A Renegade History of the United States

1. American Freedom Was Designed as Self-Control, Not Personal Liberty

The Founding Fathers understood what we now choose to ignore: democracy is the enemy of personal freedom.

Founders feared vice. The architects of the American republic, like John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, were deeply concerned by the "corruption," "depravity," and "vicious" behavior prevalent in colonial cities. They saw this lack of self-control as a greater threat to the new nation than the British army. They believed that personal liberties, if unchecked, would lead to social disorder and the failure of self-governance.

Democracy demanded discipline. To counter this perceived vice, the Founders redefined freedom not as the absence of external constraint, but as internal self-discipline. They believed that a republic required virtuous, hard-working, and sexually restrained citizens. Democracy, by placing the responsibility of governance on the people, would force them to shed their pleasures and control their desires, unlike a monarchy which, in their view, allowed for too much "luxury and effeminate Appetites."

Counterrevolution against pleasure. The American Revolution was accompanied by a "counterrevolution" against the existing pleasure culture of taverns, sexual freedom, and leisure. Leaders promoted austerity, frugality, and the work ethic, seeing these as essential for the survival of the republic. This laid the groundwork for a national culture that would increasingly condemn personal indulgence in favor of civic virtue and social order.

2. Colonial Cities Were Nurseries of Renegade Pleasure

Renegades held the upper hand in Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and Charleston, and made them into the first centers of the American pleasure culture.

Urban life defied control. Despite the Founders' fears, early American cities were vibrant, unruly places filled with taverns, brothels, and public spaces where people of all classes and races mixed freely. Taverns, often one for every 100 residents, were centers of drinking, music, dancing, gambling, and political argument, largely free from legal or moral proscription.

Mixing and libertinism. These urban spaces were often the first racially integrated public areas, where white and black men and women danced and socialized together, often in defiance of the law. European visitors were astonished by the "astonishing libertinism," rampant non-marital sex, easy divorces, and open prostitution.

Shameless sexuality. Prostitution thrived openly and legally in cities like Philadelphia, with prostitutes propositioning men on the streets and appearing frequently in popular culture without shame. High rates of out-of-wedlock births and women leaving husbands for personal satisfaction demonstrated a widespread rejection of traditional sexual constraints, particularly among the lower classes.

3. The Paradoxical Freedoms Found Within Slavery

The beautiful irony of slavery was that it guaranteed food, shelter, clothing, health care, and child care for the enslaved—and even allowed for the acquisition of luxuries and money—without requiring the self-denial of “free” labor.

Escape from the work ethic. Unlike free white Americans who were driven by necessity and the Protestant work ethic to constant labor, slaves were often able to resist the demands of work. Abolitionists criticized slavery for promoting sloth, and slave owners frequently complained of slaves malingering, feigning illness, and working slowly.

Leisure and autonomy. Slaves often took unauthorized "vacations" (truancy) for days or weeks, a form of resistance unavailable to free laborers dependent on their wages. They also created a vibrant culture of music, dance, and parties, often envied by whites, that prioritized pleasure and community over productivity.

Sexual and social liberties. While brutal, slavery paradoxically exempted slaves from many of the sexual and social constraints imposed on free whites. Laws against fornication, adultery, and promiscuity were often ignored among slaves. Divorce rates were higher, and non-monogamous relationships ("sweethearting") were common and carried no social stigma, unlike among whites who were increasingly policing sexuality.

4. Reconstruction Imposed the "Slavery of Freedom" on Black Americans

The promise of Reconstruction was to make all Americans—ex-slaves and whites—unfree.

Citizenship demanded conformity. Following emancipation, the federal government and its allies, including civil rights leaders, sought to transform former slaves into American citizens. This meant imposing the same cultural constraints that governed white Americans, particularly the work ethic, monogamous marriage, and sexual restraint.

Training for discipline. Freedmen's Bureau schools and officials explicitly taught former slaves that freedom meant hard work, frugality, and moral uprightness. Textbooks like John Freeman and His Family depicted ideal black citizens who embraced labor and rejected idleness, contrasting them with "lazy" renegades.

Resistance to new constraints. Despite these efforts, many former slaves resisted the imposition of this new "freedom." They continued to prioritize leisure, demand higher wages for less work, and maintain their own forms of relationships and sexuality outside of legal marriage. This resistance led to vagrancy laws, increased prosecution of non-marital sex, and ultimately contributed to the failure of Reconstruction as white leaders grew frustrated with the freedmen's perceived lack of discipline.

5. Immigrants Racialized as "Black" & Their Renegade Culture

In the 1890s, the term guinea, which had been used for slaves from the coast of West Africa, was applied to Italian Americans.

Racial hierarchy. As waves of immigrants from Ireland, Southern Europe (Italy), and Eastern Europe (Jews) arrived in the 19th and early 20th centuries, they were often racialized and placed below Anglo-Saxons, sometimes explicitly compared to or even considered "black" due to their perceived "primitive" or "animalistic" traits.

