13. Zinn states that the cause(s) of the revolution, "... was not a conscious conspiracy, but an accumulation of tactical responses." I ask each of you to name one of those "responses" without repeating what your colleagues have already commented (so read what your colleagues write!).
14. On page 60, Zinn refers to the "elements" that were in place for conflict between the colonies and Great Britain... as in question #13, what does he refer (name one).
15. Discuss the point Zinn is attempting to make by all the evidence he presents for middle and lower class discontent. List one of Zinn's supporting "evidence" for discontentment. Again, do not repeat what any of your colleagues have written, and if you cannot present anything new, then agree or disagree with one of your colleagues' comments (of course, in a respectful way).
16. Note a cause leading to the "Boston Massacre."
17. Why does Zinn refer to the Declaration of Independence as a, "myth of a unified people?"
18. According to Zinn, how did the Revolutionary War allow the rich to manipulate the poor?
19. How did the Revolutionary War effect Native Americans?
20. How did the Revolutionary War effect Blacks?
21. How did the ratification benefit the rich (keep your answer short here, since it could go on and on... and again, do not repeat any answers already commented on by your colleagues)?
22. Come up with one sentence that explains Shays' Rebellion?
23. What argument dies James Madison use for having a government which can maintain peace and avoid continuous disorder?
29 comments:
12: Just from this beginning of Chapter 4 Zinn just explains how the founding fathers started a great legacy of America and the American way of life and government and how the Founding Fathers should receive full recognition of that.
13: One tactical response was all the rioting that was happening all around the colonies. There was not large decision to have all the riots but individual communities deciding this, which refers to the concept of it not being a conscious conspiracy against colonialism. This also shows that there was no movement for nationalism because there were only small riots that were far apart and had no major connection between them.
14: One of the “elements” that was catalyzing the coming of the revolution was the uncontrollable tax on the colonies. Zinn spends time explaining how the city taxes were out of control because of England’s need for more money to fund different wars, and other endeavors. I would assume that if you had a 49 percent tax on most taxable items you would be rather lenient to starting a new country where the people living in that country have control rather than having a foreign mother country.
15: The middle and lower class were discontent because for one they were the working driving force in the colonies and yet they were being treated far worse than the people who do nothing but rule in the name of England. All these angered feelings were vented through mob action and showed their discontent with the rich people, as shown against Andrew Oliver where merchant and other middle and lower class people destroyed Oliver’s house. They did not only destroy the house itself but they took and looted furniture and other things, and to top that all off they did not smash wine bottles they had a good time and drank them for their efforts against the wealthy.
16: Zinn believes that the leading cause of the Boston Massacre was impressments. Zinn gives examples on how the people preformed riots all over in order to impress the British.
17: He says that to show that the Declaration of Independence was not the total unification of the United States and that making a country whole can’t be done overnight and with one document. Contrary to common belief the Declaration was just a group of men who decided this with out the full consent of the rest of the populous.
18: The Revolutionary War allowed the rich to further manipulate the poor by turning the British rule to the colonial elite who still kept the poor in a poor labor intensive state. The war also created much higher inflation which kept the lower class unable of social mobility.
19: The Revolutionary War affected the Native Americans in overall a positive way. They eventually got their own boarder set so there would be no more confrontation with colonists. They had always been the targets of racism and targets of the colonists thinking that they were always violent and poised to attack, but because of this the Indians suffered attacks of violence from the colonists as shown when they received blankets from a smallpox hospital and died in great numbers from an epidemic of smallpox. The Indians eventually gained their own “homeland” so to speak and were alone with out the problems of allies and colonists.
20: The war affected Blacks by giving the British and the colonists to need their help instead of just exploiting and punishing them. Zinn says that the Revolution slowly led to the abolishment of slavery in America but very slowly is right. Zinn gives the examples on how the war created more space and opportunities for the Blacks because the population was shifting to provide men to fight in the war leaving job possibilities and such available for blacks to take. America was still growing as a nation and because of this blacks took advantage in creating a new society. They went after legislatures to abolish slavery and to gain suffrage, and not only this but they asked for money for education for black children. This is the beginning to the end of American slavery.
21: The ratification benefited the rich by giving them political power because of their wealthy status. Most of the politically influential people were wealthy because they had a high standings in the community and naturally the person who was at the top during the English rule would assume the responsibility under the independent united states.
22: Shay’s Rebellion was where I group of several hundred farmers who had been veterans of war and come home with debt piled up and they paraded through the towns, this was centered around how the rich could only hold office and how the people wanted paper money in order to make it easier to pay off creditors and get rid of debt; this happened in 1786 in Massachusetts led by Daniel Shays.
23: James Madison wanted an “extensive republic” that of which would sustain a happy and peaceful nation but problems would arise as Zinn points out where as the argument over power distribution comes into play again like as Boorstin describes. One of Madison’s main goals was to clear up the problems with debt and have paper money, and different land distribution in order to avoid poverty and a rift in the classes, but this provides the problem in that there is no making everyone happy.
23. What argument dies James Madison use for having a government which can maintain peace and avoid continuous disorder?
13. A cause of the revolution, which was instigated by English despotism, but certainly wasn’t planned or conspired, was the organization of Regulator groups in the counties of North Carolina. These groups worked to end tax collection. Their efforts often-times became violent, including the mass attack upon a prison to free two regulators. The guarding officer was then imprisoned in their stead. They also worked to force the equality of the government membership, which consisted mostly of upper class citizens despite the overwhelming majority of the lower class population. Overall these Regulator groups worked to dissolve “the unequal chances the poor and weak have in contentions with the rich and powerful.”
14. The obvious driving “elements” that pushed the conflict of British and American views were economics. The British wanted the exact opposite of what the Americans did. The British wanted to continue to maintain control of America because of the huge profit they could gain from it through exclusive access to its traded goods. On the opposite pole of this view were the Americans. The Americans, especially the rich, wanted to sever ties with Britain because of the much greater profit they could gain by trading their goods in the open European market, rather than exclusively to the British who could trade at whatever price they chose. The lower class of America were also to benefit from such a severing of ties, even if they did not have to foresight to realize that a prosperous, independent America would create many more jobs, and would increase the demand for skilled labor.
15. Zinn uses convincing evidence to show that the discontent of the middle and lower class was not aimless, but had a specific target, and its efforts were marred merely by the anarchistic tendencies of a scorned people. He proves this idea through the many failed attempts of different American upper classmen to organize the mobs, and the eventual success of Patrick Henry’s speech, and Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense.” The mob action of the lower class indeed had a purpose: to destroy aristocracy. However, they were ill-guided in their approach to such a monumental task. They acted as any mob would, and destroyed aimlessly the holdings of rich members of society, whether American or British. The various attempts to organize these people against the British all failed for the same reason. They attempted to change the direction of the mob, rather than reorganizing it. They tried to shift the attention of the people to the British, but only succeeded in causing the destruction of the property of several English Gentlemen who had taken residence in America. Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine were successful because they were able to use plain logic to show these great hordes of people that it was not the rich who were the cause of their suffering, but it was the British control of America that pushing them further and further into poverty. In this way, they were able to focus the mobs of America on the destruction of the British occupation, and were able to maintain their own power as American aristocrats.
16. A critical cause of the Boston Massacre was the Quartering Act that Britain passed, which forced the Americans to house the British soldiers. Basically, they had to feed and shelter at night the same men who lorded over them and kept them in line during the day. It would indeed be folly not to assume that such an arrangement would not invoke conflict. The Quartering Act went beyond any previous act of the British Monarchy because it increased Britain’s violation of America from merely exploiting the Americans, to controlling them.
17. The Declaration of Independence was merely a “myth of the unified people” because it defined only the minority of the American population to be “people.” Excluded from the famous phrase of the Declaration of Independence, “we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal,” are, as obviously stated, women, and, although not stated, Indians, men without land, women, and slaves. The Declaration of Independence served only as an ideology to ensnare the minds of the masses and turn their great aggression against Britain. And it certainly wasn’t very effective, as only a third of Americans supported revolution, while another third were against it, and the last third were neutral, but were coerced into the war despite their lack of opinion on the matter. Indeed, one could go so far as to say that the Declaration of Independence was but rhetoric of the aristocracy.
18. The rich used the Revolutionary War to further their riches. They were able to manipulate the poor to fight the British, so that without British taxes and Acts, the rich of America could rule on their own terms, where their riches would never be threatened. The poor continued to toil under the fell taxes of a lazy ruler, only now he resided next door on an estate, rather than across the ocean in a palace. The poor, who were promised gains for their participation in the Revolution, received nothing, while the lives and welfare of the upper class and middle class were greatly benefited by the absence of the British.
19. The British and their Proclamation of 1763 was the only thing preventing westward migration of Americans prior to the Revolution. So obviously, once the revolution was over, Americans immediately began pushing into Indian land, sometimes successful, sometimes not. This established what became a century-long trend of wars against the Indians and broken treaties with the Indians. And the whole time, the Rich of the East profited off the poor pioneers of the West. The rich only moved west to prospect land and expand their wealth after the Indian threat had been neutralized. The American Revolution, in the words of Zinn, “…the Indians faced a new land-coveting nation – alone.”
