Wealth and Power throughout the history of America

America is the richest country in the world and affords each of its legal citizens , a greater opportunity , with hard work and thrift , to reach a level of success that is impossible in any other part of the world . An individual is allowed and encouraged to rise as high as his talents can take him within America . The promise does not come to fruition for every member of our society but the promise is there , and for millions of Americans who find themselves within the Middle class this promise has come true . But

this has not always been the case . There is still a distance between the rich and poor in this country but during the time which Mark Twain labeled as The Gilded Age ' and in a time before minimum wage and child labor laws , the distance between the worker and his boss , was greater than at any other time in American history . Other came along preaching a type of socialism . Huey Long was the most popular as well as the most powerful of these types and had he not been killed in 1935 , his Share Our Wealth Program would have been allowed to catch hold of many towns and cities in the United States Capitalism and the Puritan 's as well as Alexander Hamilton 's dream for an economy that dealt heavily upon trade and commerce , eventually beat our Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry 's competing ideal of an agrarian society . And with America 's gross domestic product exceeding 38 ,000 Hamilton 's dream and the legacy of capitalism , though not perfect by a long shot , has given its citizens , a higher standard of living than their grandparents had ever thought possible . The ongoing struggle for power and wealth will always be present within America . Shall capitalism continue to shine or will an economy more like that of Europe , where it is seen as the responsibility of the successful and hard working to create a permanent welfare state for those who do not wish to work and have this be accomplished through heavy income as well as retail taxes There are some in America that would want just that to occur in America But in doing so , such a system would be completely ignorant of the history and progress and economic history that for all of its shortcomings , still are able to provide a higher standard of living to its citizens than anywhere in the world

New York , or rather New Amsterdam was first settled by the Dutch in 1620 , not to worship God as they saw fit or in escaping some form of persecution in Europe but came rather to create a trading post beaver skins as well as other forms of commerce . Ken Burns , The History of New York . Boston : PBS Video The formation of New York , the largest city in America and the financial capital of not only the country but also the world , was formed in to create profits for its merchants . This...