April 5, 2025 • 9 mins
Everybody's talking about “going back”—but back to what? Host Jesse Lee Hammonds pulls the mask off nostalgic narratives and exposes the truth behind the 1789–1913 economic model. From slavery to sharecropping to today's tariffs, this episode unpacks why America’s so-called "great past" wasn’t great for everybody—and why moving forward means facing the facts, not rewriting history.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
Okay, welcome back.
It's, uh, that part where we take a deeperlook at the truth inside every fact.
I'm your host, Jesse LeeHammond's, uh, media, uh, digital
media strategist for OAG Media.
I'm also the owner of it.
(00:33):
Um, and so, uh, whatare we gonna do today?
Uh, we're going to unpack a boldidea that's been floating around
the head of Donald Le I'll justcall him that because that's a kind
of a combination of Donald and.
(00:56):
That's how he's trying to move these days.
Like a dictator, uh, or authoritarian.
Definitely that by definition.
Anyway, uh, there's been talkingabout, in fact, he's been talking about
America going back or taking Americaback to the economy of 1789 to 1913.
(01:22):
Yeah, you heard that right back tothe early republic where tariffs
ruled the day and the governmentdidn't rely on income tax.
Now, on the surface, it mightsound patriotic, independent, and
nostalgic and like, Hey, cool.
(01:43):
No taxes
because I know I pay a lot anywaymyself or have over the years.
But here's that part,people don't talk about
that go narrow of, uh, tariffs.
It wasn't golden for everybody, justlike the much, like the good old
(02:06):
days weren't the good old days foreverybody, and it's not something
we should, uh, be trying to repeat.
Let's talk about the facts.
Between 1789 and 1913, thefederal government ran.
Almost entirely on tariffs.
That's a tax, uh, on imported goods.
No income tax, no federalsales tax, nothing like that.
(02:30):
And, uh, you know, many would saythat it worked sort of because,
uh, we made what we needed.
Uh, the government was smaller.
Uh, the world wasn't globalized yet.
But there's a missing piece of thispicture, and it's a big one too.
You see, from 1789 to 1865, the Americaneconomy was deeply dependent on slavery.
(02:58):
Yeah.
That's the missing piece right there.
We're talking about 76out of the uh, 1 24 years.
Cotton sugar, rice, tobacco producedenslave, or, or was produced by
enslaved people even after slavery.
(03:18):
Even after slavery.
The abolishment of it, uh,the exploitation continued
through sharecropping.
I remember my dad actuallytalking about sharecropping there.
Um.
And, uh, and we'll do anothersegment on sharecropping and,
and what all these things meant.
(03:39):
And, uh, uh, somethingcalled convict leasing.
And, you know, that's still in placethese days because if you're incarcerated,
you're not covered by that 13thamendment, which abolished, uh, slavery.
And so, you know, they couldjust, you know, work you for free.
(03:59):
And then of course the famousJim and Jane Crow labor laws.
So when someone says, let's goback to the way things were.
The question becomes, go back.
For whom?
And go back where?
See, uh, terrorists worked back thenbecause the economy was stacked with
(04:20):
systems that made labor cheap or free.
No social security wasaround at that time.
No public safety nets.
Uh, no Medicare, no federalmedical programs for that matter.
Um, it wasn't just an economicmodel, it was an exclusion model
(04:41):
for particular people groups.
Now, fast forward to today, uh, wedepend on a global supply chain.
We don't manufacture everything here.
That, that's, that's, thattrain has left the station.
Uh, tariffs are now would raise the,uh, the price of everything from food to
(05:01):
phones and if other countries retaliated.
Oh, my, our farmers, truckers,exporters, they'll all pay the price
and, yeah.
Interestingly enough, alot of them voted for Donna
(05:21):
and boy will they be surprisedover the next few days.
Next few months.
So again, that era might sound likestrength, but it was built on inequality,
on stolen labor slave.
Labor on systems designed to keep certainpeople locked out, excluded, marginalized.
(05:51):
So here's the part we shouldn't ignore.
You can't build a just future bygoing backward into an unjust past.
Let me say that again.
You can't build a justfuture by going backward.
(06:11):
You just can't do it, doesn't it?
Not about being anti-American oranything like that, about being.
And if we want real solutions for today'seconomy, we have to deal with it all.
All of it.
In reality, not nostalgia, not beingromantic about it or anything like that.
(06:37):
Those days are gone.
Let's move on.
So as we, uh, land a plane here, if thismade you pause, made you think, or maybe
just gave you something, uh, a better wayto break it down with someone else, then
(06:57):
please consider sharing this podcast.
Tag somebody start aconversation with them.
Uh, a lot of us are on ourphones for one reason or or the
other throughout the whole day.
Just, just jacking it up or textingit up or something like that.
Meanwhile, you know, the country'sburning, you know, this is real.
(07:25):
This is not a drill.
This is not a drill.
Everybody can do something.
Our brother Corey Booker, uh, stoodon the floor and laid it all out
there for 25 hours and five minutes.
Everybody can't do that.
Everybody shouldn't do that,but everybody can do something.
(07:47):
Do something.
I think, uh, the famous philosopher,Michelle Obama said that, do something.
Um, now with that said, I'm gonnabe doing a few things, uh, putting
together and it'll be made availableto you, we'll probably sometime
(08:08):
a little bit later on this there.
And that is a. And a newsletter.
And, but you can go to, uh, it,it's that part.com right now
and check out some of the thingsthat are, that are already there.
Uh, but, uh, we're gonna beramping things up and going to
be speaking out and standing onbusiness, uh, going forward here.
(08:30):
That's something that I'm going to do.
