Also, at the time whites were building hundreds of miles of stone walls over rocky mountain slopes in New England, there was no "govt. safety net," no welfare, no guarantee of anything. People worked 6 days a week as long as there was light to work. Illegitimacy was stigmatized. Theft would probably get you hanged. No drugs to escape into.
hellbender wrote: “there was no “govt. safety net,” no welfare, no guarantee of anything. People worked 6 days a week as long as there was light to work. Illegitimacy was stigmatized. Theft would probably get you hanged. No drugs to escape into.”
How true! And my Irish great grandfather came over here to work at building the railroads in the 1860s, and died of cholera. His son, born in the 1870s, got an education and became a representative from the state of Colorado. Nobody gave him affirmative action in those days!