Commodity
Degler writes, “For centuries the problem in Europe had been that of securing enough land for the people, but in the New World the elements in the equation were reversed… “I hear… that servants would be more advantageous to you than any commodity,” wrote a Londoner to a Virginian in 1648." Covert comparison of slaves to commodities depicts the objectification of blacks in America. They are deemed assets that can be utilized in generating revenues for the slavers through their free labour.
Web
Degler explains, “Though started casually, thoughtlessly, and without any preconceived goal, the web became so interwoven, so complexity, so tightly meshed, that John C. Calhoun could say, in 1850, slavery “has grown with our growth, and strengthened with our strength.” The web denotes the complex reality of slavery in America, and slaves are presumably indispensable in the development of the New World. The omnipresent of slavery in America is so intricate that without their presence, the economy would suffer great setbacks.
“Bright Luminary”
Degler reports, “And whatever else America may have been in the writings of visitors, all seemed agreed that the United States was the great experiment in democracy. To English Chartists, struggling to democratize English government, the United States Appeared as “the bright luminary of the western hemisphere whose radiance will extend across the Atlantic’s broad expanse and light the whole world to freedom and happiness." Equating America to a 'bright luminary' implies that it offers optimism concerning the attainment of democracy. Radiance denotes the benefits of democracy which will appeal to other nations to embrace Democratic governance. America's success in instituting a democratic government would elicit happiness across the globe.
“Thinnest of Soils”
Degler observes, “Without a feudal past America offers only the thinnest of soils into which a conservatism of the European variety can sink its roots. Almost all Americans, regardless of class, have shared a common ideology of Lockean or Whig Liberalism.” The thin soil implies that the American environment, culture, and history would not permit conservatism to flourish. Liberalism is predominant in America; hence, the introduction of Conservatism would not be smooth.
Crown
Degler notes, “Comptroller Weare, in offering advice on the keeping of the colonies in due subordination, argued on 1760 that even in the royal colonies, where the King appointed the Governor and the council, “The authority of the Crown is not sufficiently supported against the licentiousness of a republican spirit in the people, whose extreme jealousy of any power not immediately derived from themselves.” The crown is representative of monarchial power which elicits envy in citizens who feel that the Governor does not represent them. Proponents of republicans prefer a government in which they are overtly involved in composing, rather than one in which the King delegates authority to his favored governor. Nationalism would destabilize the power of the crown.
