Rev 7: Toqueville

His other classic work, The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856), describes how govt policies & conflicts btwn the upper class & other classes caused the Fr Rev (1789-1799)

Tocqueville believed the frontier experience encouraged the development of certain "American" characteristics such as independence, industriousness, political participation, patriotism, etc.

The continual pursuit of a better life made Americans more restless than their European ancestors

Tocqueville remarked that in America "a man builds a house to spend his old age, and he sells it before the roof is on. . . . He brings a field into tillage and leaves other men to gather the crops; he embraces a profession and gives it up; he settles in a place, which he soon afterwards leaves to carry his changeable longings elsewhere."

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Alexis de Tocqueville

1805 - 1859

Tocqueville was born in Paris into an aristocratic family.

He served in the Fr legislature from 1839 to 1851 & briefly held the post of foreign minister in 1849

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Outline on Tocqueville: Democracy in America

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- Project: Tocqueville on Democracy in America

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- Project: Is Democracy Sacred?

- Project: Freedom of the Press

Tocqueville (Toc) compared the aristocratic forms of govt & society in various European nations (esp Fr) w/ the democratic forms of govt & society in the US, Fr, & Engl

Early on, Toc was convinced that the advancement of democracy was inevitable though he feared that the victory of the people (demos) would erode or destroy aristocratic values & instits

For Toc, the hist of the rise of democ in Fr showed him that the rise of the masses could pave the way to despotism since the Fr Rev of 1789 had culminated in the Napoleonic dictatorship; & Napoleon's nephew, Louis Bonaparte, seized power by for after the revs of 1848

See Also: Montesquieu

In Am, the middle class pioneers militated against the formation of a landed aristocracy

The freedom of the middle & lower classes & their establishment of democ was a new historical phenomenon

The settlers shared:
- class origin
- religion (through religious tolerance)
- language
- political creed

Am's democ instits were the strongest in New Engl where people direct their own public affairs

Toc was not blind to the oppressive side of democ in Am, notably the narrow sectarian spirit of the Puritanical laws

In Am he saw that the same areas that had sectarian laws, maintained the democ virtues of
- personal liberty
- trial by jury
- accountability of elected officials
- decentralized govt
- autonomous local govt

In Am, the community had no tradition of a distinction of rank, no portion of the community is tempted to oppress the remainder, & wrongs are forgotten & general contentment prevails

In Fr, the classes are hostile towards each other

In Am, there was an absence of a strong, centralized bureaucracy, & no pursuit of military adventurism for the sake of glory alone

Toc believed that a centralized bureaucracy inevitably becomes the absolute master of liberty & life

In Am, people accomplish their tasks by & for themselves & the autonomous local & provincial instits allow for individual initiative & private enterprise

Fr was vulnerable to despotism because organized local power that could resist had been weakened by the monarchy & then by the democ rev

For Toc, democ flourished in Am because of:
- the existence of provincial & local autonomy
- political checks & balances
- constitutionalism
- a plurality of autonomous social bases of power
- the three independent branches of govt
- freedom of the press
- freedom of speech
- freedom of assembly

- Project: Freedom of the Press: In relation to the freedom of the press, does the right of a reporter to guarantee confidentiality of his or her source increase the freedom of the press?

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Outline on the French Revolution

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- Video: The French Rev

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- Video Project: The French Rev

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- Project: Comparing Revolutions

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PRE REVOLUTION CONDITIONS

The French Revolution (FR) lasted from 1789 to 1799, & had far reaching effects on the rest of Europe

The FR brought about great changes in the society & govt of France

The FR introduced democratic ideals to France but did not make the nation a democracy

However, the FR did end supreme rule by French kings & strengthened the middle class

After the revolution began, no European kings, nobles, or other privileged groups could ever again take their powers for granted or ignore the ideals of liberty & equality

The 100 yrs. of the Fr transition to democracy was extremely violent & it was not until the late 1800s that stability returned Napoleon III was defeated by Prussia in 1870

Various social, political, & economic conditions led to the FR

The conditions which led to the FR included dissatisfaction among the lower & middle classes, interest in new ideas about govt, & financial problems caused by the costs of wars

During the time of the FR, legal divisions among social groups that had existed for hundreds of years created much discontent

THE THREE ESTATES OR CLASSES

According to law, French society consisted of three groups called estates

Members of the clergy made up the first estate, nobles the second, & the rest of the people the third

The peasants formed the largest group in the third estate

Many of the peasants in France in the 1700s earned so little that they could barely feed their families

The third estate also included the working people of the cities & a large & prosperous middle class made up chiefly of merchants, lawyers, & govt officials

The third estate resented certain advantages of the first two estates

The clergy & nobles did not have to pay most taxes

The third estate, especially the peasants, had to provide almost all the country's tax revenue

