"The colonies grew fast in the 700s. Through all that growth, the upper class was getting most of the benefits and monopolized political power. The top 1% of the population consisted of 50 rich individuals who had 25% of the wealth. By 1770, the top 1% of property owners owned 44% of the wealth.
In the middle 1700s, colonial New England found that vagabonds and paupers kept increasing. There was a concentration of wealth, widening of the gap between rich and poor. The colonies, it seems, were societies of contending classes.
The country therefore was not "born free" but born slave and free, servant and master, tenant and landlord, poor and rich."
-A People's History, Howard Zinn
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