Naomi Diamante

Professor Lark

18 April 2017

HIST151

Portfolio Reflection

The past few months in this class, I have learned economics and business made a huge

role in influencing many individuals in early America. My first example of this would be a

reading in module three about making Jamestown profitable. Since there was only so much gold

to find there, many individuals had to find new ways to pay for stuff. Many turned to glass

blowing, vineyard cultivation, and even silkworm farming. It was not until the end of the 1620s

when tobacco first skyrocketed and the market was up and running again. The tobacco business

made a huge role in their lives. The tobacco economy rapidly began to shape the society and

development of the colony. According to an article by Michael Postma titled What Can History

Teach Us Today, History is a lesson: a lesson of intentions, movements, experiments, and

human production. By discovering and practicing the business of tobacco, it expanded many

peoples minds and ways of selling different goods. My next example of how economics and

business made a ruge role in influencing many individuals in early America was slavery.

According to a reading in module five, Some urban merchants and artisans employed slave labor

in their shops. This enabled slaves to acquire marketable skills. Slavery created enormous

amounts of profit. It profited southern planters, slave traders, and even the northern cotton-mill

owners and investors. According to an essay written by Blair Hodges, We look to the past to

understand the present. I could not agree more. I believe that everything that happened in the

past played a strong role in how and why life is what it is like at this time and age. Imagine if
slavery never happened. Would the racial tension still be how it is today? Or would the world be

even more peaceful? Would the Black Lives Matter organization still have been created?

Knowing what happened in the past help explain why some things are going on around us today.

My last example of how economics and business played a huge role on many individuals in early

America was the new taxes placed on whiskey to increase federal revenue according to the

reading in module eleven. This played a huge role on individuals because it created a widespread

of poverty and hurt many farmers and ordinary people. It also caused a lot of violence among the

backcountry settlers. According to an article titled Why Study History written by William H.

Mcneill, A bitter disappointment may come to seem a blessing in disguise; a triumph may later

turn sour, while something trivial may subsequently loom large-all because of what happens later

on. The government created the tax so that the national debt at the time would hopefully

decrease, but instead it increased because of all the protests and rebellion that individuals were

doing. This tax on whiskey subsequently loomed large because of what happened. By

understanding the history of our American ancestors and how economics and business played a

role on them, I can determine how my actions can improve society. By understanding what

happened in the past, I know things that did and did not work for society back then and I can take

that knowledge and use it today. After reading all the modules for this class, I have learned a lot

more than I anticipated. Just by reading what happened in early America, it influenced me to do

more and be a better citizen so that our government and society does not have any conflicts or

war.

Works Cited
Why Study History? (1985) | AHA. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.

Ascd. "What Can History Teach Us Today?" ASCD Express 6.22 - What Can History Teach Us

Today? Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

"Early America - US History." HIST 151. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

"Early America - US History." HIST 151. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

Hodges, Blair. "Hodges- Final Essay, On Rhetorical Uses of History to Understand the Present."

Academia.edu. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.