20. The Revolution had mixed effects on the black population of America. In the south, there was not much change, since the Constitution allowed slavery, and provisioned for slave trade for twenty more years at least. In the north, however, there existed many free black men. Many of these men became well-learned, and there existed wealthy black landowners. However, with the deep-rooted principles of racism still existent, they were regarded as second-class citizens, regardless of their occupation, education, or financial holdings. Many fought for their rights, using the verbatim of different American documents to prove that they deserved the same rights as white men, since they were also men. Some blacks fought for suffrage, others fought for an end to slavery, but they were all rebuffed, because the ties of racism, and the pressure of the south to maintain a white dominance over blacks, prevented the equalization of all men, regardless of race.
21. One of the ways that the ratification of the Constitution of the United States benefited the wealthy was that it allowed Congress to pass tax laws unconditionally. With that power, the members of Congress, who were aristocracy, could choose to pass only tax laws that weren’t detrimental to their own business ventures.
22. Shays’ Rebellion, led by Daniel Shays in 1786, was a western Massachusetts uprising of poor farmers who were forced to pay off debts for their lands, and being jailed because they could not pay the debts, partially because taxes prevented them making a significant profit from their farming, and partially because they never received the payment promised them for serving the American cause in the Revolutionary War.
23. James Madison’s argument was that having representative government, rather than having government by popular vote, prevented the possibility of a candidate being chosen based on the principles of competing factions. The best way to prevent significant disorder was to prevent members of competing factions from getting the upper hand on each other through government seats. He also argued, in Federalist #10, that such factional disputes were usually only within a particular state, and by having representative government on a federal level, these factional ideals became worthless when presented to members of other states. By preventing people from becoming government officials through ideology, representative government prevented favoritism of that ideology.
13. A main cause of the revolution was the tightening control over the colonists by the British. The British who had just knocked out the French in the colonies, needed money to pay for the war. So, they wanted to tighten their hold on the colonies, so they could bring some of the money made here, back to their ‘mother land.’
14. Although the British wanted to tighten their control on the colonies, the Americans didn’t need the British support any longer. The Americans were making enough money to defend themselves now, and the British kicked out an enemy on their lands.
15. Zinn is trying to show how there is unequal distribution of wealth and land. With only 5% of people owning 49% of all assets, it puts in prospective the growing amount of poor people in these areas. The way the power is spread in America is turning out to be fairly similar to those in England. Most people, if not all living in the colonies tried to get away from that system in England and immigrated America. The poor are now discontent because they realized that this shouldn’t be happening, they moved to America to have a better life, and share equal wealth with everyone.
16. The Americans were forced to house British soldiers. Then the soldiers began taking the Americans jobs and the colonists began to loose work. This made the colonist very discontent and led to the Boston Massacre.
17. Zinn calls the Declaration of Independence a ‘myth of a unified people’ because it clearly leaves out slaves, women, and Indians from it. Also, the declaration talked about political rights, but it does not mention the unequal distributions of wealth. This could be because the men who wrote the declaration didn’t want to have to give up their land.
18. The rich held all the land and power during the revolution. They were able to force people to fight for them, and if they rebelled they would be punished. Some of the punishments could be very severe, and others could include getting discharged. The common soldiers, which made up most of the poor men, were not paid. However, they were forced to fight.
19. The Native Americans had been slowly pushed out of their land, and had to go further westward because of the growing population of the colonists. During the revolution, The British used biological warfare to get rid of the Natives. However, the natives were able to hold on, and use guerilla warfare against the British. The British then agreed to a peace treaty, where they established a line where colonists could not pass because it was the Natives territory.
20. Some black elites went to congress to demand the abolishment of slavery, and granting blacks equal rights. All around the states, blacks petitioned for their rights and for payment so that their kids could to school. They were not however, granted any rights.
21. The writers of the constitution were all members of the elite, upper class. Some groups including women, landless men, slaves, and Natives were not recognized in the convention. So, the convention only had the rich people in mind when drafting the constitution.
22. The Shay’s Rebellion was a group of in debt farmers, who were discontent with the fact that they went off to fight in the revolution without pay, but still are in debt with no way of paying it back.
23. James Madison wants to form a republic so that there would be less of a chance to have a big uprising because the leaders in the particular state could ‘kindle the flame’.
12. From the beginning of chapter 4, Zinn mentions that the founding fathers wanted to “Create a nation, a symbol, a legal unity called the United States, they could take over land, profits, and political power from favorites of the British Empire.” Zinn explains how the founding fathers started the foundation for the Americas and their reasoning behind it.
13. The division between support for the British and the want for independence was one of the causes of the revolution. “Could class hatred be focused against the pro-British elite, and deflected from the nationalist elite?” (pg. 62). Although people were rioting against the British, the loyalist support for the British made the nationalists fight against the British that much harder. Demands of the people in the colonies grew and the separations drove the revolution to start. “In 1763, the Boston Gazette, someone wrote that “a few persons in power” were promoting political projects “for keeping the people poor in order to make them humble.” (pg 61). This lead to the stamp act, in 1765, and the rebellion against it. The support from loyalists made it easier for these acts to be passed, and if the people had all just fought back at once, the revolution probably would have been much sooner.
14. Zinn mentions that wealth was a large factor and divisions in classes for these classes.
The British turned to the colonies in order to pay for the war, to pay revenues. The colonists did not think this was their bill, as it was a war because of the British. The British also wanted to continue to use the colonies for trade, as it continued to gain more profits. The English needed the colonist’s wealth much more than the Americans wanted the British “support.”
15. Divisions of the classes were growing more and more. As the rich got richer, the poor got poorer. Some of the driving movements that pushed the discontent further were that wealth was becoming more concentrated. An example Zinn uses for this is that “In Philadelphia and New York too, wealth was more and more concentrated. Court-record wills showed that by 1750 the wealthiest people in the cities were leaving 20,000 pounds.” (pg 60). The causes for all this was that, again, “a few persons in power” were promoting political projects “for keeping the people poor in order to make them humble.” (pg 61). As distinction between rich and poor broadened, the British began to impose more taxes. So in addition to a gap in society, the people were being taxed by the British and expected to pay for the war. What it comes down to is economics and how they were used.
16. A cause leading to the Boston Massacre was due to the heavy taxation by the British and also the gap between rich and poor. “That summer a shoemaker named Ebenezer MacIntosh led a mob in destroying the house of a rich Boston merchant named Andrew Oliver. Two weeks later, the crowd turned to the home of Thomas Hutchinson, a symbol of the rich elite who ruled the colonies in the name of England.” (pg 61). The people’s discontent with the British taxation and the class gap caused them to riot and fight against the taxation and rich.
17. Zinn refers to the Declaration as “myth of a unified people” because the document did not list rights as they applied to all the people in the colony. How can a country be truly unified if everyone’s rights are not listed and the people are not all considered equal in the first place? The Declaration was drawn up by people with “legal” backing, as we learned in the Colonial Experience, but the document was also drawn up fairly quickly and was not completely fool-proof.
18. The revolutionary war allowed the rich to manipulate the poor because “the revolutionary leadership distrusted mobs of poor,” (pg 77) and the rich only really used the war to continue their profits. The rich did not want to fight in the battles themselves, so they sent others to fight instead, manipulating them. They were “offering the adventure and rewards of military service to get poor people to fight for a cause they may not see clearly as their own” (pg 78). The rich did not want to put themselves in danger of losing their lives or their profits, so they sent the poor people to do the fighting and get their hands dirty themselves.
19. “It seemed that the majority of white colonists, who had a bit of land or no property at all, were still better off than slaves or indentured servants or Indians, and could be wooed into the coalition of the Revolution.” (80). Even before the Revolution and as it was occurring, from the quote on page 80, it appears the Indians were having a hard time in the first place. The Revolution affected Native Americans because the Americans began moving west, into Indian land, as soon as the war was over. “They had been ignored by the fine words of the Declaration, had not been considered equal, certainly not in choosing those who would govern the American territories in which they lived, nor in being able to pursue happiness as they had pursued it for centuries before the white Europeans had arrived. Now, with the British out of the way, the Americans could begin the inexorable process of pushing the Indians off their lands, killing them if they resisted.” (pg 86). The Proclamation of 1763 passed by the British had been holding the colonists back from expanding westward. Now that their ties were broken, the Americans were eager to move westward. So it got worse once the revolution was over. Also, the Declaration did not mention the fate of the Native Americans. Here was another problem that lay as effect for them.
20. The Revolutionary War affect on blacks was somewhat more complicated. Numbers blacks had fought with the British, and the British had lost. In the south, there was reluctance to rearm the blacks. There were also many free blacks, some who had left on British ships and others who were avoiding their old masters. “In the northern states, the combination of blacks in the military, the lack of powerful economic need for slaves, and the rhetoric of the Revolution led to the end of slavery-but very slowly,” (pg 88). For the most part, things stayed the same in the south for a time; while ultimately, the revolution in the north ended slavery at a slow pace. Also, Zinn mentions that the Revolution did “create space and opportunity for blacks to begin making demands of white society.” (pg 88). So the Revolution ended up giving the blacks more power to go against the white population as well, fight for themselves.