At the time of the Fr Rev, many members of the middle class were also troubled by their social status because while they were among the most important people in French society, they were not recognized as such because they belonged to the third estate

The new ideas about govt challenged France's absolute monarchy

At the time of the Fr Rev, under the Fr monarchical system, the king had almost unlimited authority

The Fr King governed by divine right, that is, the monarch's right to rule was thought to come from god

There were checks on the king, but these came mainly from a few groups of aristocrats in the parliaments (high courts)

During the 1700's, French writers called philosophes & philosophers from other countries raised new ideas about freedom

Some of these thinkers, including Jean Jacques Rousseau, suggested that the right to govern came from the people

CRISIS

The Fr Rev began w/ a govt financial crisis but quickly became a movement of reform & violent change

The financial crisis developed because the nation had gone deeply into debt to finance fighting in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) & the Revolutionary War in America (1775-1783)

By 1788, the govt was almost bankrupt, but the Parliament of Paris insisted that King Louis XVI could borrow more money or raise taxes only by calling a meeting of the Estates General

The Estates General was made up of representatives of the three estates, & had last met in 1614 & the king unwillingly called the meeting

The third estate, the peasants, insisted that all the estates be merged into one national assembly & that each representative have one vote & it also wanted the Estates General to write a constitution

The king & the first two estates, the clergy & the nobles, refused the demands of the third estate, the peasants

	THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF FRANCE
	In June 1789, the representatives of the third estate declared themselves the National Assembly of France & gathered at a tennis court & pledged not to disband until they had written a constitution
	The vow of the third estate to form a constitution became known as the Oath of the Tennis Court
	Louis XVI then allowed the three estates to join together as the National Assembly, but at the same time began to gather troops to break up the Assembly
	While the National Assembly negotiated a constitution & while King Louis secretly gathered troops, the masses of France also took action by gathering at the Bastille
	STORMING THE BASTILLE & PEASANT UPRISINGS
	In July, 1789, a huge crowd of Parisians rushed to the Bastille, a royal fortress & hated symbol of oppression
	The masses believed they would find arms & ammunition there for use in defending themselves against the king's army
	The people captured the Bastille & began to tear it down & at the same time, leaders in Paris formed a revolutionary city govt
	Massive peasant uprisings against nobles also broke out in the countryside
	A few nobles, who were called émigrés because they emigrated, decided to flee France & many more followed in the next five yrs
	The uprisings in town & countryside saved the National Assembly from being disbanded by the king
	During the rev, Fr armies suffered military defeats & Parisians feared that the invading armies would soon invade the city
	Parisians also feared an uprising by the large number of people in the city's prisons
	In August 1789, the Assembly adopted the Decrees of August 4 & the Declaration of the Rights of Man & of the Citizen which abolished some feudal dues that the peasants owed their landlords, the tax advantages of the clergy & nobles, & regional privileges
	The declaration guaranteed the same basic rights to all citizens, including "liberty, property, security, & resistance to oppression" as well as representative govt
	The Assembly later drafted a constitution that made Fr a limited monarchy w/ a one house legislature
	THE REIGN OF TERROR
	In the first week of September, small numbers of Parisians took the law into their own hands & executed more than 1,000 prisoners
	In 1789, the "September Massacres" occurred when ordinary citizens in France executed over 1,000 prisoners who were mostly clergy & nobles
	The September Massacres turned many people in France & Europe against the revolution
	After the September Massacres, a series of elected legislatures then took control of the govt
	King Louis XVI & his wife, Marie Antoinette, were executed
	Thousands of others met their death in a period called the Reign of Terror
	The new invention of the guillotine sped up the mass execution process & the streets flowed w/ blood
	The term "terrorism" originated from the Reign of Terror that characterized the Fr Rev
	While the modern form of terrorism has been around for millennium, it is during this period of violence in the Fr Rev that the term terrorism came into usage
	The Assembly seized the property of the Roman Catholic Church
	THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
	By September 1791, the National Assembly believed that the rev was over & it disbanded at the end of the month to make way for the newly elected Legislative Assembly
	The new Assembly, made up mainly of representatives of the middle class, opened in Oct. of 1791
	The New Assembly faced the challenges of creating internal stability as well as facing a foreign threat
	Stability during the FR depended on the cooperation btwn the King & the Assembly but Louis remained opposed & so he asked other rulers for help in stopping it, & plotted w/ aristocrats & émigrés to overthrow the new govt
	Public opinion became bitterly divided: the revolution's religious policy angered many Catholics while other people demanded stronger measures against opponents of the revolution.
	In April 1792, the new govt went to war against Austria & Prussia & these nations wished to restore the king & émigrés to their positions
	While Louis XVI & his supporters clearly hoped for the victory of the invaders, the foreign armies defeated Fr forces in the early fighting & invaded Fr
	As a result of the defeat of the French armies, angry revolutionaries in Paris & other areas demanded that the king be dethroned & in August 1792, the people of Paris took custody of Louis XVI & his family & imprisoned them
	Louis's removal ended the constitutional monarchy & the Assembly then called for a National Convention to be chosen in an election open to nearly all French males age 21 or older, & for a new constitution
	In Sept 1792, Fr forces defeated a Prussian army in the Battle of Valmy, which prevented the Prussians from advancing on Paris, helped end the crisis
	In time, the radicals began to struggle for power among themselves
	Most of the democratic reforms of the past two years were abolished in what became known as the Thermidorian Reaction
	The Convention replaced the democratic constitution it had adopted in 1793 w/ a new one in 1795
	W/ the 1795 Constitution, France was still a republic, but once again only citizens who paid a certain amount of taxes could vote
	The revolution ended when Napoleon Bonaparte, a French general, took over the govt in Nov of 1799
	The Fr Rev brought France into opposition w/ much of Europe because the monarchs who ruled the other nations feared the spread of democratic ideals
	The revolution left the Fr people in extreme disagreement about the best form of govt for their country but the revolution created the long lasting foundations for a unified state, a strong central govt, & a free society dominated by the middle class & the landowners
	ANALYSIS OF THE FRENCH REV
	LeBon studied the collective behavior of the people & offered theories to explain the crowd behavior & violence in his study, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind, 1895
	LeBon noted that in the French Revolts, people engaged in criminal acts were cheered & they later demanded medals for their patriotism, & he thought this was irrational behavior
	"May you be cursed to live in interesting times"
	France had irreversibly changed in almost every way during the period from the Fr Rev of 1789 & LeBon thought much of this was due to social contagion
	The Fr Rev is seen as historically important because, as Tocqueville noted, the freedoms, etc. which the rev embraced were a historically new model for society
	The Fr Rev validates many of Farley's necessary conditions for rev in that:
	- the peasants, the third estate, was dissatisfied because of high taxes, poverty, oppression of the populace by the military, etc.
	- while communications were difficult in the late 1700s, it was still possible given the mail, newspapers, etc. & since much of the rev occurred in the cities, the people were close to each other
	- the people & leaders had survived several attempts at repression by the French monarchy
	- while the people feared the French Monarchy because it was so powerful, they had their beliefs in justice & equality to inspire them
	- the French peasants had barely adequate resources, but were bolstered by the support of the bourgeoisie class
	The FR validates many of Marx's factors affecting rev in that
	- the French peasants experienced the contradiction of monarchical feudalism & democratic capitalism
	- the French peasants had class consciousness in that they understood the contradiction because the French Enlightenment had spread ideals of individualism, freedom, etc. to the general populace
	- the historical circumstances of the weakness of the French Monarchy, the rise of the bourgeoisie class, & the loss of wars by the French all contributed to the success of the French Rev
	- the French peasants had a strong political org in the form of the Parisian govts
	- there was a high level of class conflict btwn the clergy, the monarchy, the peasants, & the bourgeoisie & the clergy & the monarchy banded together while the peasants, & the bourgeoisie banded together
	The Fr Rev validates Johnson's theory in that 18th century France was in disequilibrium because of the contradiction btwn democratic & free mkt values, & the econ system, btwn monarchical values & econ system, & democratic values & econ system
	Johnson notes that loss in a war sets the old regime up for rev, & in the case of the French Rev, they had - lost the Seven Years War - lost the French & Indian War - gone into debt funding the Am Rev War - won some & lost some battles during the actual FR from 1789 to 1799

