Armando+Anzellini's+Project

=Moral Economies in America: =

University of Central Florida
Dr. Lester & Dr. Walker

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The purpose of this piece is to demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that E.P. Thompson's model of Moral Economies is prevalent throughout American history. Moral Economy is a term applied to the idea that economics is not built entirely by and for the market, but that those directly affected by economic activity have moral and ethical views that may be acted upon if said economics does not conform to community ideals. History gives us many world examples, but it is apparent that American history, when taught to the larger population, avoids such a topic and maintains a strict separation between morals, ethics, and economics. This separation must cease, and this paper will provide brief historical accounts that will support that stance. =====

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Throughout the past century, many scholars have asserted that “economic activity cannot be understood fully apart from the moral c =====

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ore beliefs that inform it” (Heilke 199). According to these scholars (e.g. John P. Powelson, E.P. Thompson, Karl Polanyi) the ethical and moral concerns of the populace are central to the discussion on economic activity and reasoning (Heilke 199). Put simply, if a population does not agree with the visible practices of the market they will force the market to change. The keyword in that previous statement is the word “visible,” but I will discuss that at length below. Among the proponent scholars of this view, the prominence and influence of one individual, E.P. Thompson, informs the contemporary perspective of “moral economies.” First and foremost a historian, E.P. Thompson was, and still is, considered one of the most influential figures of the British New Left (Stevenson 92). =====

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In 1971, Thompson's seminal work, “The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century,” was published. It was a history of the eighteenth century riots in England through which he noted the powerful force that a population could be regardless of, or rather because of, their poverty. The one drawback to studying Thompson is “his overtly polemical style and his metaphoric use of comic exaggeration” (Ste =====

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venson 93) which lead to some confusion on the true intent of his piece versus his use of //reductio// //ad// //absurdum//.Therefore,as a warning to readers,the analysis here expressed must be taken with some skepticism.With this in mind, a standard definition for “moral economy” must be discerned. =====

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 According to Thompson, a "moral economy" is “ a consistent traditional view of social norms and obligations of the proper economic functions of several parties within the community” (79). The moral economy is a community which has certain expectations of economic “parties” within that community, and when these expectations are not met, the community retaliates, as was shown through the grain riots in eighteenth century =====

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 England (see Thompson 76-79). Moral economies, however, are not isolated to Europe, the New World has it's own history of moral econom =====

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ies, from indigenous trade to colonial towns, and from pioneer kinship settling the west to modern day examples. These historical accounts will shed light on the reality of the interaction between the populace and the market, and hopefully add to the increasingly growing opposition against the purely materialistic view of modern economics. =====

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 There is a dichotomy that exists in the current American culture of the Native American as either the mystic or the savage. This division continues the dismissal of native history as pre-history, and somehow less important. From the “mystic” idea arises a sentiment that Native American culture1 was open and egalitarian, and that the economies they operated were always moral. The reality is that Native Americans had histories with complex trade economies that operated within the ideals of justice and ethics, as described by Thompson in England, before contact with Europeans. =====

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 It is important to note that evidence, both historical and archaeological, describes wide gaps between the standards of living of the commoners and the elites, with the elites enjoying better nutrition, owning a larger percentage of material goods, and performing less strenuous activity overall (Salisbury 439). As with any society that has blatant inequalities, the “lack of morality” shown by leaders and central villages led to retaliation by the population. In the northeast and Midwest of the United States, the Iroquois and the Huron, among others, became =====

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 more belligerent and unstable as they formed alliances and fortifications (Salisbury 447). In the southeastern United States, the Cahokia went through “a pattern of instability prevailed that archaeologist David Anderson terms 'cycling',” which involves the =====

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rise of powerful cities that become the center for the culture, then collapse only to be replaced by a new city of the same culture (Salisbury 447). In the southwestern United States, the Anasazi and the Hohokam had made a practice of shifting their settlements, but in the fourteenth and fifteenth century they completely abandoned certain centers which could no longer support the common people (Salisbury 448). These massive abandonment coincides with the evidence that “centralized systems lost their ability to mobilize labor, redistribute goods, and coordinate religious ceremonies” (Salisbury 448). =====

