Essay of “The American Plague” The term “American Plague” was once commonly used to describe an epidemic illness that included a large part of North America and Cuba that was settled by the Europeans. The epidemic was actually a series of outbreaks occurring for over a century. This series of events is well described by Molly Caldwell Crosby in her book “The American Plague. ”The first chapters cover the epidemic nature of this disease in the Americas, and focus on the huge epidemic in 1878, especially its effect on Memphis, the city most stricken by the disease. The cause of the disease and its way of spreading were not known at the time.
The population was estimated to have dropped 50-60%, so the prices of goods rapidly dropped, since there were so few people still alive to buy it. The lower levels of the social chain, like the peasants, serfs, farmers, and factory workers were struck the hardest. (Pollama) Since their living and work conditions were not very sanitary, and their living spaces were often cramped and dirty, they were the easiest targets for the plague. All of the jobs that these people had were now open, and available for people to take. Since the serf population had gotten ridiculously low, plantation owners were forced to start paying workers to tend the farms.
Joshua Martin Western Civilization Essay #3 11/2/2013 The Black Death The Black Death or the Bubonic Plague or the Black pague are all names given to the worst epidemic of all times. From 1347 – 1351 a disease was spread throughout Europe, it brought with it pain, fever, lesions, coughing, shivers, vomiting and and falling to the illest of ill which includes swollen lymph-nodes. Most of whom succumb to this disease died within 3-4 days, the rest lived up to two weeks. The Black Death was caused by a Yersinia pestis a disease spread by fleas on the backs of mice and through the blood of fleas. There were so many deaths many could not be burried properly and were put in shallow graves which also helped the spread of the disease.
The best guess is that over 100,000 people perished in and around London, though the figure may have been much higher. Heroism in the midst of horror. One footnote to this tale of horror. The plague broke out in the village of Eyam in Derbyshire, brought on a shipment of old clothes sent from London. The villagers, led by their courageous clergyman, realized that the only way to stop the spread of the plague to surrounding villages was to voluntarily quarantine the village, refusing to leave until the plague had run its course.
The change in population was a drastic social effect of the plague. “[The plague] drove many others away and doubtless kept some others from coming to us at all,” wrote a school master from the Netherlands in 1484. The villages that had been affected by the plague later had “methods” of preventing the disease from spreading
People actually just packed up their life and moved away. Mark Sauer, a Polio Survivor is quoted with saying that Polio ‘was the robber of hope for a generation, several generations of children, there were many other diseases that were bad for America, but Polio broke its heart.’ The disease did not seem to have rhyme or reason and acted much like a tornado, affecting some but not others. With the absence of any concrete knowledge on how to stop the spread of Polio, panic and hysteria took over. Sunday schools closed and children under the age of 16 were not allowed to attend local theaters. Medical professionals and scientists initially blamed the spread on the filth and overcrowding in the immigrant neighborhoods.
There were 288 local businesses looted and burned, which were not capable of being rebuilt and never returned following the Watts Riots. With all of those businesses lost, the jobs occupied by residents were lost as well. The black community had a high unemployment rate, and the popular belief was that black people were not being afforded equal opportunity regarding employment. Poverty soared with the high unemployment rate. In the end, 288 businesses worth an estimated $200 million were looted and destroyed.
Which can be supported by the quote “[…] none knew he was in debt” (Prologue Chaucer 123). Many people didn’t leave their homes or went and moved far away from cities to avoid the plague. This happening caused many people to not attend their jobs and sell goods. Trading was also affected a lot from this plague; some cities even closed their shipping docks, scared that incoming ships would bring more of the Black Plague with them. The only people who enjoyed the black plague were the peasants as said in the quote “As the Black Death swung the balance in the peasants favor” (Routt).
The Black Plague was one of the worst natural disaster in history. About one third of the population in Europe died. ("Fredrick F. Cartwright, p. 42") Cities were hit hard. Financial business was disrupted as debtors died and their creditors found themselves without recourse.
In order to reduce this problem we can give the homeless and the unfortunate a sanitary place to stay. We already have lots of people who die from diseases and thus we don’t need to lose more people because of our government lack of care for the homeless. Every day there’s a crime committed against homeless people. Did you that Sixty-eight percent out of 137 people have been a victim of a violent attack since they've became homeless. Some solutions that we have is to shoot all the homeless people but that would be a bad solution because we would be