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Outline on Tocqueville: The Old Regime & the French Revolution

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In the The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856), Tocqueville (Toc) explores class relations in Fr finding that the Fr Rev occurred because the middle class & the peasants had some vision of what freedom could be & resented the rights & lack of responsibility of the aristocrats

For Toc, to understand the Fr Rev, one needed to understand class relations in Fr among the Monarchy, the nobles, the clergy, the bourgeoisie, & the peasants

While in Democracy in America (1835-1840) Toc often referred to aristocrats & democrats, in the Old Regime, he examines specific classes & the relations btwn them using a comparative, socio hist approach

The Fr Rev was the violent end of a long histl process & the beginning of a revolutionary mvmt that continued throughout the 1800s

Toc believed that even if the Fr Rev of 1789 had never occurred, the old order would have collapsed

Toc found that even though more oppressive feudal relations existed in the rest of continental Europe, the rev occurred in Fr because of specific conditions there

The Fr peasantry had mostly become minor land owners as their ancestors had bought the land the Church & the nobility had parceled out during the Rev

So the main effect of the Rev of 1789 was not to create a peasant class of landowners but to increase the size of their holdings & to transfer the land from feudal to bourgeois hands

The peasants could not reap the benefits of land ownership because they paid heavy taxes because the nobles & the Church were tax exempt