21. The ratification benefitted the rich because they believed they themselves should control the government, or control how it operated. The rich apparently did not want to lose their positions of power. Beard determined that most writers of the Constitution had some economic interest and that since it did not represent slaves, indentured servants, women, and men without property (which showed wealth), it did not apply to those groups. Ultimately what was left was the rich would benefit and these four groups would not. This plan would “benefit the groups the Founders represented, the “economic interests they understood and felt in concrete, definite form through their own personal experience.” (pg 91).
22. Shay’s Rebellion, 1786 in Massachusetts, was an uprising led by poor farmers due to debts and taxation, beneficial to those who were being oppressed by things such as the Riot Act. Shay’s Rebellion was a way to fight back against all their wrong doings caused by the Revolution: taxation and debts due to it.
23. Madison argues that a representative government would help maintain peace in a society that was ridden with problems with property division and debt. Madison said wealth was a motive of the government to stay in power and was the “economic interest seen behind the political clauses of the Constitution” (pg 97). Madison said that factional struggles needed to be solved that were caused by gap in classes and with wealth. James Madison argues that if they had paper money in order to pay off debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other “wicked project.”
12. Zinn shows that our founding fathers were important men. he shows how they built america from the bottom up. he speaks very highly of the founding faters, and does them justice.
14. an element that quickened the pace of the revolution was the way the english government relentlessly taxed the colonists. AS the chapter progresses, Zinn explains how the english taxed the living daylights out of the colonists to fund things the colonists were not even involved in. This really pushed the colonists to start a new country where they weren't forced to pay for something they had no idea about.
15. Many riots started in the colonies because the working people of the colony were fed up with the rule of the english lords that did nothing and still got more recognition than the people who worked for a living.
16. The boston Massacre, according to zinn, was a result of the colonists attempting to scare the british. the colonists hoped that the boston massacre would tell the british that the people of the colony were not to be messed with.
17. Zinn points that out to show that the declaration did not treat everyone as equals and was just a group of men wanting to escape from tyranny and not an attempt to unify america.
18. The revolutionary war was a tool for the rich to take power from the british. It was not a way to help the poor. The poor remained poor after the revolution and were unable to navigate in social status due to the ammount of inflation that occured.
19. The revolutionary war effected the Native Americans in both a positive and a negative way. It established borders so that conflict with the colonists ceased, but the native americans were still loathed and mistreated by the colonists. Overall, they just went from one oppressor to another. As the british wer thrown out, the rich colonists took control and had no reason to involve the native americans in their new country.
20. The war effected blacks in a way that really pushed them horizontally in society. Blacks before the war were mistreated and beaten and over worked. This status remained even after the war. Slavery still remained for the blacks and that is wht the colonists saw them as, just people to be used for personal gain.
21. the ratification benfitted the rich by giving them a reason to take control. It made it seem as though they were the only ones who should be granted the power.
22. Shays' rebellion was an uprising of farmers who were fed up with the taxes that prevented them from profitting from their crops and the debts they were forced to pay to keep themselves out of prison.
23. His argument is that a representative government stopped the posibility of the presidency being a popularity contest. he said that it would prevent the election being about the people choosing someone they connected with and turn it into a more unbiased choice, based on skill.
12. (filing away question but) Zinn talks about all the Founding Fathers did and how they deserve full credit for holding back as many potential rebellions as they did.
13. One reason for the cause of the revolution was the large split between the poor and rich. Because of this the rich felt worried and tried to find a new target for the troubled poor, of which some of them were ready to fight and rise up through the ranks.
14. As in #13, one element was the poor, there were more of the unwealthy and therefore more people that were troubled and willing to revolt.
15. I agree with Kelly, that Zinn was using the evidence to show unequal distribution of wealth. He is doing that to show how the poor were having problems and how they deserve much more than they got
16. One cause of the Boston Massacre was the colonies wanting to prove themselves and their might, and try to scare the British.
17. The Declaration was a "myth of unified people" because people weren't unified. The declaration only mentioned white males, not women or people of different colored skin.
18. The rich were able to manipulate the poor after the war because htey came in to fill the void that the British left after the revolution. The rich continued to mistreat the poor and force them to do hard labor, pay taxes, etc.
19. Native Americans ultimately benefitted from the war. Early on, with no British to fight, the American could focus on the Indians and try to wipe them out, from mass raids or biological warfar with smallpox blankets. Eventually, there was a line drawn to signify Natvive land compared to American land, slightly benefitting the Natives.
20. Blacks attempted to gain rights, from writing to Jefferson and other high people or petitioning, but they didn't benefit at all and gained no rights.
21. The rich benefitted because they filled the British void and continued to work the poor
22. Shay's rebellion was from angry farmers, former veterans from the war, who were upset at having to pay taxes with money they didn't have
23. Madison wanted a "extensive republic" with less chances for huge rebellions.
~Chris Sogge~
12. In the beginning of this next chapter, Zinn has a different, more attacking tone that comes with this first paragraph about the founding fathers. He isn’t necessarily being fair to the founding fathers, but he is bringing out a highly interesting point, that is well supported by Zinn’s evidence in the following chapter. Zinn seems to over generalize his statement, though, which doesn’t make it exactly fair.
13. One of the “tactical responses” that were apparent in Zinn’s story of the revolution was the colonial leaders’ creation of new policies to make the anger of the poor be directed towards England instead of the rich. The leaders needed to solve the problem of a lack of national unity anyway, so what would be a better way than to create a mass movement for the removal of England? They did this by compromising with those in the Regulator movements in areas such as North Carolina, and making some legislative reform. Because the Regulators were ultimately defeated in their attempt to provide equality within the country, the focus was turned to having separation from England, in order to begin equality in the colonies.
14. On of the “elements” that were in place for conflict between Great Britain and America was that America now needed its own resources. The days of dependence on England were over. During their dependency, the English took much of the resources in America, and took advantage of the opportunity for wealth that was there for that time. An example is the colonial trade that had ballooned with the intervention of England. It would be amazing (and impossible) for England to give up this precious power in an instant. This must have been a place for much conflict, and was an “element” leading to the war.
15. Zinn was definitely trying to make a point n his extensive analysis of lower/upper class discontent. I agree the most with Jon, that it was at this moment that the act of rioting had a specific point and aim. Also, though, the battle between poor and rich was meant to show the similarity between America’s society and that of England. The Americans were not really escaping to anything if they were to win a war and become dependent. The same pattern had happened in England, and Zinn illustrates this pattern happening in-depth in America, of distinct and violent social classes. Even though America was supposed to be different than England, it grew the exact way as its creator. Zinn continues with his bias by showing that America just wasn’t as perfect as it thought it was. Even with a completely new atmosphere, the people of America still followed a social pattern they had promised not to. Taxing was also a major issue, and Zinn’s point in this chapter was also to note the obvious imbalance in wealth.
16. One cause leading to the Boston Massacre was the improper treatment of soldiers in places such as Boston. In these areas, the British would force troops into the houses of colonists, and force them ahead of the town residents. These soldiers would also displace residents from jobs, and take jobs from others who had been waiting. The unfair treatment of working people was probably what was most responsible for the Boston Massacre.
17. The Declaration of Independence was referred to as a myth of a unified people because having a declaration obviously would not change all of the inequality right away. The Declaration was a beacon of hope, not a reality at that time. Although the declaration brought a sentiment of unity, it was only a sentiment, and there was no real action to back up the words during that time.
18. The war allowed the rich to manipulate the poor because the war offered an escape from the poor conditions in America. The war carried with it an illusion of rank that was presented as a possibility. With rank would come money, and the ability to finally be above someone on the social scale. In reality, most ranking never came true. This was only a lure to have soldiers fight without expecting any pay. The rich did not feel they needed to get their hands dirty. Because people wanted rank so much, they ignored momentarily what being a soldier would mean, and in that one moment the war manipulated the poor. They never got the respect they had been promised, and many soldiers died poor, alone, and homeless, because of outrageous tax.
19. Because of the war, Native Americans were pushed from their land, and the colonists further showed their distaste for them by giving them smallpox blankets and killing may of them. Although it seems like their condition worsened, the Native Americans ultimately could not be stopped, and this showed the colonists their strength and determination. The war provided a time of separation between the colonists and the Native Americans.
20. Although the black part of the American population was completely left out of the Declaration of Independence, Zinn explains that the war actually led to a slow abolition of slavery in America. This was because of a lack of dependence on slave labor, a number of blacks in the military, and a small unity of revolution which gave black people a more human like picture to the colonists. It must be noted that directly after the war, the slavery increased in the South with the coming of ice and cotton though.
21. The ratification of a separate country benefited the rich by temporarily ignoring the social conflicts that had plagued America before the war. Inflation was one thing that benefited the rich as well. Also, the rich never had to give up anything for the war, while the majority of poor people lost their land if not their lives. This made the rich even more separate, and further strengthened their hold on the country.
22. Because of inequality and discontent that soldiers faced coming out of the war, Shay’s rebellion made it possible for these people to voice their concerns and get people thinking, even if only for a short time.
