United States Prison Colony

---

The history of the United States consists of individualism and communalism; voluntary and forced immigration; temporary servitude (prisoners and indentured) and permanent (slaves). In this course we talk about communalism and slavery; Christianson tells of yet another theme:

. . . "prisoners did as much as free men and women to establish the United States as a nation. Most Americans will scoff at this idea. Australia accepts its history as a prison colony. But Americans, with the notable exception of blacks, still cherish the idea of a country founded by hardy individualists, who spurned the oppressions of a rigid European order to build a better society in the wilderness of the New World. In fact, as detailed in Scott Christianson's fascinating new book, WITH L IBERTY FOR SOME : 500 Y EARS OF IMPRISONMENT IN A MERICA, a large proportion of white immigrants to early America arrived in chains-as prisoners, indentured servants or bonded laborers. Their Atlantic crossing was almost as terrible as that of the black slaves being shipped at the same time from Africa. Between a third and a half of white immigrants died on some voyages. Once in America, their lot was often only marginally better than that of slaves. Their biggest advantage over slaves was that they could look forward to being free once their term of imprisonment or service was over. Many, of course, never lived to see that day. For any American brought up on the more benign view of American history taught in the nation's schools, Mr Christianson's work will be something of a shock. But the evidence he marshals is simply too massive to ignore.

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Britain operated a system of severely punitive laws designed as much to provide cheap labor for its American colonies as to curb crime. In an age when there was no established police force, private agents called "spirits"-many of them criminals themselves-were paid to apprehend supposed lawbreakers. Large numbers of people -- including hordes of poor or abandoned children -- were simply kidnapped off the streets of London and other big cities, and then sold with the blessing of a magistrate as felons or bonded laborers to ship captains, who transported them to the American colonies where they were resold as laborers to the highest bidder. One purchaser of felons was George Washington. This practice continued right up to the American revolution, which caused a prison crisis in Britain when hostilities interrupted prisoner exports." . . .

Source: The Economist, 13 February 1999.