Page:Bertram David Wolfe, Jay Lovestone, William Francis Dunne - Our Heritage from 1776 (1926).pdf/22

 20 '''and war. … to talk about all men being created equal and of the rights of all to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, but once the war was won, the old doctrines of the superior rights of the well-born to govern and the superior sanctity of their property came once more to the fore. …'''

"The people had been under the delusion that they had fought an eight years' war for the rights of man and at the time of the formation of the constitution many towns objected strenuously to this further limitation of the franchise, Dorchester claimed that men might be 'useful and respectable members of society' even if they did not possess £50."

The Washingtons and the Hamiltons tried their hardest to stop the revolutionary movement from proceeding further and from altering the relationship of classes, yet it was an alteration of the class relationships in favor of the common people which was the outstanding feature of the revolutionary war propaganda.

Since the first American revolution the history of the United States has been a history of the struggles of the masses for an alteration in the class relationships.

The first phase of the American revolution was not really complete until the election of Jefferson. Jefferson, it must be remembered, was the spokesman of the workers and the poorer farmers. Hamilton, his chief opponent, was the leader of the Federalists, the big commercial interests which desired the establishment of a strongly centralized government, a national bank, higher tariff, an army, a navy, and even talked for some time of establishing an American titled aristocracy. For weeks the first senate was debating as to the title that should be given to the president and how the senators should be addressed.

The decisive vote for Jefferson in the college of electors was cast by one who served a four-month jail term for violating the sedition law passed by the Federalists against the working and farming masses.

With the victory of the North over the South in the Civil War the hegemony of the American bourgeoisie over all other classes was complete. Since the continuation of the Civil War the American capitalists have been consolidating their hold on the resources, industries and government of the United States. But since then there has also been developing a definite proletariat. The proletarianization of the United States has been increasing at an accelerating pace since 1893—the time marking roughly the disappearance of free land and the establishment of the basis for capitalist