23. James Madison argues that, to have a peaceful republic without continuous disorder, a large government was necessary, spanning all 13 states. With a universal republic, there would be less chance for huge rebellion, and any rebellion would hopefully be contained in a smaller state.
15. I am going to use the same example Elena used but my view is different. Some Bostonians destroyed Andrew Oliver's house, and his wine collection, because of the Stamp Act. The people of Boston already felt oppressed because only 5% of the people held 49% of Boston’s taxable assets. When the Stamp Act was passed in 1765, the Boston colonists had had enough. They sought out something that would release their anger. They chose to ransack and destroy the house of Andrew Oliver, who was the commissioner of the Stamp Act. The angry citizens of Boston then turned their destructive energy on the house of Thomas Hutchinson, the crown's governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. According to Zinn, this was an act of violence by the poor against the oppressive elite.
16. One cause of the Boston Massacre was the boycotting of British goods. This boycott led to a loss of jobs for the poor people. The British soldiers in Boston then started to take jobs from the Boston colonists. Since the British soldiers were not boycotting, they could make a profit because their American competition was gone. Some rope makers, who had lost their jobs to British soldiers, started a crowd and started provoking the soldiers. The soldiers then fired into the crowd and killed some people. This became known as the Boston Massacre.
17. The Declaration of Independence is a "myth of a unified people" because many people were not included in it. The Declaration did not include women, Blacks, and Indians. In addition, the colonies were very independent. Even up to the Civil War, the states were very separate.
19. The Revolutionary War effected the Native Americans. To understand these effects we must first look at the French-Indian War. After the French-Indian War, the British limited the Native Americans. The British tried to get rid of the Indians in various ways. Finally, the British and Indians decided on a compromise of sorts. The British drew a border that the Americans and the Indians could not cross. This line was the Appalachian Mountains. After the Revolutionary War, the colonists were no longer forced to obey the line of the Appalachian Mountains. The Americans started moving across the mountains and going into the territory that was promised to the Indians. This was not fair to the Indians, who did not really care about the problems of the Americans.
22. In 1786, Shay's Rebellion was a rebellion by a group of unhappy, poor farmers who wanted compensation from the newly established government.
23. James Madison made the argument that the government needed to do something about the distribution of property. He said that the people with out wealth and property still had an interest in politics. He then introduced the idea of "majority rules." He then proposed the idea of having representatives from each state. This way a problem that arouse among the people of one state would not spread it to the people of another state. This method would keep the peace in America.
12. Zinn is declaring the founding fathers the men who started it all and shuold be accredited duely. He states that they were the ones to solidify America as a nation and were the ones to set the American standard of social being and that no body should deny them their credit.
13. The tactical response that triggered the Revolution was the English's actions. It wasn't the American's who first threated with a revolution, it was the English, who feared a revolution, who repressed the Americans, which in turn made them want a revolution. It was the English's own paranoia which instigated the revolution. Without their added tarriffs and taxes, the Americans wouldn't have rallied for a revolution for a while.
14. An "element" which fueled a desire for the revolution was the heavy tarriffs and taxes loaded upon the Americans. The English taxed everything from ink to tea, elicting much pain from the pocketbooks of many respectable Americans. It's probably good England taxed the colonies so heavily, because in a matter of years, the English would need the money to pay for the war against the Americans they taxed so dearly.
15. Zinn is presenting that the differnece between upper and lower classes was (and is) becoming greater. Many Europeans came to the colonies to earn a name for themselves, many didn't have a penny to their name in Europe and heard that one could become fabulously rich in the New World with nothing to start with. These immigrants only added to the lower class, which was heavily dissapointed by the lack of money to be made. It appeared that only the rich made more money (which was true) and, if the poor were luck, made none. Many of the poor got poorer and had to sell themselves to seritude.
16. A leading cause to the Boston Massacre was the colonist had to house and feed the English soldiers due to the Quartering Act. Each household was required to allow British soldiers to sleep and eat in the house without having to pay.
17. Zinn says that the Declaration of Independence was a good idea, but words are far easier than action. Having a country truely unified would be virtually impossible to accomplish, even if they had adaquate resources.
18. Zinn says that the revolutionary war allowed the rich to manipulate the poor because of after the revolution, the extreme rich took over the country and did very little to releive the financial pain the poor were and had been unduring. After the war, everyone was NOT equal, rather "Everyone is equal, just some poeple are more equal than others." (Animal Farm)
19. The Revolutionary War affected Native Americans differerntly. The tribes that allied themselves with the English or were neutral were slaughtered viciously, and the tribes that allied themselves with the Americans were merely slaughtered. Also, since the English were no longer enforcing laws, the Proclimation of 1763 was abandonned and the Americans started to push west.
20. The Revolutionary War really only affected blacks in the long run. (south) Over time, blacks were allowed to slowly move up the social latter, eventually being able to own their own land, then their own businesses, and eventually, hold a possition in the government. (north) Many blacks were already free in the more tolerant north. Blacks got more rights and sooner than those in the south.
21. The rich were benfieted because they now had a higher status and had more power. Now that America was in the hand of the locals, the rich could rule. They continued to oppress the poor harshly and merely exploited their power.
22. Shay's Rebellion was a bunch of farmers who had left their land and fought in the revolutionary was only to return and find that their land had been stolen from them and they weren't notified and weren't given any compensation so they went AWAL (I would have too).
23. James Madison vies for a government by representation rather than one of popular vote. He says that this would prevent extreme unbalances of power and that the federal government would have undisputable power greater than any of the colonies and would have universal law.
13.) One of the "responses" that was responsible for the revolution was the taxation without representation initiated by the English. Heavy taxes were placed upon the colonists, such as the stamp act in 1767. The taxes cause unrest among the citizens, and, due to the newfound unity against England, the taxes were a clear instigator of the revolution. While not all of the colonists were totally opposed to the English control of the colonies, they all agreed to dislike the taxes.
14.) One element that was in place was the beginning of town meetings in the colonies. The colonial town meetings were established to "vent the grievances" of the colonies. The meetings may have seemed to have minimal meaning, but in reality they were very important in establishing unity and allowing the colonists to share their distaste for the English's oppression and overtaxing. They were vital for connecting and unifying the colonists against the English machine.
16.) One major cause of the Boston Massacre was the quartering act. This new act passed by the English stated that Americans had to house British soldiers. This, along with the multiple other outrageous acts passed by the English, caused unrest and led to the Boston Massacre.
18.) The rich upper class of America used the Revolutionary war to further the gap between them and the poor. First, the rich promised the poor assistance if they fought the war. They did fight and win the war, but received very little for their major role in the victory. Also, inflation due to the war caused the poor to remain poor, and eliminated the opportunity for social mobility. Additionally, the taxes that the British put on the Americans were bad, but even after the war taxes were put on the American poor. The only difference was that it was their own American kin rather than the English.
19.) The Revolutionary war seemed to have a more negative effect in the long run. At first the war established a homeland for the Indians by establishing boundaries on the individual states, which was a short term ceasefire to all of the fighting. However, as we know now, the Americans quickly continued their expansion westward at the expense of Native American homeland. So in the long run, the revolutionary war gave the Americans the right to expand without any opposition and pushed the Native Americans out of their land onto small reservations (still an impact today).
20.) Blacks were affected by the Revolutionary war in a somewhat positive way. The war, in the long run, slowly led to the abolishment of slavery, according to Boorstin. The reason for the wars small positive effect on the African slave population is because the slaves became very important as fighters. America was already lacking in a labor source, and the war increased the need for people (especially men) to work and fight to keep the war alive. Therefore, Africans often fought in the war and also were sometimes given other colonial jobs. These improvements in Black treatment, although minor, would prove to become larger and larger and eventually lead to slavery abolition.
22.) Shay's rebellion was a revolt of uprising farmers who were in land debt, because they were not able to pay off their land due to taxes and lack of repercussions for fighting, which eventually led to them being jailed.
12. I do not believe Zinn is being entirely fair in describing the intentions of our founding fathers. Surely there should have been some glimmer of good in the want for the foundation of the United States. This cynical outlook, however, does carry truth. When one thinks about it, the underlying reason for the creation of the USA was to escape the “tyranny” of England, and instead to rule our way. By taking power from the favored Brits, the founding fathers now controlled all the land, profits, and power which once eluded them. Their system, Zinn admits is one to be “awed” as it remains effective (depending on our president and other governmental leaders of course) and relatively unchanged to this day.
13. One of the “tactical” responses which catalyzed the revolution was born from the indignities of the Stamp Act. In 1765, the Loyal Nine, a political group in Boston, organized a march of up to three thousand people to protest the enactment. Angry protests such as these accumulated and would drive America into the Revolutionary War.
14. The relationship of England and America is that of a parent and child. In a common upbringing, the child is first dependent upon its parent, but as it starts to hit its teen years, becomes more independent. Arguments and tensions flare as the child feels it does not need the parent’s support anymore, but the parent insists on clinging to the child. England and America were in this stage when the “elements” for conflict arose. Americans were capable of maintaining a nation without the British, but England still insisted upon drawing wealth from America. Specifically, Americans were growing quite prosperous with wills of the wealthy in 1750 left the equivalent of $5 million today. The Americans wanted to maintain their wealth, and with Britain enacting such laws as the Stamp Act to pay for the French War, was depleting a portion of it.
