Slavery and the Origins of the American Police State May 31, 2020 | 0 By Ben Fountain From the beginning, some Americans have been able to move more freely than others They were called patrollers or, variously, “paterollers,” “paddyrollers,” or “patterolls,” and they were meant to be part of the solution to Colonial America’s biggest problem, labor. Unlike Great Britain, which had a large, basically immobile peasant class that could be forced to work for subsistence wages, there weren’t enough cheap bodies in America to do the grunt work. If you were a planter looking to make your fortune in rice or tobacco—the New World’s cash crops—you had to size up to industrial scale, and for that you needed bodies, armies of bodies, a labor force that could be made to work for terms no less brutal than those inflicted on the miserables of Europe. Posted in Commentary - The Southern Truth, Education Leave a Comment Name (required) Email (will not be published) (required) Comment Click here to cancel reply. Related Posts The Southern Truth by Dr. Gloria Zuurveen June 22, 2022 | 2 Comments » What’s Going On? Enough is Enough! May 17, 2022 | 1 Comment » The Southern Truth: A Report Card for a Black Agenda On Black Economic Equity May 14, 2022 | 1 Comment » 2022 Political Candidates Black Agenda Report Card May 7, 2022 | No Comments » Crimes Against Black Humanity Should Be Charged Against Los Angeles City and County Government for the Treatment of its Black People May 7, 2022 | No Comments »