TES KIRSCHBAUM WHUM S.S. HR.6 Rome Vs. United States Decline Is the decline in America mirroring the decline in Ancient Rome? In both Ancient Rome, and the current United States, downfalls are related to inferior technology, unemployment and public health. Rome’s and the United States downfalls are surprisingly alike in many ways. Inferior technology was a large part in the downfall of Rome because of being dependent on animal and human labor, they were not able to evolve and start creating machines and new technology. They weren’t able to provide for the people. In America today, we have the complete opposite problem. Large companies that provide goods are dependent on machines and new technology to do the work and not hire many people to work for them. Having the new technology is great for companies to keep money, but people are out of a job oppertunities. If big companies and factories hired people to take over the work machines are doing, there would be a large decrease in unemployment …show more content…
Farmers that didn’t use slave labor charged more for their goods and could not go against big farms, leaving farmers and paid workers without jobs. The United States today, has an unemployment rate of 5.8%, or about 9.1 million people. Unemployment rates in America are so high because of corporate companies aren’t using extra profits to hire more employees, local and state governments are cutting jobs left and right and the need for college degrees for certain jobs. Also, today in America, instead of slave labor, we hire, usually foreigners, for cheap labor in jobs like making clothing, putting together toys and electronics, housework, home building, flooring and home remodeling and much more. Company owners take advantage of these people’s desperate need of jobs and hire them for cheap, making the company make a lot more money for really low
The year is 476 A.D. and the Roman Empire has collapsed after being overthrown by barbarians. Looking back, the causes of Rome’s decline can be separated into four categories, social, economic, military, and political. The social aspects of Rome’s fall are the rise of christianity and civil wars. The rise of christianity displaced Rome’s polytheistic roots which viewed the emperor as having a godly status. Pope and church leaders took an increased role in political affairs which further complicated governance. Civil wars also deteriorated the empire. More than 20 men took the throne in only 75 years and the empire was thrust into chaos. The economic aspects of Rome’s fall were high taxes from the government and labor deficit. The roman empire
In ancient times, there was a country of stupendous power and might. A nation which amassed a military like no other, grew an economy so strong that it seemed everlasting, and established a government that stood for its people. It appeared that this was the country to set an example for all countries that followed. It was the behemoth of prosperity. It was the great Roman Empire. It seemed as though this country’s reign would never end, but this was far from the truth. For with great prosperity came a dreadful plummet and eventually collapse. This was the unfortunate fate of all powerful nations, including that of, dare it be said, the United States of America. The all powerful and unbeatable nation which reigned its dominant influence over the entire world. Surely, it could never have fallen. However, that statement would be considered nonsensical if directed toward the once almighty and all powerful Roman Empire. Thus, it could not be stated for the “Great Experiment” (USA). Which was why the comparison between the two, very similar, superpowers was logical. Clearly, the Roman Empire which had striking parallels to the United States was a foreshadowing of America’s fate: Inevitable collapse. Both superpowers had vastly similar economics, foreign influence, and government, of which, Rome had experienced an unfortunate decline. Thus, comparisons could be made between how Rome and America rose to power, began to lose their power, and eventually, how Rome fell and how America might have fallen.
American culture and most of the things that people do, see, and think wouldn’t be the way they are if it weren't for the Romans and what they created and accomplished as an ancient empire. In ancient Rome, in their time of expansion and flourish were able to create and build so much technology and ideas that helped build their empire and create a unique image of what they are. These in turn spread with some being so groundbreaking that it they are still used commonly and frequently and others becoming the inspiration and basis of even more achievements The Roman Empire is the most influential empire to have impacted U.S. culture due to their achievements such as spread of Christianity, the creation of the Latin language, and the ideas justice.
The United States of America is fast approaching the peak of its existence. Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds and continues to do so and politically the United States is far more advanced than most countries in the world today. The Ancient Roman Empire was also at its peak before coming to a sharp decline, resulting in a fallen world power that to this day is no more than a figment of the past, a shadow that lurks behind the civilizations of today. Per contra, is the United States truly so far apart from this shadow? Or will the same fate come to us sooner than we imagine? Let us examine for a moment just how similar the U.S. and Ancient Rome are to each other, and if the same cataclysmic events that resulted in the fall or Rome could be possible in our own society.