In the past the nobles had provided protection for the peasants, & had administered justice, but before the Rev, they did neither & thus the peasants resented them

The Church had also retained its feudal rights & had allied itself w/ the nobles, thus engendering peasant resentment

Thus it was the emancipation of the Fr peasant which made him so resentful because they could see the burdens they still shouldered & the rights & privileges of the nobles & the Church, which in turned had shed their feudal duties

The peasants sank everything they had into their small parcels of land but were constantly taxed & tolled & faced w/ the privileges of the nobles who shouldered no responsibility

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Outline on Tocqueville: The Monarchy's Centralization of Power

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While the partial enfranchisement of the Fr peasants in the face of noble privileges was a major cause of the Fr Rev, the concentration of admin power under the Monarchy was another factor

Before the Fr Rev, the power the nobility lost was acquired by the monarchy & its bourgeois officials

Before the Fr Rev, the Royal Council was an imp force in ruling Fr & it was composed not of seigniorial lords, but of middle class bureaucrats

Thus what had been the lord's obligation to the peasant, to contribute to the orderly admin of the state, now came under the control of the centralized state, which was staffed by middle class bureaucrats, many whom had purchased their position or inherited it from their middle class father

The state bureaucracy not only usurped the lord's trad functions, thereby undermining his rapport w/ the peasants, but also increased the econ burden on them

As the local & regional govts came under the control of the centralized state, the people lost interest in self governance

The state bureaucracy became very inefficient & eventually succeeded in eliminating all forms of authority btwn the centralized state & the individual

Under this system of state bureaucratization, the noble & the bourgeois bureaucrat came to resemble each other as the nobles lost trad forms of wealth & the bourgeoisie became wealthier than the noble

But the bourgeoisie were becoming more hostile toward the nobles because they, like the peasants, resented the tax exemptions & other privileges of the nobles

Where feudalism in Euro lead to an aristocracy of birth & blood, a closed & rigid caste, in Engl it evolved into an open & flexible aristocracy

In Engl, nobles & commoners had not only joined forces in business & politics, they also intermarried

In Fr, the nobles & the mid class became not only rivals, but enemies

The enfranchisement of the mid class increased class hostility in Fr not because the barriers were insurmountable, but because the barriers were a visible & blatant source of animosity

While the Engl aristocracy took up the public tasks so that they would be allowed to govern, the Fr nobles retained only their rights, but none of their obligations

The Fr peasants were cold shouldered & looked down upon, & yet were forced to bear the real burdens of taxes, military service & corvee labor

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Outline on Tocqueville: The Philosophers of the French Revolution

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For Tocqueville, the Fr Rev occurred because the nobles retained their rights while escaping their obligations, because the peasants had limited enfranchisement, but bore heavy tax & corvee burdens, because the state bureaucracy made admin of the state inefficient & benefits mostly the bourgeoisie who staffed it, & because the philosophers provided the peasants & the bourgeoisie w/ revolutionary ideas & ideals

The Fr philosophers of time of the Fr Rev are often know as the philosophes

The philosophers were Fr men of letters who were removed from practical & political life & who yet criticized Fr society, offering radical, revolutionary ideas in its stead

Under the influence of the philosophers, everyone, including the nobles & the Monarchy, pointed to the unreasonableness of the existing instits, demanding reforms based on the rule of reason & natural laws

The choices in pre rev Fr were to either support the status quo or to destroy everything

Because the nobles lost their ability to govern, they also lost their ability to guide public opinion & the philosophers filled the gap w/ no one challenging them

While the philosophers were offering radical ideas that challenged the status quo, the nobility considered them to be a vital part of the system because of their trad support of arts & letters

The nobles & the Monarchy were oblivious to the threat from the bourgeoisie & the peasants still focusing of the threats they presented to each other

The Monarchy & the nobles had lost touch w/ the people & had no realization of the people's estrangement from the status quo nor their acceptance & pursuit of the ideas of the philosophers

The people had become equally estranged from religion & the Church due to that instit's allegiance w/ the aristocracy & retention of feudal privileges

W/ the decline of religion, the new secular ideas of the philosopherswere readily accepted fundamentally transforming the social order to a new worldly faith, & faith in the masses

Zeitlin says, during the period leading up to the Fr Rev, & as a result of the Fr Rev, "For the first time in history both temporal & religious authorities were attacked & destroyed at once"

Temporal & religious authorities were replaced because the doctrine of the philosophers was readily available & offered real alternatives to the status quo ideology

The doctrine of the philosophers also created a new class, that of the professional revolutionary

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Outline on Tocqueville: Prosperity & the French Revolution

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- Project: Tocqueville on the Fr Rev, Monarchy's Power, the Philosphers, & Prosperity

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Tocqueville (Toc) notes that the reign of Louis XVI was very prosperous & that prosperity hastened its demise because it created wealth that was used to support the poor who wanted not charity but freedom from taxes & corvee

