Jamestown
Dr. Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States might bebetter titled A Proletarian's History of the United States. In the firstthree chapters Zinn looks at not only the history of the conquerors,rulers, and leaders; but also the history of the enslaved, theoppressed, and the led. Like any American History book covering the timeperiod of 1492 until the early 1760's, A People's History tells thestory of the "discovery" of America, early colonization by Europeanpowers, the governing of these colonies, and the rising discontent ofthe colonists towards their leaders. Zinn, however, stresses the role ofa number of groups and ideas that most books neglect or skim over: theplight of the Native Americans that had their numbers reduced by up to90% by European invasion, the equality of these peoples in many regardsto their European counterparts, the importation of slaves into Americaand their unspeakable travel conditions and treatment, the callousbuildup of the agricultural economy around these slaves, thediscontented colonists whose plight was ignored by the rulingbourgeoisie, and most importantly, the rising class and racial strugglesin America that Zinn correctly credits as being the root of m
Zinn says that "selection, simplification, [and] emphasis" (8) arenecessary to the historian, but he chooses to take a different stance inhis writings. I prefer to tell the story of the discovery of America from theviewpoint of the Arawaks, of the Constitution from the standpoint of theslaves, of Andrew Jackson as seen by the Cherokees, of the Civil War asseen by the New York Irish. While most history books focus on the dominating Europeans, Zinnfocuses on the dominated Native Americans, who Zinn holds to be at leastas advanced as their European masters. Before resorting to Africans, the colonists had tried tosubdue the Indians, but that idea failed before it was created. At the end of chapterthree, tension is mounting, pitting the Americans against the Englishand the workers against the rich. This example mayseem extreme, but both men were directly responsible for the deaths ofmillions on innocent civilians and caused sheer terror and panic amongmillions of other people. Needless to say, the colonists won, but it was at the expenseof several dozen of their own and thousands of Pequots. Citizens were put into work houses for debt and occasionallyrioted against the wealthy. Nathaniel Bacon led arevolution against Virginia governor William Berkeley and hisconciliatory Indian policies. To statethe facts, however, and then bury them in a mass of other information isto say to the reader: yes, mass murder took place, but it's not thatimportant. had to declare a kind ofmartial law, organize them into work gangs, and force them into thefields for survival. any of theproblems that we as a nation have today.
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Acceptance Essays
