Final answer:
Eric Foner sees New England's inequality as rooted in historical socio-economic developments, including the impact of slavery, industrialization, and class divisions. These factors created profound disparities, particularly as the region evolved through the eras of early colonization, industrialization, and urbanization.
Step-by-step explanation:
Historian Eric Foner describes the inequality in New England as being significantly influenced by varying economic and social factors. Initially, during the period of early colonization, there was a noticeable presence of slavery in New England, with a documented census in 1715 and growing slave populations in the 1770s within key locations such as Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. As the industrial revolution took hold, the shift in economic structures further entrenched social divisions, resulting in profound economic and social inequalities.
During the early industrialization in the Northeast, many New England merchants made fortunes from the slave trade, and the economy saw advances that benefited only a select few. Following the abolishment of slavery, the region faced issues such as crowded urban conditions, low-wage labor, and an inflow of immigrant workers who contributed to the diversity but also to the challenges of urban poverty, crime, and disease. By the 1880s, narratives of upward mobility were popularized, but for many, success did not translate into empathy for the less fortunate, and the wealth gap widened as the rich isolated themselves from the urban poor.
In the Northeast, economic prosperity was sustained by a protected workforce and a powerful maritime-based economy. Yet, as America further urbanized and diversified, new class divisions solidified, and areas like the Five Points district in New York City became synonymous with the turbulence of economic and social strife. Thus, the inequality in New England throughout history was a complex interplay of social, economic, and cultural elements that led to increasingly distinct class divisions.