The bureaucrats of the centralized state bureaucracy, the Intendants, increased prosperity by building roads, canals, bridges & other infrastructure to aid commerce

Toc observed that where freedom, wealth, & reforms were greatest, so was rev fervor & where the old regime was firmly entrenched, there was resistance to the Rev

The aristocrats borrowed from the bourgeoisie to finance their extravagant lifestyle & by the time of the Rev were heavily in debt & defaulting even on interest pmts

The bourgeoisie were gaining a taste for luxurious living & so required disposable wealth & because the aristocrats were not capable of paying their debts, the bourgeoisie become resentful

It was the aristocrats, as well as the Philosophes, who imparted a rev consciousness to the masses when, for example they suspended corvee, some taxes, & guild monopolies because these were unfair burdens, & then a few month later, reinstated them

The suspension of feudal obligations on the mid & lower classes followed by the reinstatement of these obligations enflamed rev sentiments

The elites taught the mid & lo classes that the elites were responsible for their suffering & that the elites were not going to voluntarily rescind the obligations they foisted upon the mid & lo classes

The elites continued to show contempt for the mid & lo classes, conducting themselves w/ a mixture of sympathy & contempt that enflamed rev passions

Toc's exploration of the relationship btwn rev or riots or other social upheavals & prosperity uncovers an imp insight that is still considered valid today in, for example, the theory of rising expectations

The theory of rising expectations says that social change is more likely to occur when people see things getting better, & expect them to get better

When people see their situation improving, & then they see a roadblock to continued improvement, they are more likely to take social action to remove the roadblock

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Outline on Tocqueville: The Three Races in the US

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Tocqueville (Toc) rejected racism in the US against both Afro Americans & Native Americans, & condemned slavery as violently inhumane & as an instit that harmed the moral fabric & the mercantile life of non slaves

Toc was responding to racists of his time such as Count Gobineau

For Toc, the races appeared distinct not because of their outward characteristics but more because of their culture & education

The Native Ams & the blacks had been forced into inferior positions by conquest & then subject to tyranny & worse at the hands of the whites

Slavery dehumanized blacks by depriving them of all privileges of humanity: their hist memories, the family, their language, customs, even their names

Nat Am's whole way of life was undermined as tribes were expelled from their land

Toc recognized that the real aim of the Am govt was expulsion of the Native Ams & thus the govt broke all of its treaties

Toc essentially predicted a civil war due to the inequality inherent in the slave system

Toc noted that the slavery in antiquity was very different from the slavery of the modern world system in his era

Tocqueville noted that the slavery in antiquity:
- had masters & slaves of the same color
- has slaves who were often superior to their masters in ed & culture
- allowed for the conferring of freedom upon a slave
- allowed for full enfranchisement for freed slaves
- had former slaves w/ no outward sign of their formerly servile status

Tocqueville noted that the slavery in the modern world system:
- disenfranchised those slaves who were freed
- had slaves that could never shed their badge of servility
- had slaves that transmitted his servile status to all their descendants
- eventually outlawed any freeing of slaves

Prejudice in the North was often worse than in the South because Northerners shunned even freed slaves

Slavery was based on violence, oppression, & even genocide

Slavery was detrimental to the masters & to non slave white, or any color, workers

Slavery destroyed the dignity of labor in that a white farmer was seen as doing the same work as the black slave, & because masters maligned the status of slaves, the resulting low status was also conferred onto white workers who performed the same kind of labor

The absence of the social relations of slavery, & its effect on the free population, allowed the North to develop commercially & industrially while the South did not

While the negative social, cultural, moral, & economic effects of slavery which Toc wrote about are well known today, during his time these ideas were at once enlightening, shocking, & radical, spawning both acclamation & hostility

New European immigrants went only to the free states, fearing a country where labor had no honor & not wanting to compete w/ slave labor

Other writers have noted that investment factors related to slavery also impacted commercial & indl dev in that while Southerners invested in slavery, which was a system which could not make gains in efficiency, Northerners invested in tech, industry, & so on where increase in efficiency could be made

Toc believed that it was a social law that wages will rise w/ the further advance of equality

But Toc did recognize that there was a division forming among the free people btwn those who owned property & those who owned only their labor

Toc believed that the distinction btwn land owner, capital owner, & worker would disappear in Am just as he hoped slavery would

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Outline of a Socio Historical Overview of Race

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Summary: Racism does not develop until significantly after "civilization" begins and racism, in it's modern form, does not develop until the early Middle Ages; thus humans have spent 99+ % of existence in non racist, societies & less than 1,000 yrs. of history w/ racism

1. Geologic era

5 bb BP -
5 mm BP

Race &
Socio Biology

2. Pre human evolution

5 mm BP -
1.5 mm BP

Races emerge

3. Race relations in H-G society

1.5 mm BP -
10k BC

Racial equality: 99 % of human existence has
occurred in hunter gatherer society
Racism has existed for less than 1 % of human existence

