America. No other word in any language sparks such a passion of energy in people. Why is
this? Is it because of the prosperity that the United States is associated with? Maybe, it is the
idea of complete freedom. Most people in less fortunate countries dream about a life in a new
land. Most often America is the land which pops into their heads. If people in less fortunate
countries dream of a new life in America, why has their been a decline of patriotism? Quite
possibly it is the lack of education, in the history of our fine country. People have forgotten
why we live in a free country, or how our country came to be. Possibly it is the fact that since
we no longer realize the overwhelming odds we faced in the revolution, or the matter of why
we succeeded from Britain. People take this country for granite. Two authors, Howard Zinn,
and Thomas A. Baily have not forgotten why we broke away. These men have similar
opinions on the social, political, and revolutionary origins of our country.
North and South America were colonized by modern European countries. The way
these countries interacted was the basis for society in Colonial America. For example, Spain
influenced the colonial times by introducing slavery through the Native Americans. Because
of Spain's introduction of slavery, it became a way of life in fifteenth, sixteenth, and
seventeenth century America. Baily and Zinn both agree that Colonial America was directly
influenced socially by the mixing of different cultures from the immigrants. Society was an
important factor in colonial America."...colonial society "was not democratic and certainly
not equalitarian; it was dominated by men who had money enough to make others work for
them.' And: "Few of these men were descended from indentured servants, and practically
none had themselves been of that class.'" Here, Zinn gives an example of how society
worked....