Myths of American History – part 8

The idea that America was built by the ‘free’ and the ‘brave’ is a myth. It was built by slaves. Many of these slaves were white people who tricked into the belief they would get land, sold themselves into indentured servitude.

Although some were prisoners or captives after an internecine war, many others who had nothing were enticed to travel to the ‘New World’ in the certainty that after they worked for a period of years they would get their own land.

The land ran out in less than fifty years.

After Bacon’s Rebellion, where the people had rebelled and gone to capture land which belonged to the native population, the governing council, called the House of Burgesses enacted a number of sweeping reforms.

It limited the powers of the governor and restored suffrage rights to landless freemen by removing the impediment of having to own a certain number of acres to qualify to vote.

This factor, that is needing to own land to vote disenfranchised hundreds of people. Removing this impediment was a band aid over a machete chop; for there were hundreds people who had left England in the belief they would gain reward and now had less than nothing.