4. Race relations in Pre empire era

10K BC -
3k BC

Slavery begins, based on punishment or conquest but not based on race ( Patriarchy & sexism begins )

5. Race relations in Early Empires Era

3K BC -
200 BC

Slavery is common, but based on punishment or conquest, not race

6. Race relations in Roman Era

200 BC -
500 AD

Slavery is common, but based on punishment/conquest, not race

7. Race relations in the Middle Ages

500 AD -
1300

The Modern form of ideological Racism began & is justified by religion. During the Middle Ages Christian ideology justifies racism, & both are used to justify imperialism

Racism, as we know it today, began during the Middle Ages
Slavery & Racism before the Middle Ages may be thought of as Conquest Slavery, whereas after the Middle Ages it may be thought of at Ideological Slavery
Thus, racism has existed for less than 1 % of human existence

8. Race in the Early industrial age

1300 -
1700

Modern international slave system begins. As society nears the industrial revolution, much of racism became based on Social Darwinism as well as Christianity

9. Race in the Industrial age

1700 -
present

Slavery & racism begin to decline and Tubman, Douglas are important leaders

10. Race under Era of Global Capitalism

1910 -
present

1950s & 60s Civil Rights Movement began & had it's greatest success
MLK, Malcom X, Jackson, et al

11. Race in Post Industrial Society

1970 -
present

- a non-white middle class forms
- the use of affirmative action declines

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Outline on Race in Hunter Gatherer Society circa 1.5 mm BP - 10 K BC

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Race relations in Hunter Gatherer (HG) Society had no ideology (world view or understanding) of racial differentiation

People were not racist in that they were just as likely to fear or welcome people of any color, religion, etc.

HG tribes were so differentiated & isolated that all were encountered w/ caution & in light of their own ideology: warrior, pastoral, harvester, etc.

Tribes could wander for decades btwn encounters w/ other peoples

In the HG era, conflicts were not based on race because there were very few conflicts, because there was no surplus to be gained, population was low & the technology of hand to hand combat prevented any overwhelming advantages

During the HG era, social differences ( including race) btwn tribes were often welcomed

Because of inbreeding, isolation, etc., tribes often welcomed encounters w/ other tribes

Isolation & inbreeding was recognized as a problem by HG people and therefore, people often welcomed, celebrated w/, & intermarried w/ other tribes & races

During the HG Era, & later, people would arrange marriages & other trades in order to "bring in fresh blood," which today we recognize as diversifying the gene pool

Because humanity has spent 99 % of its existence in HG society & because race was not an issue in HG society, for over 99 % of human existence, race relations were harmonious, thus, racial conflict IS NOT "natural"

There was no slavery during the HG era

As population, "turf" pressure, & agricultural development increased, hostility btwn tribes increased

But discrimination & conflict was not based on race, but opportunity & conquest as seen in the adage: "An enemy of my enemy is my friend," & this was true regardless of race

Land, power, etc., were more important than race & this relationship did not change from a conquest orientation to an ideological orientation until the Middle Ages

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Outline on Race Relations in the Pre Empires Era circa 10 K BC - 3 K BC

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- Project: The Difference in Race Relations Today & in the Pre Empires Era

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SLAVERY BEGINS

Slavery begins along w/ "history" or "civilization" & agriculture

History, civilization, slavery, etc. begins w/ early, barely known civilizations that preceded the Egyptians, Sumerians & other early civilizations

In the Pre Empires Era, tribal societies are just forming into sedentary societies & it takes another 6 K yrs before Egyptians, etc. buy into it all

Advances in human society & technology allowed "surpluses" to be created

One person could produce more than they needed to consume

Therefore, one person could hire or enslave another to work for them & profit from it

Thus slavery is an economic relationship

But, like in the Hunter Gatherer Era, slavery was not based on race

CONQUEST

In the Pre Empires Era, slavery was based on conquest

The outcomes of conquest might include anything such as ...
- mass murder
- genocide
- partial to full enslavement
- paying tribute
- enslaving low as well as high level workers
- pillaging
- simply conquering & moving on

IDEOLOGY

In any system of exploitation, there is always an ideology ( world view or set of ideas ) that supports it

It is through the ideological system that the economic exploitation or relationship is disguised, often as one of race, religion or nationalism

It is the ideology of conquest that supports slavery in the Pre Empires Era, not racism per se ( i.e. genetic or developmental inferiority ) that is the justification of slavery

An ideology of modern, genetics based racism does not occur until the Middle Ages

The ideology of the Pre Empires Era was that the victors have the right to rule the vanquished, but there are still strong individuals w/in a defeated society

The ideology of the Pre Empires Era was, "I conquered, I may exploit you." accompanied w/ a respect for the enemy