Capitalism has always been a double edge sword for the United States. It began as the driving force in pushing along economic growth, but it came at the price of the African society. It was implied, and enforced, that Africans were of a lesser class through the means in which they were "used" by the slave owners to promote their wealth and stature. The larger their plantation, the wealthier and more successful people were seen. But in order to do this, the plantation owners needed workers, but if they had to pay workers reasonable wages, they could not yield a profit. Also, in the South, it was hard, rough work in the hot sun and very few whites were willing to do the work, therefore, most plantation owners purchased slaves to work the land. The plantation owner gave the slaves shelter and a small food allowance as a salary. Thereby, the plantation owner "saved" his money to invest in more land, which of course required more slaves to continue to yield a larger profit. An economic cycle was created between plantation owner and slave, one that would take generations to end. Slaves were now a necessity on the larger plantations to work the fields. They were pieces of property that quickly transformed into required elements of plantation machinery. African slaves were regarded as a large, dependable, and permanent source of 'cheap labor' because slaves rarely ran away and when caught they were severely punished. The creation of the plantation system of farming were essential factors in maintaining the idea of slavery.
There is still slavery in modern times, Dana used to get work through an labor agency that the "regulars it a called a slave market." (Page 53). At this agency, the workers would wait to be sent for menial work that was tedious but paid little. It was work that had to be done by insignificant people in the eyes of the employer; mindless work that was done by mindless people. The people who signed up for work at the agency "were winos trying to work themselves into a few more bottles, poor women with children trying to supplement their welfare checks, kids trying to get a first job, older people...
When America was first founded the colonists believed that they could do one of two things. They could either ask for entire families and groups of people to come over from England to start family farms and businesses to help the colony prosper. The other option was to take advantage of the lower class people and promise them land and freedom for a couple of years of servitude (Charles Johnson et al, Africans in America 34). Obviously the second option was used and this was the start of indentured servitude in colonial America. The indentured servants that came from England were given plenty of accommodations in exchange for their servitude. They were also promised that after their time of service was complete that they would receive crops, land, and clothing to start their new found lives in America. Men, children, and even most criminals, rushed to the ports hoping to be able to find work in America and soon start their new life. However, a large quantity of them either died on the voyage over, died from diseases, or died from the intensity of their work, before their servitude was complete (Johnson et al, Africans, 34). America finally began to show signs of prosperity due to the crop, tobacco. The only problem now was that the majorit...
America had hit its peak in the sense of slavery. We were thriving off of black laborers and our population continued to grow with contributions from the triangular trade. The triangular trade route was a trade route between the British West Indies, Europe, Africa and America. (http://members.tripod.com/lylesj/trade/tritrade.html) The profit slaves had brought in was tremendous contrasted to the profit of hired work. It became a major bonus to land and plantation owners. The black slaves were also great workers because of their ethnic backgrounds. They had great work ethics, dark skin to work in heat, and were much stronger than the hired men.
Most of Rome's population loss was due to disease and a low birthrate. This meant the Romans were having less children. Most of the time, deadly diseases were brought through trade routes, which killed a bunch of people in Rome. Also, The constant warfare in Rome also caused Rome's population to decline. Other reasons why Rome's population declined were war and starvation because of farmland decline. Basically, less people in Rome meant less goods and less food for the empire, so they have no choice but to trade and get food that way (or will they just get more diseases through
The debate over the economic advantages of slavery in the South has raged ever since the first slaves began working in the cotton fields of the Southern States. Initially, the wealth of the New World was in the form of raw materials and agricultural goods such as cotton, sugar, and tobacco. The continuing demand for slaves' labor arose from the development of plantation agriculture, the long-term rise in prices and consumption of sugar, and the demand for miners. Not only did Africans represent skilled laborers, but also they were a relatively cheap resource to the South. Consequently, they were well suited for plantation agriculture. Whi...