• Irish: Seen as "human chimpanzees," "white niggers," drunken, lazy, and riotous.
• Italians: Described as "Negroid," lazy, criminal, sexually promiscuous, and lacking civilization.
• Jews: Linked to African origins, accused of sensuality, crime, and lacking moral conventions.

Cultural mixing and influence. These immigrant groups often settled in or near black neighborhoods and engaged in significant cultural exchange, particularly in music, dance, and language.

• Irish were pioneers in blackface minstrelsy, adopting and adapting black music and dance styles.
• Italians were central to the development of jazz in New Orleans and later rock-and-roll, often blurring racial lines in clubs and bands.
• Jews were prominent in blackface minstrelsy, jazz, and the early entertainment industry, often identifying with black culture and contributing significantly to American slang.

Assimilation meant shedding "blackness". For these groups, achieving "whiteness" and respectability in America often required shedding their renegade behaviors and cultural associations with blackness. This involved embracing the work ethic, sexual restraint, patriotism, and distancing themselves from black culture, often leading to internal conflicts and the suppression of their own vibrant, "funky" traditions.

6. Prostitutes Pioneers of Freedoms Later Adopted by "Respectable" Women

Prostitutes were the first women to break free of what early American feminists described as a system of female servitude.

Economic independence. In the 19th-century West, where women had limited economic opportunities and married women had few property rights, prostitutes earned significantly higher wages than women in other professions. Madams became wealthy property owners, demonstrating a path to economic power outside of patriarchal marriage.

Sexual autonomy and pleasure. Prostitutes defied Victorian sexual norms, openly engaging in non-marital sex, using birth control, and reportedly being the primary market for contraceptives when they were banned. They were also known for practicing oral sex, which was widely condemned as perverse, and for their lack of shame regarding their sexuality.

Cultural influence. Prostitutes were pioneers in fashion, makeup, and dance, adopting styles (like short hair, makeup, and sensual dancing) that were initially seen as markers of vice but were later adopted by "respectable" women, contributing to a broader sexual and cultural liberation. Despite facing moral condemnation and legal crackdowns, they carved out spaces of freedom and pleasure that challenged the prevailing norms of female domesticity and sexual restraint.

7. Shopping Was the Real American Revolution, Driven by Desire

Without renegades, we’d all still be farmers.

Shift from production to consumption. The transformation of America from a nation of producers to a nation of consumers in the 19th century was not solely driven by industrialization or government policy. It required a fundamental shift in American attitudes towards desire, pleasure, and spending, which were widely condemned by elites, clergy, and even labor leaders.

Working-class women as revolutionaries. This revolution was largely driven by working-class women who, gaining economic independence through factory and clerical jobs, chose to spend their hard-earned money on leisure and consumer goods like fashionable clothes, movies, and amusement parks, often against the wishes of moral reformers and feminists.

Creating American fun. These women defied the prevailing ascetic ideals and created a new culture of public leisure and pleasure. They frequented dance halls, amusement parks like Coney Island, and nickelodeons, demonstrating a desire for entertainment and personal gratification that fueled the growth of new industries and fundamentally changed American life, including creating the concept of the weekend.

8. Gangsters Were Unlikely Liberators of American Culture

Imagine an America without jazz. Imagine an America in which alcohol is still illegal. Imagine an America without Broadway, Las Vegas, or Hollywood. Imagine an America in which all gays and lesbians are in the closet. All you have to do is imagine American history without organized crime.

Illicit economies fostered culture. Organized crime, operating outside the bounds of law and conventional morality, played a crucial role in fostering and protecting cultural forms that were initially deemed disreputable or illegal.

• Jazz: Sicilian mobsters in New Orleans and Italian/Jewish gangsters in Chicago and New York owned and operated many of the first jazz clubs, providing income and venues for black and Italian musicians when respectable society shunned the music.
• Alcohol: Gangsters were instrumental in subverting Prohibition, supplying the demand for liquor and making speakeasies centers of social mixing and entertainment.
• Gambling: Mobsters like Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel were the driving force behind the development of Las Vegas as a major entertainment hub.

Protecting marginalized groups. Gangsters also provided spaces and protection for marginalized communities.

• Gay Bars: Mob-owned bars, like the Stonewall Inn, offered relatively safe havens for gay men and lesbians from police harassment due to the Mafia's willingness to bribe law enforcement.
• Hollywood: Jewish gangsters provided protection for early Jewish filmmakers who defied Thomas Edison's monopoly and moralistic vision, enabling the creation of the Hollywood studio system.

Challenging norms. By operating outside societal norms and laws, gangsters inadvertently created spaces where new cultural forms could flourish and where people could engage in activities (drinking, gambling, certain types of entertainment, open homosexuality) that were forbidden or stigmatized by mainstream society, ultimately contributing to a broader expansion of personal freedoms.

9. The New Deal Shared Striking Similarities with European Fascism

Behold a dictator!

Authoritarian tendencies. The New Deal, particularly in its early years, exhibited striking similarities to European fascist regimes in
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Last updated: June 14, 2025