Howard Zinn Free Essays

A People’s History of the united States Chapter 9 Summary Chapter nine of Howard Zinn’s book explains slavery before and after the Civil War. The majority of the united States Government was in support of slavery until Abraham Lincoln publicized his support for the end of slavery. This chapter Includes details of slavery from the accounts of different slaves and records kept about their oppression. We will write a custom essay sample on Howard Zinn or any similar topic only for you Order Now Their servitude was preserved through the separation of their families, whipping, and killing. Prior to the Civil War there were many failed attempts to abolish slavery, such as John Brown’s Raid. John Brown was later executed by Virginia for his failure to capture the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry which instigated a revolt of slaves throughout the South. The government did not wish to achieve the abolishment of slavery through revolts. Abraham Lincoln was able to combine the interests of the white elite and the blacks. When Lincoln was elected, the South felt that their way of life was being threatened over the issue of abolishing slavery. This threat caused eleven states to secede the union after Lincoln’s election. This secession created the Confederacy, starting the beginning of the Civil War. With Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation he tried to end the war. This gave the South four months to end Its rebellion, slavery In the states that turned over to the North would not be touched. Through the Emancipation Proclamation, blacks were now able to serve In the union army which was later issued January 1, 1863. The Thirteenth Amendment was later ratified by the Senate in April 1 864 and the House of Representatives followed in January 1865. All people born or naturalized in the united States are citizens was declared by the Fourteenth Amendment, which limited states’ rights concerning racial equality. The Fifteenth Amendment states that all citizens have the right vote and they shall not be denied on reason of race, color, or previous condition of enslavement. These amendments opened the door to Congress passing laws to make it a crime to deny blacks of their rights. Blacks began forming political organizations with these laws. Andrew Johnson, who was Lincoln’s Vice President and ecame President after Lincoln’s assassination, held back the blacks. He vetoed bills that Improved the rights of the blacks. These vetoes did not guarantee equal rights for blacks. The Senate and Congress did not like the actions of Johnson. The Congress, in 1868, were almost successful in their attempt to impeach Johnson and were only one vote short in the Senate. The election of Ulysses Grant as president would reopen the doors for blacks, they began to be elected into the United States Congress, Senate, and southern state legislatures. Black women began helping to rebuild postwar south and black children began going to school. Although it looked as if blacks were starting to become equals there was still a lot of antagonism towards them and dependency on whites for work. The Ku Klux Klan and other terrorist groups were formed through the use of the South’s economic power. Not much later were thing back to where they began. It would still be a long time before blacks began to be treated as equals. A People’s History 0T states cnapter 10 summary How to cite Howard Zinn, Papers Howard Zinn Free Essays Howard Zinn: A People’s History of the United States This book explains the history of America starting from 1492 until the present. The history is told from the common people’s point of view. During my presentation I summarized chapters six through ten. We will write a custom essay sample on Howard Zinn or any similar topic only for you Order Now Chapter six was titled â€Å"The Intimately Oppressed† and it refers to the inequalities in the lives of women during and after the revolution. Even though African American women had it the hardest, he referred to more women such as Caucasian, Native American and European women. African American women did more hard labor and were often sexually abused. In the early years women were used primarily as sex slaves, child bearers and companions. Anne Hutchinson was a good speaker and held meetings that many women and a few men attended. She ended up being banished from her colony because the government felt that she was challenging their authority and the church for heresy. A woman’s job during this era was to maintain religion, cook, clean and anything else that involved house duties or tending to their husband or children. Chapter 7 was titled â€Å"As Long as Grass Grows or Water Runs† and it refers to how the Indians were the most foreign. Land between the Appalachians and Mississippi were cleared for white occupancy. They had called it the Indian removal. In the south it was cleared for cotton and in the north it was cleared for grain. Indians had fought alongside the British during the Revolutionary war, but since they were already on their own land, they kept fighting after the British had left. The Indians had to deal with a lot of mistreatment from the government and they made them feel as if they were aliens on their own land. Chapter 8 was titled â€Å"We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God† and it refers to the Mexican-American war. He states that the reality of the war was much different from what the historians have portrayed it to be. James Polk, who was the president at the time, had misrepresented the conflicting response to the war and the newspapers supported his actions. The soldiers that did not have much were preyed upon their distresses. When the soldiers had returned home from fighting in the war, speculators had showed up to buy the land warrants that was given to them by the government. The soldiers were so desperate for money that they ended up taking whatever they could get, even if it meant getting shorted. Chapter nine was titled â€Å"Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom† and refers to how the government had supported slavery because it was profitable for them. John Little was a slave and these were his words, â€Å"They say slaves are happy because they laugh and are merry. I myself and three or four others, have received two hundred lashes in the day and had our feet in fetters, yet at night we would sing and dance. † Zinn believes that racism and slavery was created to enforce the economic system. He believes racism is not natural because of problems between slaves and servants. The production of cotton was growing every year because the capture of slaves had reached to about 4 million. Conspiracies and slave rebellions had developed a network of controls in the southern states, hacked by laws, armed forces, courts and race prejudice of the nation’s political leaders. He stated that to end such a deeply entrenched system that it would either take a full-scale slave rebellion or a full-scale war. Chapter ten was titled â€Å"The Other Civil War† and it refers to Anti-rent movement. The tenants agreed not to pay any more rent to the Rensselaer estate until they could be redressed of their grievances. The tenants felt that they were doing to their landlord what he had done to them for a long time. How to cite Howard Zinn, Essay examples