15. I agree with Jon’s interpretation, though with a few slight differences. Zinn is attempting to show that the “amazingly inflamed” discontent of the lower and middle class people was at first uncontrolled, and by showing the success of Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine, found a constructive means to handle their discontent. Initially, the discontent of the middle to lower classes was unrestrained and contained no direction as they hindered not only British rivals, but Americans as well. The simple but inspiring words of Henry and Paine gave the lower and middle classes a meaningful voice with which to express their ideas.
16. One of the reasons for the tensions which led up to the pivotal time of the Boston Massacre was the infestation of British troops. The troops who were impressed into Boston by the British were not the best of house guests. Opportunities for jobs in Boston, or anywhere in the colonies, were scarce, and soldiers took away a large portion of these. This strain upon the working class and the soldiers in Boston eventually climaxed on March 5, 1770 when provoked British soldiers fired upon a crowd and shot several colonists.
17. Zinn makes the argument that reason the Revolution and the writing of the Declaration of Independence was a myth which inspired unity and independence. It was, in fact, the surest bet to secure the support of the middle and lower classes to join with the elite to sever ties with Great Britain, while still maintaining their individual wealth. While the Declaration vowed “that all men are created equal”, Native Americans, slaves, and women are conspicuously absent in this referral. By promising such unalienable rights and happiness, the lower classes were blindsided and inspired to support the cause against the British. This symbol of unity provided something for them to fight for. In the end, however, the Declaration did prove simply to be words, as four days after the reading of the Declaration of Independence, the rich were given the right to pay their way out of a draft while the poor had no choice. Thus, the liberties of the Declaration of Independence proved to be a myth and once again, tyranny was proved to be tyranny.
18. The Revolutionary War was a tremendous opportunity for the rich to manipulate the poor, Zinn says. It was clear that the working class was deeply unhappy with British occupancy in the colonies which stole their jobs and prevented them from totally benefiting from the profit of their trade. Whereas originally, the working mass was a bundle of angry energy, the rich leaders of the colonies were able to manipulate the poor into a common cause of expelling the British. Their fiery and inspiring words which promised liberty, really only ensured liberty and wealth for themselves as the poor, black, Native American, and woman were left by the wayside.
19. The Revolutionary War, as is the same with all conflicts involving Americans, had a tremendous negative effect on the Native Americans. After the French gave their land holdings in the Appalachians to the British, the British conceded to a line boundary at the mountains upon which settlers could not encroach. The Royal Proclamation of 1763, however, did not fly with the Americans. After their victory in the Revolution, the Americans considered all the land to be rightfully theirs. Westward expeditions were launched, and Native Americans were brutally pushed off their land. The power of the Native Americans still could not be ignored. It was agreed upon that in return for certain tracts of land on Native American territory, the US would give back other claims of land. As we know, however, the Americans were not so noble on keeping up their end of the bargain as atrocities such as the Trail of Tears would plague Native American history.
20. While the triumph of the Americans in the Revolutionary War spelt trouble for the Native Americans, the American’s success provided a small opening of positivism for the blacks. The pandemonium of the war allowed many to escape on ships to England, Canada, the West Indies, or even back to Africa. Others opted to continue life in America while avoiding their previous masters. While slavery still flourished after the revolution, its circumstances did allow slow progress in the fight for civil rights. Blacks began to make more demands for equality and even protested for suffrage in 1780. Despite these small advancements, the status of blacks in America after the Revolutionary War was still inferior.
21. The ratification greatly benefited the rich. By severing their ties from England, wealthy leaders and merchants no longer had to play puppet to their previous masters. All profits earned could be harbored to themselves instead of being taken away due to the heavy taxes imposed by the British. Thus, the ratification of the USA and Congress’s control over taxes succeeded in making the rich richer.
22. Shay’s Rebellion (September 19, 1786) was the rebellion of hundreds of veterans led by Daniel Shays, and was catalyzed by the injustices of the American government against poor farmers/militiamen which culminated in the condemnations and deaths of several participants.
23. James Madison argued that a representative government was required to maintain order and prevent rebellions. By voting with a majority, Madison said, minority factions which would disturb the peace could be easily controlled. He says “The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States” thus nullifying any dissention or rebellions with in the new nation.
19. Since the Declaration of Independence did not include rights for the Native Americans, the Americans took advantage of England's departure and began to make their way into Indian land. The Native Americans had no way of protecting their land or even themselves because if they resisted in any way to the Americans, they were immediately killed.
20. With the rise of the Revolution came the movement toward the abolishment of slavery for the blacks. However as hard as they tried to raise petitions with government officials, none of this proved effective in abolishing slavery.
22. Shays' Rebellion, which was comprised of 700 armed farmers and 900 soldiers, was in response to the injustices veterans faced coming out of war, which in Shays' case involved unmerited debt.
14. As Matt started to discuss, one of the “elements” that set the stage for conflict between the colonies and Great Britain was the creation of town meetings and more importantly the “Boston Caucus.” Jams Otis and Samuel Adams and others who were close to the upper circles in England started to shape the “mob” or masses into action. The lower class discontent was thus captured by the upper class and used to their own benefit. Now, artisans and laborers were apart of the political field while at the same time the upper ruling class was making sure that the people stayed poor, which could have only increased the tensions already created by Great Britain.
16. One of the man reasons the Boston Massacre occurred were the acts that the British enforced on the colonist, which they had hoped would have kept their connection to their trade strong with out rebellions and riots. However, with the Stamp Act in 1767 that made the poor again rise up against the wealth of the rich in their lands and the rich profiting over seas, and the quartering act that said Americans and the house British soldiers caused tensions to flair as the oppressed just wouldn’t take it any more.
18. The Revolutionary war was primarily used by the rich to increase the gap them and the poor so as to keep their hold on their wealth safe and secure. The rich wanted the poor to reverse all of their aggression out on the rich of Great Britian, and while they promised the poor advances in a way (through gaining rank you gained money and status) if they fought and won little was done to appease them and the lack of equality. Once the rich class of the British was stomped out the rich upper class of the colonies took over and nothing was really changed in closing the gap.
19/20. The revolutionary war took its toll of both the black and Native American population, but there were moments of benefits for each as well. Mostly for the Native Americans the revolution was nothing by more trouble. While during the war the Americans focused very little with the Indians, as soon as the war ended they began their attempt once again to push the Indians further and further off of their land. One of the first accounts of biological warfare was even used by giving Indians, who were trying to negotiate, blankets from a smallpox hospital. Their villages were burned and many battles were fought over their land. On the subject of how the was affect the blacks, however, is more complex according to Zinn. In the north the revolution was helpful because the acknowledgment that slaves weren’t as economically needed led to the end of slavery. The revolution created a new gap that allowed slaves to demand more rights and freedoms of their white societies. Petitions increased for the abolition of slavery because now they had the Declaration of Independence to point to. While slavery increased in the south with the new demand of cotton, there were still small steps being taken to make black slaves more human like and for them to gain more rights.
22. With the newly created government, a group of disgruntled farmers in 1786 formed Shay’s Rebellion in hopes for better representation and compensation.
13) One method taken up by colonists that was a tactical response to British restrictions was to harass and attack personally those who remained loyalists. It was not uncommon to see a supporter of the homeland be tarred and feathered simply for holding the belief. These attacks also occurred in more violent circumstances. This was a tactical offensive response to try and scare colonists into supporting the revolution.
16) The Boston Massacre was a series of escalating events leading to a bloody and deathly end. One event that caused it was a simple predicament between a colonist and a British soldier. There was an increasing tension between colonists and soldiers at the time which may or may not have played a role in this case, but the predicament led to the colonist being struck in the face. The choice to continue the fight could be considered a cause in itself. Because the escalation never stopped, the event turned into a massacre. However the event gave the colonists a chance to voice their opinions regarding the stationing of troops all around Boston.
20) The revolution, for enslaved blacks, provided a much larger chance for escape from their masters. At first the Americans refused to let African Americans fight, but when freedom was first offered by British officers for those black slaves that joined the British ranks, America began to consider recruiting blacks as well. Later in the war, when numbers were lower, it was decided that black slaves could be recruited and payments were offered to plantation owners for the loss of labor as well as freedom offered to slaves.
22) The Shays’ Rebellion was an armed protest initiated by farmers in western Massachusetts that were against the great amount of taxes being imposed by the government and called for a constitutional change.
13. -Though in some ways it is a double response; the British raising tariffs and taxes caused unrest and feelings of insurgency among the masses. Thus the American sentiment of the day was much more Pro-War, as they wished to be supporting their own government should they be forced into paying taxes, not paying money into the leaders of a country to which they often though themselves different.
14. -The press of Britian for controlling colonial trade. Their desire to control colonial wealth was a pressing need for the British, as the colonial trade proved to be one of the most lucrative which they were part of, meaning that it was obviously sought after to be kept in their control.
