AMERICAN STUDIES WEEK 3 29 SEPTEMBER 2014 THE ENCLOSURE ACT

The Key to Understanding American History The Enclosure Acts

Traditional English land use before enclosure: Most people were peasants who lived in small villages. They made their living by farming the surrounding lands. They gave part of their harvest to the lord of the manor and part to the Church, but most of what they grew was for their own use. The land was held “in common” with each family having their own part of the farm land. The pastures were open for use by everyone, though overgrazing was prohibited. The woods and waste land provided fire wood, wild food plants and game for people to eat. The common people were exploited, but they were also guaranteed the right to make a living off the land. They were poor but not poverty stricken. They were taken care of in old age and sickness. They knew who they were.

The Enclosure Acts gave landowners the right to evict peasants, put a fence around the land and use it to graze sheep and cattle to sell for a profit. This was the beginning of CAPITALISM.

Landowners were then able to use profits made off the land to invest in mines, factories, and sailing ships. These provided employment for the landless peasants, but the jobs were dangerous, back-breaking, and poorly paid. They brought tremendous wealth to the investors. Here a young woman is pulling a coal car through a mine shaft.

Many wound up in the slums of the cities—polluted death traps were they were forced to turn to crime and prostitution, and to try to escape their misery by taking their often lethal drug of choice—gin.

To deal with rampant crime, the authorities resorted to insanely harsh punishments. They hang the man, and flog the woman, That steals the goose from off the common; But let the greater villain loose, That steals the common from the goose. — English folk poemEnglish folk poem

Prisoners forced to work the treadmill—a form of punishment used into the 20 th century.

Riots were a common occurrence. This is a picture from the Gordon Riots of Rioters in London are destroying the mansion of the Chief Justice of the English Supreme Court. They also broke into the prisons and freed all the prisoners. This happened during the American Revolution while England was at war with the American colonies.

Many men were “pressed” or kidnapped into becoming sailors and then punished severely when they broke the rules. This helped create a class of people who were ready for rebellion. “What is the Navy? Rum, sodomy, and the lash.” --Winston Churchill

At the same time, new lands were being discovered, explored, and claimed for the Crown. This opened up new ways for the English to get rid of their surplus population. Between 50,000 to 120,000 convicts were “transported” to America before the Revolution. Many others came to America as settlers or indentured servants.

American settlers were refugees from European capitalism.

The family farm became the new American ideal. It promised to free people from poverty and from the class system of Europe.

The family farm ideal was not open to Native Americans. They were evicted from their land just as the English peasants were evicted from theirs—in the name of progress. Here a Cherokee family is being forced off their land—a result of the 1831 Indian Removal Act, also known as the Trail of Tears.

Capitalism also led to the industrial-scale slavery in America.

The destruction of the rainforests is a continuation of the Enclosure Movement. It provides wealth for some by stealing from others.

Global warming is the ultimate extension of Enclosure. The entire earth is being stolen to provide short term profits for relatively few people.

Letters From An American Farmer by J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur Fictional letters from and American farmer named James to a friend in England. Idealized view of life on a family farm. An example of American exceptionalism. – Moving to America will make you a better person.