The next period, the Early Empires Era, witnesses the continuation of slavery based on conquest, not race

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Outline on Race Relations in the Middle Ages circa 500 AD - 1300 AD

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CONQUEST BASED SLAVERY TRANSFORMS TO SLAVERY BASED ON IDEOLOGY RESULTING IN MORE SLAVERY & MORE OPPRESSIVE SLAVERY

Introduction: Race relations in the Middle Ages transformed from the relatively "tolerant" ideology & relations prevalent since the HG Era into modern forms of racist ideology & global slave trade

The previous era, the Era of the Roman Empire ( 200 BC to 500 AD ) was characterized by relatively tolerant race relations

Previous to the mid ages, slavery was based on who was conquered, regardless of race & thus slavery was decoupled from race resulting in the many early racially tolerant societies

Conquest based slavery was less widespread than the slavery which develops in the mid ages because it was limited to times of war/conquest, which admittedly were common, but not as common as the global slave trade which developed in the mid ages

Conquest based slavery was less oppressive that the ideological slavery of the mid ages & the modern eras because many conquered people were still able to buy or work their way out of slavery &

Under conquest based slavery, the enslaved was not considered inferior; in fact it was recognized that some slaves had very important skills as when a teacher or craftsperson was conquered & enslaved

IDEOLOGICALLY BASED GLOBAL SLAVE TRADE DEHUMANIZES & EXPLOITS SLAVES TO A GREATER EXTENT THAN CONQUEST BASED SLAVERY BECAUSE EMPIRES NEED TO JUSTIFY GREATER CONQUEST & GENOCIDE

As the Age of Exploration begins & thus global capitalism begins, international trade begins, the modern form of slave trade begins

The origins of modern versions of racism & global slave trade begin w/ Age of Exploration in the Middle Ages

During the Middle Ages, people / slaves become a commodity

The emerging European Powers utilized an ideological justification of slavery / discrimination, especially religious, racist, & conquest / imperialist ideologies

The ideological justification of racism/slavery begins circa 1000 AD

Circa 1000 AD ideological racism emerges along w/ slave trade using both Biblical & imperialistic justification of colonization & the slave trade begins as a global social institution

Thus, modern relations of tension / conflict among the races has existed for less than 1000 years

Religion & racism interact w/ the result being the ideology that "primitives" may be converted & have their souls saved

There is little mention of race in the Bible, yet religions' interaction w/ other social structures has often resulted in the call to evangelize/convert a particular group of people

Papal determinations were made & if a people were found to have a soul, the Church would sanction conversion

During the middle ages, if a people were found to not have a soul, the Church would sanction enslavement or genocide

The next era, the Early Industrial Age ( 500 to 1300 ), has little change in the nature of race relations, but there is huge & tragic growth in the global slave trade

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Outline on Race in the Early Industrial Age circa 1300 - 1700

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Beginning in the 1500s, the genocide of Native Americans occurs which has many similarities to the genocide of peoples throughout Age of Exploration

Throughout the Age of Exploration, the international slave trade continues, and grows to become a large scale phenomenon

In 1607, the first slaves were brought to the U.S.

In 1688, the earliest protest formally voiced in colonial America was the Germantown Mennonite Resolution Against Slavery

In 1776, the final version as accepted by Congress of the Declaration of Independence: omitted this paragraph written by Jefferson: "He has waged cruel war against human nature, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither..."

In 1787, the US Constitution provides for the extension of slavery for a 20 year period & contains the "three fifths compromise"

In 1791, the Bill of Rights was intended to protect particular rights of all people

In 1799, Washington's Last Will & Testament frees his slaves & reflects concern for the financial welfare & education of former slaves

Europe eliminates slavery, but the young US continues to enact compromises that allow it to continue into the 1800s eventually erupting in the Civil War & the end of slavery

The next period, the Industrial Age, witnesses the advent of Social Darwinism, & the beginning of the decline of the modern slave systems

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Outline on Race in the Industrial Age circa 1700 - present

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In the 1800s, Social Darwinism replaces religious / exploration conquest ideology as the major ideology supporting slavery, racism, exploitation, etc.

Social Darwinism offers false scientific justification for discrimination, genocide, & colonization

In 1863, President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation declared the slaves "forever free"

In 1869, the 15th Amendment was passed and ratified in 1870, giving Black Men the right to vote (Women get the vote in 1920)

In the 1860s, President Johnson institutes Jim Crow laws creating American Apartheid against the vision of the late President Lincoln

The KKK forms & institutes a war of terror against Blacks, & later, other groups, through lynchings, assault & other tactics of intimidation

Employers utilize split labor market tactics to pit workers of one race against workers of another race

Split labor market tactics are used to keep wages low, prevent workers from seeing their common experience of exploitation, & thus prevent unionization

