The American Revolution is something we were taught all throughout our schooling, so of course when asked most people would know what it is and why it happened. But Zinn proved to me that I was wrong and was missing key information about the revolutionary war. This information was never taught in any of my history classes because it was based off the common folk, and most history lessons are based on the heroes/the important people. For example, I had no idea a lot of the colonists did not want to have the revolutionary war, and the ones that did were the middle class. And the main reason they supported the revolution was not because they wanted to rebel and hated England, but because of economic reasons. The only reason the colonist did end up fighting was because they were legally being forced to fight, not because they felt the revolution was necessary and supported starting a war with England.
Reading this chapter and reading the past chapters, I have realized there has always been some kind of separation between the rich and the poor. The rich fully supported this war and was happy by its success, while the poor was the reason behind the success of the war since they were the main ones fighting. I feel like in most historical events the rich always end up being the only people that benefit from whatever event happened. The big companies and wealthy men get more money in their pockets, while the poor people work underneath the wealthy people and never get credit for all the hard work they do. Without the working class a lot of jobs would go undone and would heavily affect the world. While if we didn’t have the wealthy men that history seems to put on a pedestal the world would not be heavily affected.
Morgan Crocker Blog Post for 09/14
Published inUncategorized
It is crazy what the rich will agree to and vote for until they have to experience it. The elites didn’t exactly have to fight so of course they will agree to the terms. We still see this today… until they know what it is like to not be in the top percentage, will there ever be a change.
I think what you bring up about the inevitable division between the rich and the poor is really important to mention. Looking back all the way to the revolution and seeing a similar type of divide that we’re still seeing today seems to show that there will always be some sort of separation that distinguishes social classes. In the same way that wealth influenced people’s views on the war, it is still influencing stances on policy issues and ideological views.
I thought you made a solid point about how the middle class was fighting a war for the upper class, and how we were never told of this perspective growing up. I think that to an extent, the early education we all (or most of us) have gotten about revolutionary America is a folklore in itself. It paints a picture of a frustrated, mistreated society that rebels with courage and pride against its oppressor, when in reality, as Zinn shows, America was doing just as much oppressing of its people as England was. Furthermore, America promised liberty and freedom, but in my mind, it was obviously only to entice the middle class to further their agenda.
I share your experience of being taught a much more romanticized version of the American Revolution. I truly thought that at least the majority of colonists were in favor of attempting to separate from Great Britain, but the chapter made it clear that it was mainly citizens on the wealthier side of the spectrum who were in favor of the war. These wealthy revolutionists of course would not have to fight with their lives for the freedom and then, after not fighting, would be the ones to make the laws. Of course America’s systems are biased toward the wealthy and those in power, they built it with their own life goals and experiences in mind.
The same type of rich-poor divide we see during the Revolution is seen nowadays, this division has always existed and affected the country. We see that the middle class was fighting the war in order to improve their socioeconomic status however, all they actually did was benefit the upper class and make them richer. In Zinn’s analysis of the Constitution, we can see how the American system was only in favor of the wealthy revolutionists while promising the lower class freedom just as a convincing tool to join the war.