Market and Liberty in the Antebellum USA

The rhetoric of the market revolution in the USA used the notions of liberty and economic opportunity abundantly. However, its freedoms did not extend to everyone. New opportunities in the market economy were inherently linked to denying liberty to slaves and Native Americans.

In North and South alike, the market revolution was conducive to greater liberty in the pursuit of happiness. North of the 36°30′ parallel, settlers migrated westward as far as Oregon, and the factories of the swiftly industrializing North provided economic opportunities for workers. In the South, territorial expansion gave new opportunities for slavery0based agriculture producing profitable cash crops, most notably cotton (Foner 393). This increase in economic opportunities wet side by side with the expansion of political rights, as the states gradually abolished property requirements for voting for white men (Foner 353). Thus, the antebellum decades were a time of increasing liberty for white males.

However, this liberty came at the cost of discriminating against others. As shown above, the economic opportunities that raised the numbers of wage earners and landowners depended directly on seizing the land from Native Americans and exploiting black slaves. While the political rights of the white population expanded, blacks were either disenfranchised entirely or met with unrealistic property requirements for voting (Foner 359). The white majority also used other ways to keep African Americans subjugated, such as denying them education (Douglass ch. VII). In short, the liberty enjoyed by the white American males was based on severe discrimination against other social groups.

As one can see, the market revolution in the USA was a time of liberty, but only for some. White males, both north and south of the 36°30′ parallel, enjoyed new economic opportunities and increased political rights. However, these gains came at the expense of African Americans and Native Americans and relied on their consistent discrimination.

Works Cited

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, Written by Himself. 2^nd ed. Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History, vol. I: to 1877. 2^nd ed. W. W. Norton & Company, 2008.