Frederick Douglas ( 1817 - 1895 ) was an eloquent abolitionist who lived as a slave until he escaped to freedom at age 21, where upon he was appointed to the position of US Marshal for Washington DC, & he was also a newspaper editor, public speaker, & diplomat

Harriet Tubman was a black abolitionist who was a leader in the Underground Railroad

Sojourner Truth

WEB Du Bois ( 1868 - 1963 ) was a Professor who educated the US on race & analyzed the migration of Blacks to North & developed an early understanding of the split labor market theory

Du Bois taught history, sociology, & political science & was one of the founders of the NAACP & editor of its "Crisis Magazine"

In 1871 in Los Angeles, mobs attacked Chinese over the issue of jobs

A BRIEF HISTORY OF CIVIL RIGHTS

A brief history of early, significant Civil Rights Events:

In 1807, the Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves passes Congress

In 1819-21, the Missouri Compromise is struck

In 1827 the Inaugural Edition of Freedom's Journal, the first African American Newspaper in the US, is published
Freedom's Journal is owned & edited by Samuel Cornish & John B Russwurm

In 1831 The Liberator, the most Famous Abolitionist Newspaper in the US, was founded by Lloyd Garrison who was white

In 1847 The Abolitionist operates under the direction of Frederick Douglas

1850 The Compromise of 1850 contained the Fugitive Slave Act

In 1852 Frederick Douglas gives his famous Independence Day Address entitled "What to the Slaves is the Fourth of July?"

In 1854 the Kansas Nebraska Act is passed

In 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation is given

In 1865 the Freedmen's Bureau provided basic health & educational services for freed men

In 1865 the 13th Amendment abolishes slavery

In 1866 the Civil Rights Act is designed to protect freed men from the Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws & other repressive legislation

In 1868 the 14th Amendment defined US Citizenship for ex slaves

In 1870 the 15th Amendment established the right to vote for ex slaves

In 1875 the Civil Rights Act prohibited racial discrimination in public accommodation

In 1895 Booker T Washington gives his famous "Atlanta Compromise" speech

The next period, the Global Capitalism Era, witnesses the dismantling of American Apartheid, & the beginning to the end of discrimination

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Outline on Race in the Age of Global Capitalism circa 1910 - present

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- Supplement: Senate Committee Approves Sweeping Immigration Bill, Kingsport Times, News, March 28, 2006, p 3A

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Summary: The period of Global Capitalism witnesses the dismantling of American Apartheid, & the beginning of the end of discrimination

In the Age of Global Capitalism, there is less physical violence based on racism today than in the past

Racist mobs attack Blacks, Asians, etc. for economic reasons, justified by racist ideologies based on Social Darwinism & religious beliefs

Many racial attacks & harassments are coordinated or incited by the KKK & related orgs

1908-21 mobs attack blacks in dozens of US cities

In 1922, Marcus Garvey gives the Universal Negro Improvement Association Speech in NYC, & this organization becomes the Negro Nationalist Movement

From 1937-1945 the Holocaust took place in Europe

The economic base of Nazism necessitated the Holocaust, & was justified by the racist ideology of Aryan superiority

The US knew about the Holocaust but chose to look the other way because of American Anti Semitism, lack of public political will, & a reluctance to enter WW 2

An analysis of the early discrimination in unions shows that early in their development, many American unions, but not all, were discriminatory / racist

The UMWA was not discriminatory

Unions also discriminated against women & other groups because many early US unions were dominated by a WASP patriarchy

The UMWA had accepted many ethnicities & races of miners from its inception

Liberal & Radical Union leaders had been assassinated & deported by the govt.

Since the late 1800s, lured by industrialists, Blacks traveled North & had been & used as scabs & strikebreakers

The Internal Colonialism Theory & the Split Labor Market Theory explain much of the racism that festered in the late 1800s & early 1900s

See Also: The Causes of Racism / Social Differentiation

Dr. Ralph Bunche (1903-1971), an African American mediator & UN diplomat, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in fostering an armistice btwn warring Arabs & Israelis

In 1960, Wilma Rudoph made history when she became the 1st African American woman to win three Olympic gold medals in track & field. She was known as "the fastest woman in the world"

In the 1950s & 60s, the Civil Rights Movement uses non-violent methods in 200 cities to advance its cause

In 1957, the Civil Rights Act was passed

In 1957, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, w/ ML King as president, was formed

In 1963, the Letter from a Birmingham Jail w/ the Birmingham Manifesto heralded King's legacy to African Americans

In 1963, WEB Du Bois dies at age 95 in Ghana

In 1964, the another Civil Rights Act passed & these two laws are the first comprehensive federal civil rights legislation of the 20th century

The Civil Rights Act makes it illegal to discriminate on basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, & established the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ( EEOC )

The Disabilities Act is passed decades later, but even today it is still legal to discriminate on sexual orientation though some institutions have rules against it

In 1968, ML King is assassinated