The Shaping of American Nation by Wealth Gained from Slavery

Wealth, what we lost and becoming of what we are. The term Wealth, which comes from old English, meant to describe an accumulation of valuable possessions, money or status. It has affected and influenced many things and important figures throughout history, two figures that were heavily impacted by wealth were Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith and leader of the Nazi party, Adolf Hitler. These figures are polar opposites, but both of their actions influenced by wealth had a part in what the modern world is today. Adam Smith talked about wealth and changed the world in a positive way by writing, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, changing the way human beings think of economics and capitalism. Adolf Hilter decided to take a different route based on the desire to be considered the best race and ordered one of the most horrid and biggest genocides in history. These figures along with many others and events have helped shape the world based on the invention of wealth. The concept of wealth has varied across time, therefore it is interpreted in many different ways. Greed for wealth has fundamentally shaped what it means to be a human being, while simultaneously eroding certain values integral to our survival e.g.cooperation. The status of our current condition has been crafted, through greed, by three key events: the breaking down of different races other than Europeans, the forced conversion to the “right and holy” religion, and the discovery of the “new” world. This essay will prove without a reasonable doubt, that wealth essentially shaped who we are as human beings.

The impulse to acquire a fortune at any cost has maintained the advancement of caucasian`s ideal of race superiority; even in spite of the fact that achieving this cause would result in the emotionally, physically, and permanent destruction of other races. To gain wealth by any means, Europeans justified the dismantling of any other race, mainly Africans and Native Indians. Three ways the European people justified their actions towards people they thought were inferior to them: slavery, the Indian removal, and the horrid treatment of both races.

Slavery was one of the biggest injustices in history, that white people were the cause of and are still paying for to this day. White people will always be connected with slavery, because there is no justification for why it happened, it was an unprovoked event. Unlike World War 1 which was caused by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a Serbian nationalist. Slavery by white people happened for two main reasons -- wealth and greed. Europeans wanted to be known as the greatest and most superior race, so to achieve this they would need wealth. Therefore Europeans started to colonize countries and islands considered uncivilized. “African slavery in the South was largely a response to the greater demand for labour on tobacco, rice, and indigo plantations.”(Cain.L, Williamson.S, 2019). Europeans rationalized slavery because of the large demand for the goods of their newly colonized countries/islands provided. Seeing as Europeans could not handle the demand, they decided to enslave races they thought inferior in the name of wealth and race superiority. The porteguese became one of the first european country to enslave, because of their envy for wealth. “ In 1445, Prince Henry and his brothers convinced their father, King John of Portugal, to cature the muslim trading deport in the western mideteranian”(Kendi, I.2016). These brothers were envious of the riches the muslim kingdom possessed; they`re aim was to eliminate the muslim middleman, so that they could find southern souses of gold and slaves.

The removal and stealing of native Indians from their land is another occurrence that Europeans and their descendants try to justify. The justification for the removal of Indians is that Europeans came bearing gifts and friendship, while it was the Indians who held all the hostility. When in reality, it was the Europeans who held malice in their hearts. With both Europeans and Indians trying to maintain the dominant role in their newly acquired “friendship”, cases of rare kidnapping of white captives and native Indians started to arise. “many of whom became pawns in an ongoing power struggle that included European powers, American colonists and indigenous peoples straining to maintain their population, their land and way of life.”(Fixico, Donald L.2018). The Europeans took the land from the native indians because they wanted to exploit the land and them for wealth and material, this thus resulted in wars between the races. “The Pequot War, the first major war between New England colonists and the area`s indiginous people, erupted in 1637.”(Kendi, I.2016). This War opened the floodgates to many unjust massacres on both sides, because the European came to an already inhabited land for riches and didn't get their way.

The horrendous overall treatment of both races, even after the events prior happened is still shocking. The indian Removal Bill of 1830, was one of the most bitterly debated issues on the floor of Congress. Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States of America pushed for this bill because in his eyes, the Indians were inhabited the land that the settlers’ divinely ordained rights to clear the wilderness, build homes and grow cotton and other crops. When addressing Congress in 1833, Jackson denounced Indians, stating, ‘ “They have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, nor the desire of improvement which are essential to any favorable change in their condition. Established in the midst of another and a superior race…they must necessarily yield to the force of circumstances and ere [before] long disappear.”’ (Fixico, D.2018).