Microtheme #2
America was right not to stick with Winthrop’s vision of being a values-based community because following that vision would prevent it from evolving into the constitutional republic that it now is and, instead, steer it down a path swamped with religious intolerance, class differences, and a dependence on the upper class reminiscent of feudalism. The path America chose to follow has fulfilled it’s destiny of being a shining example of a country that provides everyone an equal opportunity to work for success and live a life of freedom.
The American Dream distinguishes America from the rest of the world because of it’s ideas of opportunity, social mobility, and freedom. In contrast, the society Winthrop envisioned was one where the economy was essentially feudalism, with no chance of social mobility, and a dependence on the generosity of the wealthy, who’d only help others out of the fear of God living on a “city on a hill” would instill, and they’d be punished if they did not (Winthrop, p. 65). Feudal societies in the past have shown to be consistent failures and plants the seeds of …show more content…
This is an unnecessary fear because a market society does not disregard the lower-class. This is demonstrated by Adam Smith’s invisible hand theory, where the market prices of “many things from which the industrious poor derive an agreeable and wholesome variety of food has become cheaper” so the poor have greater access to them (Smith, p. 6). Additionally, capitalism provides lower-class people opportunities to go from “nothing to start” into “free men, invested with lands, to which every municipal blessed is annexed” through the actions of hard-work (Crevecoeur p. 80). These are two concepts Winthrop’s society does not provide, and two shining examples for the rest of the
America was right not to stick with Winthrop’s vision of being a values-based community because following that vision would prevent it from evolving into the constitutional republic that it now is and, instead, steer it down a path swamped with religious intolerance, class differences, and a dependence on the upper class reminiscent of feudalism. The path America chose to follow has fulfilled it’s destiny of being a shining example of a country that provides everyone an equal opportunity to work for success and live a life of freedom.
The American Dream distinguishes America from the rest of the world because of it’s ideas of opportunity, social mobility, and freedom. In contrast, the society Winthrop envisioned was one where the economy was essentially feudalism, with no chance of social mobility, and a dependence on the generosity of the wealthy, who’d only help others out of the fear of God living on a “city on a hill” would instill, and they’d be punished if they did not (Winthrop, p. 65). Feudal societies in the past have shown to be consistent failures and plants the seeds of …show more content…
This is an unnecessary fear because a market society does not disregard the lower-class. This is demonstrated by Adam Smith’s invisible hand theory, where the market prices of “many things from which the industrious poor derive an agreeable and wholesome variety of food has become cheaper” so the poor have greater access to them (Smith, p. 6). Additionally, capitalism provides lower-class people opportunities to go from “nothing to start” into “free men, invested with lands, to which every municipal blessed is annexed” through the actions of hard-work (Crevecoeur p. 80). These are two concepts Winthrop’s society does not provide, and two shining examples for the rest of the