So you can check it outand it's that part.com.
There'll be a blog there.
And the newsletter, uh, entitled the.
For more truth in every fact.
So until next time, be aware
(08:52):
and stay awake.
Okay, welcome back.
It's, uh, that part where we take a deeperlook at the truth inside every fact.
I'm your host, Jesse LeeHammond's, uh, media, uh, digital
media strategist for OAG Media.
I'm also the owner of it.
(00:33):
Um, and so, uh, whatare we gonna do today?
Uh, we're going to unpack a boldidea that's been floating around
the head of Donald Le I'll justcall him that because that's a kind
of a combination of Donald and.
(00:56):
That's how he's trying to move these days.
Like a dictator, uh, or authoritarian.
Definitely that by definition.
Anyway, uh, there's been talkingabout, in fact, he's been talking about
America going back or taking Americaback to the economy of 1789 to 1913.
(01:22):
Yeah, you heard that right back tothe early republic where tariffs
ruled the day and the governmentdidn't rely on income tax.
Now, on the surface, it mightsound patriotic, independent, and
nostalgic and like, Hey, cool.
(01:43):
No taxes
because I know I pay a lot anywaymyself or have over the years.
But here's that part,people don't talk about
that go narrow of, uh, tariffs.
It wasn't golden for everybody, justlike the much, like the good old
(02:06):
days weren't the good old days foreverybody, and it's not something
we should, uh, be trying to repeat.
Let's talk about the facts.
Between 1789 and 1913, thefederal government ran.
Almost entirely on tariffs.
That's a tax, uh, on imported goods.
No income tax, no federalsales tax, nothing like that.
(02:30):
And, uh, you know, many would saythat it worked sort of because,
uh, we made what we needed.
Uh, the government was smaller.
Uh, the world wasn't globalized yet.
But there's a missing piece of thispicture, and it's a big one too.
You see, from 1789 to 1865, the Americaneconomy was deeply dependent on slavery.
(02:58):
Yeah.
That's the missing piece right there.
We're talking about 76out of the uh, 1 24 years.
Cotton sugar, rice, tobacco producedenslave, or, or was produced by
enslaved people even after slavery.
(03:18):
Even after slavery.
The abolishment of it, uh,the exploitation continued
through sharecropping.
I remember my dad actuallytalking about sharecropping there.
Um.
And, uh, and we'll do anothersegment on sharecropping and,
and what all these things meant.
(03:39):
And, uh, uh, somethingcalled convict leasing.
And, you know, that's still in placethese days because if you're incarcerated,
you're not covered by that 13thamendment, which abolished, uh, slavery.
And so, you know, they couldjust, you know, work you for free.
(03:59):
And then of course the famousJim and Jane Crow labor laws.
So when someone says, let's goback to the way things were.
The question becomes, go back.
For whom?
And go back where?
See, uh, terrorists worked back thenbecause the economy was stacked with
(04:20):
systems that made labor cheap or free.
No social security wasaround at that time.
No public safety nets.
Uh, no Medicare, no federalmedical programs for that matter.
Um, it wasn't just an economicmodel, it was an exclusion model
(04:41):
for particular people groups.
Now, fast forward to today, uh, wedepend on a global supply chain.
We don't manufacture everything here.
That, that's, that's, thattrain has left the station.
Uh, tariffs are now would raise the,uh, the price of everything from food to
(05:01):
phones and if other countries retaliated.
Oh, my, our farmers, truckers,exporters, they'll all pay the price
and, yeah.
Interestingly enough, alot of them voted for Donna
(05:21):
and boy will they be surprisedover the next few days.
Next few months.
So again, that era might sound likestrength, but it was built on inequality,
on stolen labor slave.
Labor on systems designed to keep certainpeople locked out, excluded, marginalized.
(05:51):
So here's the part we shouldn't ignore.
You can't build a just future bygoing backward into an unjust past.
Let me say that again.
You can't build a justfuture by going backward.
(06:11):
You just can't do it, doesn't it?
Not about being anti-American oranything like that, about being.
And if we want real solutions for today'seconomy, we have to deal with it all.
All of it.
In reality, not nostalgia, not beingromantic about it or anything like that.
(06:37):
Those days are gone.
Let's move on.
So as we, uh, land a plane here, if thismade you pause, made you think, or maybe
just gave you something, uh, a better wayto break it down with someone else, then
(06:57):
please consider sharing this podcast.
Tag somebody start aconversation with them.
Uh, a lot of us are on ourphones for one reason or or the
other throughout the whole day.
Just, just jacking it up or textingit up or something like that.
Meanwhile, you know, the country'sburning, you know, this is real.
(07:25):
This is not a drill.
This is not a drill.
Everybody can do something.
Our brother Corey Booker, uh, stoodon the floor and laid it all out
there for 25 hours and five minutes.
Everybody can't do that.
Everybody shouldn't do that,but everybody can do something.
(07:47):
Do something.
I think, uh, the famous philosopher,Michelle Obama said that, do something.
Um, now with that said, I'm gonnabe doing a few things, uh, putting
together and it'll be made availableto you, we'll probably sometime
(08:08):
a little bit later on this there.
And that is a. And a newsletter.
And, but you can go to, uh, it,it's that part.com right now
and check out some of the thingsthat are, that are already there.
Uh, but, uh, we're gonna beramping things up and going to
be speaking out and standing onbusiness, uh, going forward here.
(08:30):
That's something that I'm going to do.
So you can check it outand it's that part.com.
There'll be a blog there.
And the newsletter, uh, entitled the.
For more truth in every fact.
So until next time, be aware
(08:52):
and stay awake.
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