Former slave owners needed a way to get cheap labor, and the black population needed farmable land, labor, and money. This conflict resulted in a practice called sharecropping, sharecropping is a system where black laborers would rent farm land from former owners in exchange for a certain amount of crops at the end of the year: a swindling process that would be detrimental to the black farming community. Sharecropping increased the black community’s reliance on their former owner’s farm land, and this harmed the southern economy greatly: sharecropping made the south rely more on cotton and agriculture just as the price of these goods was decreasing further harming the economy. While the black community gained individual freedom from their owners in their daily lives they still had to repay at the end of the year, this was hard to do considering the cost of seeds, tools, and food for yourself. Sharecropping increased dependency in all the wrong places on all the wrong things, free slaves needed new land and independence from their former owners and sharecropping did the exact opposite.
Africans unlike the Irish or the Chinese did not come willingly to America, in which they were captured and brought to America by slave ships then sold as slaves. Slaves were in high demand in which having indentured servants became less valuable in which the institution of slavery was strengthened overtime after Bacon Rebellion because the planter class now fear to have white workers for fear the social order would be disrupted (Takaki, pg. 59). Slavery helped to shape the history of the United States in which this institution made possible for the formation of the American Revolutionary ideals because slaves were running the nation through the work they were doing. This gave time for the leaders to formulate and plan the revolution. It also helped to fuel early globalization and the global market, the nation economy and capitalism through the slave trade. All these things gave rise to modern industry, modern finance, modern investment, new system of banking, in which it helped to give rise to the creation of wage laborers, in which this helped to finance the Industrial Revolution. With the rise of the cotton production, slaves became more valuable, in which cotton accelerates the value of slaves. Although slaves were an important source of labor for the Market Revolution, Industrial Revolution, and
The Roman Republic can be seen as a template for how the United States Government was formed, and still to this day consists of. The First influence that the Romans had on our government was their idea for a republic. They, our country as well, wanted their people to have a vote on who would represent them in government. The U.S. representative type of government was influenced by this. Today we vote for the people representing us in our Senate, House of Representatives, and our President. One of the main influences that the Ancient Romans had on the U.S. Government was the idea of the division of power. Today we have executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. The Ancient Romans had a very similar set-up. In Rome when organizing a government, there were many different styles between monarchies, the Senate that was the aristocracy, and the voice of democracy in the people. These acted as their different branches of government. As the U.S Government has an executive branch which consists of our President and Vice President, the Romans had counsels which acted as executive leaders for a year, and controlled the military (“The Roman Republic”). The Ancient Romans also obtained a Senate, similar to our government. In Rome, it was 300 members of the wealthy and self-serving. Today, there are career senators, and elite men in society. This is the legislative branch of our government that has been derived from the Ancient Romans. Also within the legislative branch of the Romans, they had numerous assemblies like that of the U.S. Government’s House of Representatives, based on where each member lives. Our judicial branch was based off of the Roman’s Praeto...
“While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand; When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall; And when Rome falls - the World.” Lord Byron. This essay will discuss the similarities of military, economics and systems of government between the Roman Empire of the 6th century BCE and the United States of America of the 20th century. History has revealed that all superpowers fall eventually, although much time has passed since the glory days of Rome we see in 2015 the largest superpower in charge, the United States. There are many similarities that can be drawn between the American superpower and the Roman Empire such as the same founding of government and both dominated in military, as well as economic similarities. This leads to the conclusion that because the rise to power between the two powers was so similar, the downfall will be equally parallel.
...nd again resulting in creation of bigger markets and pulling large competitors and creating new job opportunities, but the problem is with undefined factors like outsourcing, lack of skill development in respect with technology advancement. Technology advancement may be causing huge impact on employment but it is also making human living better. Technology as became part and parcel of our life so we can’t think of life without technology, but to make sure that the same does not harm our livelihood we should keep in track and sharpen and hone our skills with advancement of technology. (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2011)