transition to a society based on enlightenment ideas such as the following? “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all women and men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.”
What factors hindered our progress toward achieving an enlightened society? Is it possible we might learn from our past failed efforts? Consider the years between the adoption of the Constitution in 1789 and 1860. Do the facts reviewed in the below “American Realities from 1789 to 1860” reflect a divided nation?
First, by 1860 enlightened thinkers, commonly known as “abolitionist,” had gained enough political power to abolish slavery in northern states.
Second, during the same 71-year period, the institution of slavery had spread to many new states and had become a significate economic power, producing more than 50 percent of national exports and providing the financial capital and raw materials needed in northern industrialization. (https://americanhistory.si.edu/explore/exhibitions/changing-america/online/1863/slavery-in-america)
From common knowledge of the American Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow can today’s reader predict the major challenges that surfaced in the years after 1860? It seems that creating an enlightened America is one of our national goals, particularly a society having no slavery or involuntary servitude. But have our efforts to achieve this important goal resulted in negative social conditions that did not exist before?
How can we move forward with our striving toward an enlightened society if we do not understand the factors involved with our failures? What have we learning since 1860 in understanding the social factors that have made our society what it is and isn’t today? What social factors created increasing numbers of the “invisible people” that Mark Laita interviews every day?
American Realities from 1789 to 1860
The below information is provided for the reader in thinking about the above questions and issues.
“The Spread of U.S. Slavery, 1790–1860” at https://lincolnmullen.com/projects/slavery/ shows federal census data for enslaved people for each ten-year period. This data determined what individuals counted as only three fifths of a person in each census.
In 1790, two years after the Constitution became effective, enslaved people were found in New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
By 1860 enslaved people were found in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and only a few in New Jersey.
By 1860 abolitionist successes resulted in no enslaved people being found in Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, and Pennsylvania.
Joseph L Bass, 1/5/2026