America's Socialist Origins | 5 Minute Video скачать в хорошем качестве

America's Socialist Origins | 5 Minute Video

Was America once socialist? Surprisingly, yes. The early settlers who arrived at Plymouth and Jamestown in the early 1600s experimented with socialist communes. Did it work? History professor Larry Schweikart of the University of Dayton shares the fascinating story.  Donate today to PragerU! http://l.prageru.com/2ylo1Yt Joining PragerU is free! Sign up now to get all our videos as soon as they're released. http://prageru.com/signup Download Pragerpedia on your iPhone or Android! Thousands of sources and facts at your fingertips. iPhone: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsnbG Android: http://l.prageru.com/2dlsS5e Join Prager United to get new swag every quarter, exclusive early access to our videos, and an annual TownHall phone call with Dennis Prager! http://l.prageru.com/2c9n6ys Join PragerU's text list to have these videos, free merchandise giveaways and breaking announcements sent directly to your phone! https://optin.mobiniti.com/prageru Do you shop on Amazon? Click https://smile.amazon.com and a percentage of every Amazon purchase will be donated to PragerU. Same great products. Same low price. Shopping made meaningful. VISIT PragerU! https://www.prageru.com FOLLOW us! Facebook:   / prageru   Twitter:   / prageru   Instagram:   / prageru   PragerU is on Snapchat! JOIN PragerFORCE! For Students: http://l.prageru.com/29SgPaX JOIN our Educators Network! http://l.prageru.com/2c8vsff Script: Americans didn’t invent free market capitalism. But you might say they perfected it. In doing so, they created more wealth for more people than any society in the history of the world. To begin to understand this fascinating and complex story, we have to travel back in time to the very first settlers of America. But before we get to the history, let me define what I mean by capitalism. It’s not an easy term to pin down because it developed over thousands of years of human interaction. Adam Smith, the great English thinker, first described it in his famous 1776 treatise, The Wealth of Nations, but he didn’t invent it. For our purposes here, I define capitalism as an economic system in which individuals freely decide what they will produce and who they will serve. Since both parties have to consent, it’s a system in which success demands that you serve the needs of others before you are rewarded for your work. Now back to history: When the first settlers arrived—at Jamestown in 1607 then Plymouth in 1620—they were operating under an economic system common to all European nations at that time, known as mercantilism. Under mercantilism businesses, especially in colonies, were operated for the benefit of the state. While governments permitted the companies to make profits, their primary purpose was to advance the national interest of England or Spain or France. The early American settlements were set up to be self-sufficient so that the English government didn’t have to support them. And they had to stake out territory. That was key to the colonial game: if England held the territory, Spain and France didn’t. The early colonists began their adventure with what they thought was a beautiful idea. They set up a common storehouse of grain from which people were supposed to take what they needed and put back what they could. Lands were also held in common and were worked in common. The settlers owned no land of their own. Though there was no name for this system, it was an ideal socialist commune. And you can probably guess what happened. It began to fall apart almost immediately. As the colonists learned, when everyone is entitled to everything, no one’s responsible for anything. A colonist who started his workday early or stayed late received the same provision of food as a colonist who showed up late, went home early, or didn’t work at all. After about two years, the settlement was reduced to eating shoelaces and rats. Half of them died of starvation. Captain John Smith (of Pocahontas fame) took control of the colony and scrapped the socialist model. Each colonist received his own parcel of land. Private property had come to the New World. “He who won’t work, won’t eat!” Smith told them, citing the Biblical admonition. Well they worked. And they ate. And the colony was saved. For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/americ...