An Economic Lesson From the Pilgrims.
A good article, a little too late to be in season, but no less interesting.
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2 Comments
If all that happened was the switch from commune like conditions (slightly different from communism, which is a political function more than an economic, see China) he might have a point. Unfortunately his article suffers from post hoc ergo prompter hoc because he only examines two points and one variable.
Unfortunately for his thesis, that’s not the only thing that changed over the three years. Another change were new immigrants, ones who specialized in farming (the first Pilgrims/Puritans were mostly business men, as they intended to land in NY and were blown off course) in the second year. They also received their colony charter in the third year, which gave them title to the land. Also in the third year they had opened trade with the more southernly colonies, which brought much needed supplies (which were slow in coming from England). And in the third year the local natives (whose population had already been thinned by disease and slavery, the actual tribe who lived on the land the Pilgrims were farming had been killed off ten years before when Squanto had been taken as a slave – he was the last – the Massasoit were slow to take that land, fearing it was inhabited by spirits) had been pushed much farther back into the interior.
His thesis is also countered by the history of Jamestown, which was set up as a commercial venture from the get go (technically mercantilism, which was also what the Pilgrims switched to, following the pattern of the successful colonies of going from common property for the first years and then switching to trade as the colony grew, not “capitalism” which wouldn’t be invented for another 300 years), and failed.
Steve: You are the smartest person in the world. And, seriously, my tongue is only BARELY in my cheek when I say that. I appreciate every enlightening comment you’ve made on my blog. Thanks.