“America was opened after the feudal mischief was spent, and so the people
made a good start.” Was Ralph Waldo Emerson correct in that assertion? Why or
why not? § How were a person’s rights and responsibilities determined in the
feudal era? How are a person’s rights and responsibilities determined in the
United States today? § What evidence is there in the U.S. Constitution that
Americans rejected or accepted beliefs that were commonly held in the feudal
era? To begin to fully understand what Emerson really meant in his speech from
Boston’s Old South Church, we must break it down. First, when Emerson speaks
of the feudal mischief being spent, he means that the peak of the feudal era has
passed in Europe when the colonists began to arrive in North America. In the
second half Emerson asserts that because the colonists came over to America to
build their own governments, without the influence of feudalism. These
governments, free of feudalism, were an indication to Emerson that the colonists
had made “a good start.” While Emerson was right in the assertion that
America made a start free of feudalism in the early stages of the colonies, he
was incorrect in assuming that America would never experience “feudal
mischief” again. A resurgence of feudalism by King George in later years
caused the colonists to revolt. Until 1763, the colonies existed in a state of
salutary neglect, where the King and Parliament relatively ignored the colonies,
allowing self-government. After 1763, England decided to enforce a policy of
mercantilism, in which the mother country protected the colonies in exchange for
exclusive trading rights. New legislation like the Stamp, Tea, and Quartering
Acts eerily reminded the colonists of feudalism because their rights were being
limited and they didn’t have a voice in their government. As Adam Sandler
said, “Man does not know he is free until he has been in chains.” But the
resemblance to feudalism in the later colonial era did not end with the
revolution. In fact, there is evidence that aspects of feudalism survived in the
United States Constitution. When the colonists came to America, they created a
radically different government than the one they left behind in England. Though
feudalism had waned by the 12th century, England was still left with vestiges of
the feudal system, such as the rigid class system. In America, the colonists
were allowed to build their own society from a state of nature, destroying the
societal barriers that existed in their homeland. However, the “feudal
mischief” of which Emerson speaks was not over when ak similar to the vassal
to lord relationship of the feudal system. When the colonies were founded, they
operated under a mercantilist policy with England. Under this policy, all raw
materials and resources of the colonies went without question to England, where
they were manufactured into goods and sent back to the colonies. The colonists
had no representation in England, and England had supreme power over the
colonies and also had the duty of protecting those colonies from attack. This is
nearly identical to the feudal system. However, England abandoned the practice
of feudalism during the reign of King George, who followed a policy of salutary
neglect. During this time the colonies were left to govern themselves. Then with
the Proclamation of 1763, the king reasserted his feudal power over the
colonists by restricting them to the land east of the Appalachian Mountains.
This was followed by other laws that took away the powers that the colonists
were used to having, such as the Intolerable Acts and the suspension of habeas
corpus. This resurgence of feudal power caused the colonists, who had been
practicing self-government, to rebel against England. Therefore, in a way the
existence of feudalism caused America to be its own nation. The problem of
feudalism was that it took away too many of the colonists rights. In the feudal
system, the rights and responsibilities of the peasants and lords are clearly
laid out. Similar to the early mercantilist system of the colonies, the peasants
in a feudal system are required to serve their lord in a militia, and they are
required to pay tribute to their lord. In England, this tribute was usually paid
with the best of a peasant’s crops. The peasant consents to being governed by
the lord, who in turn has absolute power over the peasants, but also the duty to
protect their peasants’ lives. The American system of government differs
greatly from the concept of feudalism in that the citizens of the nation have
many more individual rights than the peasants of the feudal system. The Founders
of the United States Constitution emphasized these individual rights, especially
the natural rights to life, liberty, and property, because England attempted to
take these rights away before the American Revolution.