Essay Howard Zinn vs. George Wood

Gordon Wood’s Radicalism of the American Revolution is a book that extensively covers the origin and ideas preceding the American Revolution. Wood’s account of the Revolution goes beyond the history and timeline of the war and offers a new encompassing look inside the social ideology and economic forces of the war. Wood explains in his book that America went through a two-stage progression to break away from the Monarchical rule of the English. He believes the pioneering revolutionaries were rooted in the belief of an American Republic. However, it was the radical acceptance of democracy that was the final step toward independence. The transformation between becoming a Republic, to ultimately becoming a democracy, is where Wood’s

Howard Zinn is a professor of political science in Boston University and Gordon S. Wood is a history professor at Brown University. These two historians viewed the nature of American Revolution from two opposite different perspectives. Zinn viewed the American Revolution as an effort to preserve America’s status; while Wood looked at Revolution as an event that incorporated sense of equality among all Americans. Zinn was able to present the argument better as evidences he provided to support his argument seemed to make more sense and were closer to reality.

The reality of the American Revolution was that it occurred out of greed and not to strictly obtain independence and freedom from the chains that bind them to England. In 1776, some important people from the English colonies integrated and they discovered that “by creating 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.” Through the process, they would then be able to decrease the amount of possible rebellions as well as make a consensus of popular support to create "a new, privileged leadership." Those important people were the Founding Fathers of the United States and according to Zinn, they were not that different from the elites of England. Like other elites, the Founding Fathers wanted to oppress the lower class for their own personal gains. In order for their plans to be effective, they needed the lower classes to support them

Although the Declaration of Independence stated that “All men are created equal,” the U.S Constitution denied minorities basic human rights, such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. With this, the line had been drawn. Skin color had now become the definite indicator of how race would be defined in future American society.

     A democracy is a system of government controlled by the people, not by one certain group or individual. In the Declaration of Independence it states that “all men are created equal,” an idea which leads to the concept that all citizens should have the same rights, responsibilities, and influence in the governing of their country. In writing the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson was trying to break his ties with the harsh and non-democratic rule of the British and begin a new, equal society and government for America.

The American Revolution, when 13 American colonies waged war against the most powerful country in the world, Great Britain, for their independence. Soldiers who fought in the war and risked their lives to gain the freedom we have today, is just one of the many prime examples of prevailing hardships in battle. George Washington proved to be exemplary just like many others heroic patriots, like Henry Knox and Nathaniel Greene, when triumphing over the British soldiers with what little strength they had and defeating them. Their victory was more than enough proof on why they deserved independence. David McCullough’s 1776, describes and educates us about events which happened before the war and foreshadows up to the revolution. We learn about the hardships thrown at George Washington and the Continental army whose intentions switched from equal rights to complete emancipation. Battles throughout the Revolutionary War, like the Battle of Bunker Hill, are well known, but McCullough shows the reader how the Continental army continues to strive on even when victory is not in their favor.

  The American Revolution dwelled on the separation of England and it’s colonies, and surrounding this ideal was the collective society of elites. The aristocratic and middle-class leaders, being the most privileged, were self-governed and practiced what they had preached. When the British came and the American Revolution began, many elites were rebelled against because of the heavy taxation they put upon minorities and lower class. The elites believed that more property meant more power or control among the lower working class which lead to this heavy taxation on the inferior persons. Ruling elites who seemed to have learned through generations that war makes them more secure against internal trouble. Therefore, the force of military preparation began and had a way of urging neutral people into line. Those who were exempt from fighting in the war consisted of Yale students and faculty, certain government officials, ministers, Negroes, Indians, and mulattos. The need for war by elites caused many poor working class to forfeit their own views on political views in order to obey

Arguably one of the most important parts of US history is the American Revolution. Without the revolution there would be no United States because it never would have broke apart from Britain. Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of The United States, and David Kennedy’s The American Pageant both discuss the American Revolution. When describing the revolution, Zinn chooses to describe the different points of view of the everyday people in the colonies and the people in charge, while Kennedy describes the colonists as all having one perspective. The result is that Zinn paints a more full picture of the events including the first protests, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party.

The long-term causes of the war, salutary neglect and involvement in the French & Indian War, worked hand in hand and proved to be arguably the most influential of American independence. The term “salutary neglect” refers to the unofficial policy that Britain had with the colonists in the 17th & 18th centuries: British laws were not enforced in the colonies, so Americans learned to care for and govern themselves. This was especially prevalent when governing bodies like the House of Burgesses in Virginia were created as a means of government. But as the colonists adapted to live on their own, certain ideas became widespread throughout the land; these ideas in turn led to The Great Awakening and The Enlightenment. In The Great Awakening, colonists began to split from the Church of England and form their own Christian denominations as a revival of religion swept the colonies.

In 1780, George Mason, who was the author of the Virgina bill of rights and a plantation owner of 118 slaves, wrote: “All men are by nature equally free and independent” (Rawls, pg. 187). He was not thinking about the slaves though. He was thinking about white Americans, that they are equal to the British and should have the same rights as them. When other Virgina legislators saw this, they added “Slaves, not being constituent members of our society, could never pretend to any benefit from such maxim” (Rawls, pg. 187). A month later, the Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence (1776), written by only educated white men – Thomas Jefferson (Southern Colony), Benjamin Franklin (Middle Colony), and John Adams (Northern Colony) - established the basic rights that citizens were entitled to in a free country. However, this document contradicted the Constitution’s claim that all men were created equal, particularly in racial and gender identifiers such as slaves, Native Americans, and women. Slaves were essential in the economic development of the South. Most southerners considered slaves as property, only three-fifths of a man, and as a result, equality for

Writing a book with an uncommonly taught perspective, Zinn tried to verify his take on U.S history. There are inserts from various documents, such as diaries, ledgers, and newspapers used as supporting documents to his claim,

The ethnic cleansing of Pequot tribesmen by Captain John Mason during the 1630s and the military excursions into the Philippines, Cuba, and Hispaniola in the late 1800s/early 1900s are examples Zinn’s description of these associated dangers (McKenna & Feingold 2011, 13-15). In The Power and the Glory, Zinn further expounds on Albert Einstein’s argument that, “Wars will stop when men refuse to fight” by stating American will stop fighting wars when they discard the myth of American exceptionalism (McKenna & Feingold 2011, 18).

It is easy to interpret the American Revolution simply as a struggle for freedom. The magnanimous phrases of the Declaration of Independence have embedded in our hearts and minds glorious images of the Founding Fathers fighting for the natural rights of man. The American Revolution, however, also had a darker side to it, the side of self-interest and profit. The signers of the Declaration represented various classes – the working class, the wealthy land owners and merchants, the intellectuals, and the social elite. Each of these strata had its own set of expectations and fears, which lent a new dimension to the cause of the Revolution. The pressure of these internal, and often overlapping groups, combined with the oppressive external

Perfectly summarized in one sentence, the words “And in a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners” uttered by Howard Zinn in the first chapter of A People’s History of the United States demonstrate the influence of voice in not only America but in society as well. In unity there is strength, a well-known proverb states, and there is one constant among famous quotes in that they can be applied to almost any situation, event, or idea, for that they are always true. This particular idea should not be excluded from that notion, considering Zinn’s quote is muchly similar to the proverb’s main idea, only worded differently. His