history of slavery and oppression which has been incorporated into the current social and economic models. Violently grabbing land from the indigenous population and outnumbering them was all the early settlers had to do in order to spread their economy built on slavery from Atlantic to the Pacific. In fact Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution states that, “No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be discharged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due”. The founding fathers came from the early industrialist parts of Europe where capitalism was in its earliest developing stages and simply brought it along with them. This proves that the emergence of a relatively pure, unhindered capitalism was built upon elements of exclusion, unfairness and free labor. The American state in its earliest form fell into a racial contract which established a racial polity, a racial state, and a racial juridical system, where the status of whites and nonwhites is clear demarcated, whether by law or custom. In addition, the purpose of the state, by contrast with the neutral state of classic contractarianism, in inter alia, specifically to maintain and reproduce this racial order, securing the privileges and advantages of the full white citizens and maintaining the subordination of nonwhites. It is not enough for just the government to create a racial order. There needs to be leadership at top which actively engages in maintaining this order with the help of social rules such as legitimating ideologies and a nationwide racist rhetoric to enable the smooth functioning of the racial state.

The first settlers in the United States were Protestants who held a Calvinist—not Augustinian— interpretation of predestination. The Calvinist notion is that it is in the hands of people whether or not they will reach heaven and the rich, by working hard are the chosen ones. Augustine on the other hand claimed that man is predestined before birth and has no control over his salvation or damnation. This eventually shaped the dominant culture in the United States to see the poor as responsible for their economic and social fate. In more conservative parts of the country, some might even go as far as to say the poor are undeserving of aid since their failure is nothing but a sign of their unworthiness. An example could be the President’s reference to developing nations in Africa as “shit hole” countries because of their low economic status and Norwegians as more deserving because of their wealthy nature. This is ironic because Haitians work twice as many hours and have half the vacation days as Norwegians. Europeans on the other hand believe that richness and poorness don’t stem from birth and are based solely on the equality of opportunity and outcomes one is exposed to.