15. The lower and upper classes were stratified even more by the colonization of America due to the fact that those who came over with money were in the scarce minority, and the growing lower class required them to make any money as they controlled the assets of the colonies. Thus, the upper classes took all opportunities to control, manipulate and overwork the lower classes, making themselves wealthier, and the lower classes poorer.
16. -American workers boycotting was a leading cause of the Boston Massacre. Due to the lack of American workers, soldiers would take over a few factories, turning high profit due to the lack of competition, when there were workers revolts, soldiers fired into the crowd and killed a number of American citizens.
17. – Though the Declaration of Independence supposedly called “all men” to be created equal, this was naught but a myth. It segregated negroes, native Americans, women, et cetera. Thus, though it was supposed to unify them, it was a myth.
18. The rich manipulated the poor most obviously in the way that they told the poor that they would be paid for their soldiering, then they were given less recompense than they were supposed to. Of those that were killed, their widows and offspring were often left with nothing to compensate them for the loss of their main breadwinner. Then, though often the poor fought for lowered taxes, taxes for the poor were not lessened at all, they were only released on the bourgeoisie, and the poor were still being taxed but just by their own kin.
19. Before the Revolutionary War, the British had agreed to the Native Americans to stop further expansion into their space to some degree. This was one reason which pushed the colonists to want to further their future named dream of “manifest destiny.” Once the war was won, the colonists turned their efforts to pushing from coast to coast, thus at each stage re-allocating the Native Americans further west and west. However, there was a limit to land, and of course they were eventually kicked out completely, killed in mass, and treated horrifically.
20. In fact, the revolutionary war had a small positive effect on blacks in a way. It caused a long term shift, though it was slow, it caused movement of the masses to finding treatment of blacks as negative. The necessity of the blacks in the revolutionary war as fighters showed their usefulness, and perhaps showed individuals that they were just as human as the whites.
22. Due to taxes, farmers could not pay off debts to become the proprietors of their own land, thus they rose up and revolted, one such revolt named after a crucial leader was dubbed Shay’s rebellion.
23. Madison argues that a representative government is key for keeping a peaceful government, because when the majority elects leaders, the minority who rise against will be more easily dealt with.
12. Yes Zinn is being very fair to our founding fathers. He states that their discovery was enormously usefull (59). He also talks about all of the achievements that they accomplished and how they were important to our country.
13. Also like shane I struggled to find an original answer, but one response that led to the revolution was that of the lower classes becoming more and more frusterated and a result of that was the creation of the "Boston Cacaus".
14. An element that was a cause of conflict is that of the British tightning control over the colonies. Whethere this was with taxes or stricter laws it was definatley a big cause of conflict.
15. I strongly agree with Shane because in fact his ideas are reasonable.
16. A cause of the Boston Massacre would be the fact that the british were sending more and more soldiers to the colonies and these soldiers were taking the jobs of working people. This angered the colonist and was one cause of the Boston Massacre.
17. Zinn referes ot the Decleration as a "myth of unified people" because it really did only include land owning men. All other people, slaves, Natives, women ect. were not included in the decleration thus making it a "myth".
18. Accoding to Zinn the rich were able to manipulate the poor because they held most of the power. The rich could get the poor people to fight for them, offering a reward of money.
19. In the big picture the revolutionary war essentially made things much harder on the Natives. With the manifest destiny idea we continued to push Natives further and further west, into other tribes land thus causing a conflict. This conflict was not only between different Native American tribes though, for there was often conflict between the Americans and the Natives. The end result of this all was the different Native American tribes in a way being corralled into different reservations.
20. The effect on the blacks is almost sweet and sour. In some cases the revolution presented more oppurtunities for black men, as was the case with Benjamin Benneker, who was appointed to plan the new city of washington (89). The more sour side though is the fact that the constitution allowed slavery which resulted in yet more racism and descremination.
21. The rattification beneffited the rich because it presented a whole new oppurtunity to become part of the government.
22. Shays' reblellion was when the soldiers came back from voluntarily fighting in the revolution to discover that they were all of a sudden in debt for their properties, thus leading to hundred of these farmers revolting.
23. James madison wished to create a republic becuase he thought that it would be much easier to keep peace. His ideas do make sense becuase it would be easier for someone close to you to settle a problem than to wait for one main party possible hundreds of miles away to put out the problems.
Middle Questions
13. One example of a tactical response that caused the revolution was the British’s overall drive for control in the colonies, even though they were across the sea and their laws, rules, and actions were not always appropriate for the colonists. As time went on, the British tried to tighten their control even more in order to economically benefit. The actions of the British such as taxation, frustrating acts, and eventually planting their troops in the colonies led to the Revolution.
14. The main element for conflict that Zinn refers to is that both parties had different goals. America, who was becoming more independent with its own leadership, did not need the British and their control. Contrastingly, England wanted to tighten their ties on America to keep their economic connections. Revenues from the colonies were priceless and fed them money to pay for wars. This is what would start leading to the Revolution.
15. I believe the point Zinn is trying to make is to break a common notion today. The idea that it was purely America verse Britain is false. The lower and middle classes were not content either in the New World and battled with the upper-class revolutionary elites. One of Zinn’s examples, that shows that people were discontent was the accounts of the Privates Committee in Pennsylvania. This committee encouraged voters to not vote for rich men in positions. They believed these men would not make decisions for the common people. They also stated their mistrusts of other wealthy men and said that putting too much power in their hands would result in destruction for everyone else.
Taylor Oster 2009
Middle Chapters continued
16. The Boston Massacre was, in one way, caused by the American’s underestimation of British soldiers in the colonies. A group of people upset and provoking soldiers turned into a massacre. The British meant business and were not scared to kill people for pride and respect. A part of this was growing friction between British troops and the Americans. This tension grew in many areas till they resulted in events such as the Boston Massacre.
17. The Declaration of Independence was a “myth of unified people” because it only unified a small distinct group. The document only really covered white men and omitted Natives, black slaves, white servants, and women. Even the lower and middle class population often felt denied by the upper American classes. This false image of a unified America was purposefully created by the revolutionary leaders to show a stronger force against the British.
18. As Eric Foner said, “[The revolution]… was a time for immense profits for some colonists and terrible hardships for others.” This allowed the rich to manipulate the poor. One way was to trick the poor into fighting. They would join to receive the benefits of the fight and then would not be paid and left to die of sickness in the cold. If soldiers complained or mutinied they would be shot. Similarly, rebellions continued by civilians and were stomped out.
19. After many issues over Europeans encroaching on Native lands the Royal Proclamation of 1763 established the line of Indian possession of land on the Appalachians. This was made by the British. Therefore the majority of Native fighters fought for the British. However, with the American victory the Native Americans were left with no protection of themselves or their lands. West of the Appalachians was now up for grabs and this increased border frontier violence.
20. Like the Native Americans, many black slaves fought for the British. In these chaotic times many found their freedom and fled to other parts of America and even Europe. Northern America contained more freed slaves then in the south where rice and cotton plantations were growing. Also in these times, black elites petitioned to abolish slavery and spoke to the declaration and congress leaders. New but few opportunities arose for black men who taught themselves skills that allowed them new jobs such as planning the new city of Washington. Ben Banneker was one of these men and had correspondence with Thomas Jefferson in planning Washington.
21. Since the writers of the constitution were all in some way wealthy they were able to write laws that economically benefited them. This helped all other rich people because they wrote laws on protection of land from Natives, protective tariffs for manufacturers, security against slave revolts, etc. The laws created by the constitution’s founders benefited the rich greatly.
22. Shay’s Rebellion served as a catalyst in 1786 for other uprisings, fighting legislature which restricted farmers from holding office, created more difficulty for farmers getting out of debt, and generally pushed the farmers down as the rich were raised up.
23. Madison argues the need for a representative government and an “extensive republic” due to the issues caused by such a problem between the classes. Those with property would have different “interests in society” then those without. Minorities and these issued could be controlled and minimized with voting of the majority.
Taylor Oster 2009
12. Before filing, I’d like to comment that Zinn does not sound at all like a fan of the Founding Fathers, purely from the first paragraph.
13. I’m going to take “colleagues” as being Shane, Sean and Taylor, who respectively noted the raising of tariffs and taxes, the “Boston Caucus” and the tightening of British control from across the sea. Going down the list---or rather, the paragraphs---the “response” I will cite will be the “explosiveness of mob action” after the Stamp Act of 1765, which taxed the colonists to pay for the French and Indian War. The colonists of Boston retaliated by systematically destroying the property of rich men in the colony, who either profited off England or were symbols of “the rich elite who ruled the colonies in the name of England”.
14. As Zinn says, “the American leadership was less in need of English rule, the English more in need of the colonists’ wealth.” This was obviously going to be a huge issue. Because of the debts accumulated by the English in fighting the French in America, they tightened hold over their colonies and taxed them heavily in order to pay for the war, metaphorically holding America in an iron grip and wringing it for money. However, America, no longer needing England, found this thoroughly unreasonable, thus sparking conflict.
