Emerson and Feudalism

§ 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 “feuda

. . .
After 1763, England decided to enforce a policy of mercantilism, in which the mother country protected the colonies in exchange for exclusive trading rights. ”

But the resemblance to feudalism in the later colonial era did not end with the revolution.

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. During this time the colonies were left to govern themselves. As Adam Sandler said, “Man does not know he is free until he has been in chains. This is nearly identical to the feudal system. 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 America, the colonists were allowed to build their own society from a state of nature, destroying the societal barriers that existed in their homeland. 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. In England, this tribute was usually paid with the best of a peasant’s crops. In fact, there is evidence that aspects of feudalism survived in the United States Constitution.

In the feudal system, the rights and responsibilities of the peasants and lords are clearly laid out.

However, England abandoned the practice of feudalism during the reign of King George, who followed a policy of salutary neglect. 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.

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Approximate Word count = 812
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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