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<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> The facts that have been discovered attest to the power of the Native American populace to shift and shape the economic practices of their societies. These are perfect examples of moral economies that still function within the slight (or not so slight) inequalities that we have come to expect in economic systems. Although the case for the inclusion of Native American history as part of the more generally accepted “American” history has been made thoroughly, many readers may disregard the previous examples as lacking in contribution to the modern economic environment, so the case must be made for more direct connections. =====

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<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> The most blatant example of colonial era moral economics is the Revolutionary War and the factors that led up to it. Everyone is familiar with the idea that taxation and limits on commerce led to the revolt that became the revolutionary war, that the colonists believed such governmental “intrusions” were unethical and immoral. Whether these would be considered great offenses by modern standards, or even by their contemporaries is irrelevant in the discussion of morality's role in the economics of the era. In fact, a large portion of the commerce in colonial America was conducted through “attempts of the colonists to evade the restrictions that England laid down for the control of navigation and commerce” such as smuggling and evasion of taxes (Andrews50). After the moral economic Revolution of Colonial America, there are many examples of morality and economy being intertwined in the early Republic. Analysis of two uprisings, Shays Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion, will undoubtedly prove the existence of moral economies during this well known period. =====

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<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> The scene needs to be set before a clear analysis can be made of the following rebellions. The revolution had been paid through credit, war-bonds, and printed paper currency which had to be repaid after the war had ended. As a result of the Confederacy's limitation on taxation and state sovereignty denoted in the Continental Congress, the separate states had to repay their debt through individual means. Rachel Parker writes: =====

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<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">“After the war, the separate states assumed responsibility for part of this debt, as the Confederation could not tax directly and the states jealously guarded their sovereignty. Massachusetts' debt was approximately $14 million, with over $5 million owed to the Confederation” =====

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<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">This gargantuan debt could only be repaid through the collection of taxes which took the form of =====

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<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> =====

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<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">property and poll taxes,placing a disproportionate burden on farmers with small holdings (Parker99). After peaceful requests to create more just means of “extraction” were ignored by the Massachusetts General Courts, on August 29, 1786, 1,500 men forcibly prevented the Northampton Court from meeting (Parker 100). This rebellion spread like wildfire under the leadership of Daniel Shays, until, through the use of non-local troops and militias, the rebellion was quelled and the rebels scattered (Parker 100). This rebellion became the prime example of the need for centralized taxation and pointed out the commercial and military weakness of the Confederation (Parker 101). A clear example of how a collective feeling of immoral**2** economic activity can lead to forceful action by the populace, Shays Rebellion is the most well known historical event that can be connected to moral economies. =====

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<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> The Whiskey Rebellion in Kentucky had a similar stage. With the same problems facing Kentucky, what was then still considered Virginia, that were facing the rest of the country including a debt incurred from the Revolutionary War and the failure of the Confederation, the excise tax on whiskey set by George Washington was the metaphorical last straw leading to a state-wide tax evasion and civil disobedience that would have made David Henry Thoreau proud (Bonsteel Tachau 240). The law required that all distilleries be registered and the tax would be set depending on the quantity of whiskey and the proof of said whiskey (Bonsteel Tachau 242). This allowed larger stills creating higher proof whiskeys to be taxed lower, leading to more outrage over the lack of fairness of the law (Bonsteel Tachau 243). As a result of these requirements, the people of Kentucky refused to be registered and/or refused to keep track of their volume in an almost universal push for change (Bonsteel Tachau 243). As time passed and changes had not occurred, the peaceful disobedience gave way to “sporadic acts of violence” some of which were as follows: “distillers stole collectors' records, attacked them in their sleep,threatened those who tried to inspect their stills, docked their horses' tails, and in at least one instance tarred a collector and rolled him in leaves” (Bonsteel Tachau 246). Bonsteel Tachau writes that “it was only after Jefferson's promise of repeal that the Kentucky distillers capitulated” (258). A promise of change in economic activity came, and the rebellion ceased, proving that the situation was an indisputable case of a moral economy. =====

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<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> The setting that we speak of is not the well known “wild west” or the pioneers in the wagons (although some of these people also had wagons) because that time period is too obvious in it's examples of moral economies. The outlaw west, the idea of the individual going out there and making a living while still being part of the market, all too well known. In an effort to avoid echoing other historians, this section will cover the Canadian-American west, the area of prairies in the northwestern United States which were settled between 1890 and 1920. The problem with documenting this period is “the interplay between authenticity and veracity... the 'ring of truth' versus the facts – details of dates, persons, and events”(Bennet and Kohl 2). However, any reputable historian can gather veracity out of elaborate descriptions of the past, and so in this way do Bennet and Kohl create a history of this time and place that is wholly reliable. =====

