Howard Zinn: Postcolonization Of Native Americans In The United States

Vincent Zhang

Mr. Lifland

AP US History

8/15/15

Howard Zinn Chapter Reading

Chapter 1

The prevailing opinion is that European explorers came to the America’s to peacefully colonize and gradually begin mutually beneficial relationships with the native people. However, Howard Zinn proves that the majority of explorers could not coexist with the native tribes, as the conquerors slowly stole their land, and did not return the initial hospitality most of the natives had showed to them. Therefore, the European colonizers blatantly ignored the rights of the Native Americans and acted with violence towards them. In order to conquer the natives, the colonizers “set fire to the wigwams of the village” and “ [destroyed] their crops” (Zinn).

Essentially, due to not having as many fighters, the Europeans resorted to attacking the morale of the Native Americans. Also, the Europeans decided to “enslave the Indians” after they had conquered them in order to find a free source of efficient labor (Zinn). An example would be that in 14 years, almost all the Native Americans on the island of Hispaniola were eradicated by a combination of European brutality and disease. In the passage, Zinn also supports the idea of cruel explorers by showing the moral defects of Columbus. Although he was shown to be a great captain to lead his own men, he could not understand or relate with the native people, which caused tension between the conquistadors and the Indians. And by doing this, he slowly destroyed the native culture remaining in the broken people, so that eventually, all that remained were slaves. Later in the passage, Zinn recalls many events in which the European conquerors were able to live in peace with the Native Americans, therefore instilling a policy of “total war” between the two different cultures, in which “massacres took place on both sides” (Zinn). He brings up the war between the Puritans and the Pequots as an example, in where not only did the Puritans seek to destroy the enemy tribe, they also razed the homes of the Pequots as to instill fear in the hearts of the natives. By winning the moral war, the European settlers could more easily take the land away from their original native owners. In this chapter, Zinn uses historical thinking skills by synthesizing Columbus’s behavior and the behavior of the European conquistadors as a whole. While he notes that Columbus forged excessive tales of slaves and golds to his backers, he also connects this to the overarching idea of slavery during the era. By doing this, he informs the reader that though it may have seemed barbaric, settlers abusing the native “savages” at the time were perfectly acceptable. This was due to the fact that the version of Christianity the people followed at the time allowed them to take “the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” as stated in their Bible ( Zinn).

Chapter 2

Many people think that indentured servants who came to the America’s during the colonial era would be treated fairly and courteously by their employers. Contrary to popular belief, Zinn proves that indentured servants, especially black servants, would be abused and forced to work without compensation, until the system eventually became known as the institution of slavery. Throughout the chapter, Zinn provides many examples that furthers strengthens the fact that blacks were treated poorly and with contempt, no matter what they were called, be it either servant or slave. He details the cultural differences between Africans and the white settlers, that allowed the white colonists to take advantage of their African servants rather than other races. While other servants like Native Americans or poorer whites still had their culture or spirit, the African servants “had been torn from their land and culture” and therefore had nothing to hope for (Zinn). This allowed the white settlers to easily break the will of the African-Americans, and therefore make them their slaves. Although black slaves fought against their squalid conditions, their white masters dealt with rebellions with brutal efficiency and cruelty. When faced with rebellion, the white slave masters quite often tortured and executed rebellious slaves, in order to set an example for their fellow slaves and to break their spirit.Also, Zinn states that a weakness of the earliest white colonists to settle the Americas was their hunger for wealth and profit. The reader can conclude that this “ frenzy for limitless profit” allowed for white colonists to forget about their moral qualms, and therefore abuse their black servants into becoming their slaves (Zinn). In this chapter, Zinn uses the historical thinking skill of comparison to show the differences between American slavery and African slavery. While African slavery is also a disgusting morality issue, Zinn proves that it is much better compared to American slavery. In African slavery, slaves could eventually become free men, and integrate with society, while in American slavery, slaves were forever mistreated due to the hunger for profit, and difference in racial color. By doing this, Zinn proves to the reader how cruel slavery was in the Americas, while also discussing the issue of racism in separating white settlers from black slaves.

Chapter 3

Most people would think that colonial America would be a place where people could forget about social class and make a decent living, escaping from the stiff social hierarchy in England.

However, Zinn disapproves this notion, by using statistics and facts to show that the wealth was concentrated among a few select individuals, while the vast majority of common people lived in poor and unsatisfactory conditions. When discussing the issue of money, Zinn states that in 1770, “the top 1 percent of property owners owned 44 percent of the wealth” due to their control of the colonies and their political power (Zinn). This naturally incensed the vast majority of the middle and lower class, as rebellions became more commonplace and violent, during the 17th and 18th century. Zinn also describes the conditions the poor lived in, as saying that it was quite common for shelters “built for one hundred poor, [to house] over four hundred”, which shows how one can understand their plight, as while they struggled to make a living, the rich plantation owners sat back and let the hard work of their slaves and servants make them rich (Zinn). Eventually, the upper class realized that their huge gap in wealth would eventually cause problems in maintaining control over the people. And so, by giving certain liberties to the poor, and using racism to separate slaves and Native Americans from white colonists, the upper class therefore managed to control the formerly unruly population until the American Revolution. In this chapter, the historical thinking skill of argumentation is prominent. Zinn uses this skill to argue his point that the vast majority of the American colonists were poor, by presenting many valid statistics and descriptions. He uses many first-hand accounts from colonists who lived at the time, to show the plight of the poor. Also, the author links the idea of poverty and rebellion, to show how colonists became increasingly violent due to their political leaders not

addressing the issue of social and monetary inequality.

Chapter 4