15. I believe Zinn is trying to show us that it was not just a unified America trying to lift the oppression of England. In America itself, there was severe discontent between the differing social classes. Like Zinn questions, “Could class hatred be focused against the pro-British elite, and deflected from the nationalist elite?” Not only were the middle- and lower-class Americans suffering most from British taxation and abuse of power lashing out against the English, they were also lashing out against anything and anyone who represented that oppressiveness. This advanced to a point where anti-revolutionaries, merchants, government appointees and anyone trying to remain neutral were in danger of death or severe bodily harm.
16. The quartering of British soldiers in town in 1768 directly affected the occurrence of the Boston Massacre. Despite the scarcity of jobs in this period of time, the soldiers pouring in and living in the area picked up more than the townspeople, who believed they had a hometown right to those jobs that the soldiers did not, and needed them more. The Boston massacre occurred when a group of rope-makers began harassing a group of soldiers they saw as those taking their jobs. More people joined the crowd, probably mostly jobless and harboring a heavy resent towards the soldiers, and in the ruckus, the first shot was fired. From then on, it became the Boston Massacre.
17. There are two unrelated reasons I think could be why Zinn refers to the Declaration as a “myth”. First of all, it had no legal basis for existence. It was written by an unauthorized group of self-proclaimed leaders, with signatures that held no weight in England, and passed by the Continental Congress, a thoroughly illegal body of attempted self-government. Second, the content of the Declaration is very debatable in its accuracy---obviously, when they refer to “all men”, they mean all white, land-owning men, excluding most of the dissenting classes they claimed to represent, Native Americans, and African slaves. Though the Declaration was sort of a sever between America and England, its second paragraph states rights given to privileged white males, not changing any social institution at all.
18. The ones suffering most from British oppression and most dissatisfied were not the rich, but the poor. Therefore, all that angry energy could be channeled into making the most fervent for the cause fight for the cause, where the rich, instead of fighting on the front lines, could instead be generals and lieutenants and control the armies of determined poor.
19. The Native Americans lost their allies, the French and the British, after the Revolutionary War. Having hoped that these two nations would help them keep their land, and fighting on their sides during both the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, the Native Americans found themselves facing the Americans alone. The Americans believed completely that all the land was theirs, and despite being consistently repelled from it, continuously pressured the Indians to sell their land.
20. Because many African Americans fought on the side of the Americans in the Revolutionary War, it put them in a place to begin making demands of white people, using the words of the Declaration of Independence against their oppressors. “New, small black elites” developed in some cities. Despite the new breathing room for blacks, the “structure of American society, the power of the cotton plantation, the slave trade, the politics of unity between northern and southern elites, and the long culture of race prejudice in the colonies” prevented any significant advance for black rights and the end of slavery.
21. The simplest answer to this question is Zinn’s summary of Charles Beard: “The rich must, in their own interest, either control the government directly or control the laws by which government operates.” As Beard found by researching the backgrounds of the 55 men who gathered to compose the Constitution, most of them had a strong personal economic interest in establishing a strong, centralized federal government. Those not represented did not have their interests expressed: only the rich men who did included their own interests in the Constitution, whose ratification guaranteed them what they wanted: “the manufacturers needed protective tariffs; the moneylenders wanted to stop the use of paper money to pay off debts; the land speculators wanted protection as they invaded Indians…” etc.
22. Shays Rebellion, led by Daniel Shays in 1786, was composed of a group of farmers and war veterans who were angered by oppressive taxes and that sparked a series of other rebellions led by farmers fighting legislation that disadvantaged farmers in debt.
23. James Madison believed that those with unequal property rights will always have differing interests in society, and this would always cause conflict. He also believed that the minority could be suppressed by the union of the majority. Thus, he wanted to create a 13-state republic so that individual minority struggles could be contained in one state by the state, before it spread across all the States and became a majority struggle.
13. Zinn states that the cause(s) of the revolution, "... was not a conscious conspiracy, but an accumulation of tactical responses." I ask each of you to name one of those "responses" without repeating what your colleagues have already commented (so read what your colleagues write!).
One of these responses was that of the powerful colonial farmers. In North Carolina, around 1766, the “Regulator movement” took a stand against the British elite. They described themselves as “the wretched poor…” (63).
14. On page 60, Zinn refers to the "elements" that were in place for conflict between the colonies and Great Britain... as in question #13, what does he refer (name one).
One example would be the heightened numbers of people living in the colonies. This led to higher unemployment rates, which didn’t “gel” with the increased taxes.
15. Discuss the point Zinn is attempting to make by all the evidence he presents for middle and lower class discontent. List one of Zinn's supporting "evidence" for discontentment. Again, do not repeat what any of your colleagues have written, and if you cannot present anything new, then agree or disagree with one of your colleagues' comments (of course, in a respectful way).
Zinn constantly refers to the British elite using the colonies. He says they “…needed revenues to pay for the war, and looked to the colonies for that.” (60).
16. Note a cause leading to the "Boston Massacre."
Riots pertaining to impressments (the colonists thought it was unfair that they be made to fight for the British) were, according the Zinn, “the background of the Massacre.” (67).
17. Why does Zinn refer to the Declaration of Independence as a, "myth of a unified people?"
Zinn says it is a myth because it obviously excludes certain people, but doesn’t specify that. It says that all men are created equal, but it does not mean black, Indian, or men of religions besides Christianity. In other words, the Declaration (as it was originally written) lied.
18. According to Zinn, how did the Revolutionary War allow the rich to manipulate the poor?
The poor were, for the most part, content with the British, or perhaps a little unsatisfied. They had to be convinced to fight a war—they weren’t advocating one. It was the rich, whose brobdinagian profits were being slightly reduced, who wanted the war. Because it was the rich who wanted the war but the poor who would fight, the rich manipulated the poor to ensure their involvement in the war.
19. How did the Revolutionary War affect Native Americans?
The British had previously promised to stop westward expansion to give the Native Americans more space. After the colonists won the war, said treaty was invalid. The colonists would eventually push from coast to coast, expanding across the country. Needless to say, this put a lot of pressure on the Native Americans, who were forced continually out of their homes and murdered by exploring colonists.
20. How did the Revolutionary War effect Blacks?
Black slaves were used in the Revolutionary war to help fight. Because of this, colonists (or at least some of them) began to have second thoughts about the treatment of slaves. However, there was still no opportunity for advancement of blacks, save a few “small black elites”.
22. Come up with one sentence that explains Shays' Rebellion?
Farmers, unhappy with the debts they incurred from raised taxes, revolted under the banner of Daniel Shays.
23. What argument does James Madison use for having a government which can maintain peace and avoid continuous disorder?
Madison worries about minorities’ discontent with representatives elected by the majority. He therefore argues for a 13-state country, where minority discontent could be easily contained by individual states.
13. One response, though potentially subconscious, was a negative reaction to the presence of the British Military, especially after varying revolts that caused Britain to tighten their grip on their colonies. The Red Coats were a sign of suppression that the colonists felt chocked up by, the soldiers presence provided a suffocation that would eventually snap and with other responses, lead to the revolution.
14. Most of the 'elements' offered had to do with economics. Taxes, Middlemen, Inports, Exports, so on, so forth. One specific element, inports versus exports, could have influence a tactical response against Britain. The colonies exported multiple crops and goods, and received basics in turn. Britain flourished with the agriculture produced by the colonies, but the colonies themselves did not see much of that reward, creating bitterness against Britain.
15. Middle and lower classmen were separated by a thin margin of wealth and status. Whereas the distance between the two classes and the wealthy was distant and unattainable. The wealthy did little to deserve their riches and the fact that they claimed England's name only worsened emotions towards the empire.
16. The Boston Massacre was mainly influenced by the protests strewn across the country in riot against the British. It caused tension between the soldiers and citizens, it was only a matter of time before one of them snapped.
17. The declaration had little to do with the outside population. It was written and produced by a single group, men, and did not include the other side of the population, women, Indians, and blacks, thus, the only 'unified' people were the men themselves, the a fore mentioned people had nothing to do with it and little to nothing gained from it.
18. The war was chaotic on the home front, many people of lower classes were vulnerable in that war costs money, that of which only the rich had, opening opportunities for the wealthy to manipulate to their liking.
19. The negative attention the Native Americans had received in earlier years was now turned towards the British for a temporary time. Thus, the Natives benefited for a time before negativity was once again reached out towards them in the time of the further frontier of the west.
20. Blacks were given opportunities to gain freedom, by enlisting for the colonies and becoming sacrificing soldiers. If they survived, they would be offered their freedom... for the most part.
21. The ratification got rid of the king on top, allowing the wealthy of status to gain even more control over the colonies and with their wealth, eagerly manipulated with a show of coin to gain further support and control.
22. Shay's rebellion was a patriotic rebellion against the seizing of land and possession belonging to debtors, as well as the imprisonment of those unable to obtain the coin for their debts.
23. He argued that his ideal of government would somehow manage to quell human greed through even distribution of power, land, wealth and so on. But, due to human unfortunate nature, problems would arise, tyrannical action would probably occur, and a whole new world of trouble presented.
13. Zinn states that the cause(s) of the revolution, "... was not a conscious conspiracy, but an accumulation of tactical responses." I ask each of you to name one of those "responses" without repeating what your colleagues have already commented (so read what your colleagues write!).
