Ans -The study of labor in the United States has a tendency to lean towards a myopic analysis of the battle between corporations and unions. Working-class organization struggling against industrial titans understandably dominates any modern labor discussion, but the sources of these conflicts in the US are older than the nation itself. The labor system in Colonial America established the pattern of labor exploitation witnessed and discussed continually throughout US history. Before the formation of the United States, the European colonies in the Americas had an insatiable demand for cheap, exploitable labor. Despite myths to the contrary, the land was not untamed nor virginal. Native Americans were seen as the ideal choice for wealthy Europeans seeking cheap labor, however many could not survive contact with diseases carried over the Atlantic by the colonialists. Local labor was out of the question. The next option was to bring over workers from England, Ireland, Germany, and other European countries, where a glut of low-skill workers had resulted in a growing impoverished class. For many early European immigrants, life in the American colonies was sold as a fresh start. Pamphlets were distributed to all classes of life selling the bountiful riches of the colonies in an effort to sustain functioning population levels. Wealthy merchants established businesses profiting from the region's rich natural resources, politicians used their favor with royalty to acquire huge swaths of 'untamed' land, and mercenaries gained massive fortunes establishing white, European superiority in North America. For many the passage to the 'new world' was far too expensive. Many early immigrants were impoverished, low-skilled individuals with very few prospects for success in their homelands. They had few resources to draw upon to
Ans -The study of labor in the United States has a tendency to lean towards a myopic analysis of the battle between corporations and unions. Working-class organization struggling against industrial titans understandably dominates any modern labor discussion, but the sources of these conflicts in the US are older than the nation itself. The labor system in Colonial America established the pattern of labor exploitation witnessed and discussed continually throughout US history. Before the formation of the United States, the European colonies in the Americas had an insatiable demand for cheap, exploitable labor. Despite myths to the contrary, the land was not untamed nor virginal. Native Americans were seen as the ideal choice for wealthy Europeans seeking cheap labor, however many could not survive contact with diseases carried over the Atlantic by the colonialists. Local labor was out of the question. The next option was to bring over workers from England, Ireland, Germany, and other European countries, where a glut of low-skill workers had resulted in a growing impoverished class. For many early European immigrants, life in the American colonies was sold as a fresh start. Pamphlets were distributed to all classes of life selling the bountiful riches of the colonies in an effort to sustain functioning population levels. Wealthy merchants established businesses profiting from the region's rich natural resources, politicians used their favor with royalty to acquire huge swaths of 'untamed' land, and mercenaries gained massive fortunes establishing white, European superiority in North America. For many the passage to the 'new world' was far too expensive. Many early immigrants were impoverished, low-skilled individuals with very few prospects for success in their homelands. They had few resources to draw upon to