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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> It must be noted that many of the settlers of this “frontier” were, in fact, Anabaptist, making these communities sparse across the landscape and close-knit within themselves (Bennet and Kohl 39). The Anabaptist label includes communities of well known disassociation with the more general society such as the Hutterites, Amish, and Mennonites. The assumption being made here is that these communities already exist within an enclosed moral economy where everything is shared amongst the inhabitants of the enclave. Although unequal in their own right, the morality that dictates their economic activity is one of deep religious Christian faith. For more on these communities see //Hutterites in North America// by John Andrew Hostetler, John Huntington and Gertrude Enders Huntington. =====

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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">The settlers of this region lacked much in the way of economic activity when they began to organize. According to Bennet and Kohl, the settlers had to collectively petition or campaign in order to get basic services such as schools, post offices, and telephones (134). Most of the economy of the community was built by the people and self-managed in small communities with mutual obligations (Bennet and Kohl 123). Anyone who may have witnessed or lived in a rural community understands the pressure that arises in that same community to act in moral or ethical ways because some day one may need those same neighbors to help during hardship. This explains the fact that little in the way of rebellion or revolt occurs in the historical record. Moral economies have occurred this way throughout history, and as the population increases, the necessity for more blatant forms of dissent creates scars which become highly visible in the historical record. =====

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<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> In the spirit of J.R. McNeill I end this exploration of economic history with a simple question, so what? The importance of this topic might not seem relevant, but the truth is that the history of the United States affects all of us. The fact that the idea of a moral economy is barely a blip on the radar of contemporary students of history (which includes the entire student population) is a testament to the fact that complacency has become the norm and that the ideas of rebellion for what may seem to the populace as immoral economic actions, whether from the market or the government, are falling by the wayside. =====

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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> This article was meant to highlight the long history of economic fairness in the United States that seems to be forgotten by the general population. If this leads to people becoming more informed about the present in order to follow in the footsteps of our predecessors, then I have partially achieved my goal, but the true purpose of this piece is to get people to think about their past as a model for the present in such a way that will incite people to not only become informed but to become active. Whatever a person may believe, with information at their fingertips and a willingness to change for what they may believe is the better, it is possible to change society. Oscar Wilde once said: “ Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man's original virtue,” and this was my attempt at reigniting that virtue. =====

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**Notes**

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**1**The generalization of “Native American culture” is often used to encompass all the tribes, languages, cultures, and customs that lived in the American continent prior to contact and colonization. This term avoids the fact that all these groups of people were separate and different and were not homogeneous.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">**2** It is important to note that the author does not necessarily believe that any of the acts here described are “immoral” but rather that the populace of the time thought of them as immoral and therefore had an ethical obligation to resist.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">**Works** **Cited**
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Andrews, Charles M. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> 1914 Colonial Commerce. The American Historical Review 20(1):43-63

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Bennet, John W. and Seena B. Kohl <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> 1995 Settling the Canadian-American West, 1890-1915: Pioneer Adaptation and Community Building : an Anthropological History. Lincoln: University <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> of Nebraska Press

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Bonsteel Tachau, Mary K. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> 1982 The Whiskey Rebellion in Kentucky: A Forgotten Episode of Civil Disobedience. Journal of the Early Republic 2(3):239-259

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Heilke,Thomas <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> 1997 Locating a Moral/Political Economy: Lessons from Sixteenth-Century Anabaptism. Polity 30(2):199-229

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Stevenson,Nick <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> 1995 Culture, Ideology and Socialism. Brookfield,VT:Avebury.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Salisbury, Neil <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> 1996 The Indians' Old World: Native Americans and the Coming of Europeans. The William and Mary Quarterly 53(3):435-458

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;">Thompson,E.P. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"> 1971 The Moral Economy of the English Crowd in the Eighteenth Century. Past & Present 50:76-136

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">Parker, Rachel R. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;"> 1991 Shays' Rebellion: An Episode in American State-Making. Sociological Perspectives 34(1):95-113