One of the main causes of the revolution was the increased taxes put on the colonies by England. Groups organized in some of the colonies to try and stop the collection of taxes. A group in North Carolina called the Regulators formed to end this tax collection and even began using violent methods to do so.
14. On page 60, Zinn refers to the "elements" that were in place for conflict between the colonies and Great Britain... as in question #13, what does he refer (name one).
Zinn describes that after the Seven Year’s war between England and France, the British were looking to increase their control over the colonies after having defeated the French. He explains that the British needed the wealth that the colonies gave them because of the expenses the war had brought. However, the American leaders in the colonies were looking to break away more and more from British rule.
15. Discuss the point Zinn is attempting to make by all the evidence he presents for middle and lower class discontent. List one of Zinn's supporting "evidence" for discontentment. Again, do not repeat what any of your colleagues have written, and if you cannot present anything new, then agree or disagree with one of your colleagues' comments (of course, in a respectful way).
Zinn continually describes the discontent of the lower classes for the wealthy because they poorer class were exploited and treated “unfairly” by the upper-classes that had all the power and control. The lower classes were particularly angered with the Stamp Act of 1765 because it taxed the common people to pay for the French war. In response to this act, mobs attacked and destroyed houses of the wealthy, like those of rich men Andrew Oliver and Thomas Hutchinson, throwing axes at houses and smashing items in the house and drinking wine from the cellars. The mobs said this response was uses as a “War of Plunder, of general leveling and taking away the Distinction of rich and poor” (pp. 61)
16. Note a cause leading to the "Boston Massacre."
One cause leading to the Bostom massacre was the taking of common jobs by British soldiers (i.e. ropemaking). This loss of jobs for the lower classes and the control of the British soldiers led to a fight in which a crowd surrounded the soldiers and provoked them until the soldiers shot and killed two workers, and then the fighting escalated.
17. Why does Zinn refer to the Declaration of Independence as a, "myth of a unified people?"
Zinn refers to the Declaration of Independence as a “myth of a unified people” because you cannot unite a country at the hand of the powerful and the ones with control because it is probable that the rest of the people (the lower classes) were not even supporters of a unified United States because they would be exploited even without British control. Zinn says that this document did not include all people of the colonies so it could not have represented a completely unified people.
18. According to Zinn, how did the Revolutionary War allow the rich to manipulate the poor?
The revolutionary war allowed the rich to further manipulate the poor because, although the poor had a little discontent for the British and their rule and presence in the colonies, they were overall ok with British rule. Because of that, they had no real reason to be interested in fighting a war against the British. Because the rich were the ones who ultimately wanted to fight the Revolutionary War, they had to find a way to persuade and motivate the poor to fight for them, and they did this through manipulation.
19. How did the Revolutionary War effect Native Americans?
The Revolutionary War was not very beneficial to the Native Americans in any way. In fact it was quite the opposite. Prior to this war, the Native Americans were promised land that would not be encroached upon or disturbed by the British. However, because the colonists ended up with the victory over the British, the Native Americans continued to be pushed off their land and killed due to remaining racism of the colonists toward the Native Americans. The expansion of the Americas to the West coast forced Native American to flee due to fear of being killed.
12. Is Zinn being fair to our Founding Fathers in his opening of Chapter 4?
~ Zinn explained the pros and cons of the actions of our founding fathers, hence fairly assessing the talents of the founding fathers, without discrediting them.
13. Zinn states that the cause(s) of the revolution, "... was not a conscious conspiracy, but an accumulation of tactical responses."
~ A response was the sudden, but not organize, growth of people who were discovering a prospective nation in theirs and surrounding colonies, which allowed for a sense of patriotism that could knock the British empire off it's track.
16. Note a cause leading to the "Boston Massacre."
~ The underlying argument that caused the Boston Massacre was impressment - in which colonials were forced to join the ranks of the English army.
17. Why does Zinn refer to the Declaration of Independence as a, "myth of a unified people?"
~ Since the declaration did not politically mean anything and had no political influence, it was described as a 'myth'. However, the Declaration greatly influenced the colonial peoples of America, and became a goal of unified people to protect, and make.
19. How did the Revolutionary War effect Native Americans?
~ The revolutionary war provided a possibility of freedom from the cruel and imposing English, although the new Americans were not much different after the war.
20. How did the Revolutionary War effect Blacks?
~ The war provided some blacks with the prospect of freedom, but it otherwise left black history and slaves, for the most part, unchanged. Like the Indians - blacks were forced to realize that American rule was only slightly less demanding than English.
Zinn Middle Chapters:
12. In the beginning of chapter 4, Tyranny is Tyranny; Zinn is being fair to our Founding Fathers but is sarcastic in the first sentence. Zinn seems to be saying that our Founding Fathers were doing nothing useful until one day they woke up and decided to start a country. But the following sentence states that the Founding Fathers had decent reasons for starting our country. Zinn also says that there were many benefits of starting this country like stopping some rebellions and creating a need for leadership that will create a consistent system that works for everyone. I would say that Zinn is fair to our Founding Fathers.
13.
14. One of the conflicts between the colonies and Great Britain is that Great Britain wants to have more and more control over its colonies to be able to pay for Great Britain’s previous war, but the colonies were ready to be in control of their own colonies and not be under Great Britain’s control. Howard Zinn said, “So, the American leadership was less in need of English rule, the English more in need of the colonists’ wealth. The elements were there for conflict.” The only reason that Great Britain wanted more control over the colonies was for Great Britain’s benefit, and nothing for the colonies to benefit from which created many conflicts.
15. Since i could not find any new evidencde for the lower classes's discomfort i am going to agree with Shane when he was saying that the lower class suffered discomfort similar to the discomfort they suffered before they came over seas. The lower class was oppressed by the upper class by the fact that they were taxed for the upper class peoples' pleasure and when they all came over to the Americas the upper class taxed the peasants more heavily so as Shane said the poor becamse poorer and the rich became much, much richer.
16. One of the causes of the Boston Massacre was that many rope makers were very upset because the British soldiers took their jobs, so they gathered a crowd, on March 5, 1770, outside of the custom house and began mocking and verbally abusing the soldiers. When the soldiers had had enough a soldier fired at and killed one Crispus Attucks. That then led into the Boston Massacre.
17. Zinn refers to the Declaration of Independence as a “Myth of a untied people” because he is saying that Paine believed the Declaration would represent urban artisans with a centralized government. Also Zinn said that this was a myth because it was an attempt by Paine to unify the people in a simple way where he didn’t have to deal with the poor folks and he only had to deal with the rich which made the Declaration a myth because it was not heartfelt.
18. The revolutionary war was a way for the rich to manipulate the poor because the rich needed weapons and to acquire these weapons they needed money and they got their money from taxing the lower class, poor people even more heavily than they were already being taxed. Another way the rich trampled on the poor during the Revolutionary War was to trick and force the poor to fight in the war because they were promised money to feed their families, therefore allowing the rich to further manipulate the poor.
19. The Revolutionary War affected the Native Americans because many Native American tribes were divided because some supported the Americans and some supported the British. Many Native Americans fought and died for the British which created many problems with the colonists and the Native Americans because the tribes of those that fought for the British quarreled with the colonists and the tribes that supported the colonists.
Zinn middle chapters continued:
20. The Revolutionary War affected the African Americans in many many ways. It greatly affected African Americans because they were allowed to fight in the war. In 1776 George Washington had changed the laws about African Americans fighting which allowed them to join the war. This created some problems with white soldiers because they refused to fight with African Americans so then special units were made that were just African American men with no white men because it had created too many problems. So although there was a change in status for many African Americans and they were earning a hairs breadth of respect from their president, they were still treated as pigs so it was two steps forward and one step back, but there was still some forward motion.
21. The rich are normally benefitted because they can stop the poor from benefitting by taxing the poor and therefore allowing the rich to get even richer. Plantation owners were some of the richer men that benefitted because they would loan out their slaves for the war and receive money and also slave trade was booming significantly so the plantation owners were gaining money and slaves from that.
22. Shay’s Rebellion happened from 1786 to 1787, and was named after Daniel Shays and was a rebellion where mostly poor farmers fought because they were being over taxed and under appreciated so they rebelled.
14. On page 60, Zinn refers to the "elements" that were in place for conflict between the colonies and Great Britain... as in question #13, what does he refer (name one).
One of the "elements" that created conflict between the colonies and Britain was that the colonies did not really need the rule of Britain anymore. They had their own form of government. However, the British tightened their control on the colonies because they needed America's money, in taxes and in trade.
16. Note a cause leading to the "Boston Massacre."
The Stamp Act of 1763 was an act that increased Britain's taxes on the colonies in order to pay for the war Britain was fighting against France. These taxes upset the colonists very much, and the Stamp Act was one of the causes leading to the "Boston Massacre."
Mira Schlosberg
16. Note a cause leading to the "Boston Massacre."
A leading cause of the Boston Massacre was that the rope makers accused British soldiers of taking their jobs.
19. How did the Revolutionary War effect Native Americans?
The revolutionary war lead to the native americans being pushed out of their homes by the Americans.
20. How did the Revolutionary War effect Blacks?
The revolutionary war allowed blacks to begin to demand more rights fromthe white americans.
Post a Comment