In chapter 2 of A People’s History of the United States, entitled “Drawing the Color Line,”
Howard Zinn argues that the first black Americans, though technically considered servants, were likely treated like slaves from the time they were first brought to Virginia in 1619.
What is Zinn’s thesis of the chapter?
In this chapter, Zinn is arguing
that there were serious class divisions in the American colonies
. He argues that the elites worked to stay on top of the class structure largely by persuading the middle class to side with them. They did so by playing on the middle class’s fear of the lower classes.
What is Zinn’s thesis for Chapter 4?
The central thesis of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States is that,
notwithstanding claims of American exceptionalism based on
democracy and equality of opportunity, the political systems of the United States have always exploited the vast majority of citizens for the benefit of a small elite.
What was Zinn arguing?
Zinn’s argument is that
America is a nation that has a history of oppression, violence, and victimization which has systematically silenced minority groups or those less economically privileged
.
What is the meaning of the title of this chapter drawing the color line?
– According to Zinn racism is not a natural human right bc of the social system/ conditions. – The meaning of the title of this chapter “Drawing the color line” is
there was a line between each race
.
What is Zinn’s thesis in persons of a mean and vile condition?
Expert Answers
The primary thesis that emerges out of the third chapter was that
there was a strict hierarchy of power and control in American society
. Zinn suggests that the narrative of struggling Colonists that embraced a sense of egalitarianism in their society is not accurate.
What was the double motive of the Virginia government?
3. What was the “double motive” of the Virginia government vis-à-vis Bacon’s Rebellion? A: The Government of this time
(The House of Burgesses) developed an Indian policy that would divide the Indians in order to control them and punish the rebellious whites to show them that rebellion did not pay
.
What is Zinn’s argument in Chapter 5?
Zinn argues that
the war created “opportunity for blacks to begin making demands of white society
.” Free blacks in the North petitioned their leaders to repeal discriminatory laws.
What is Zinn’s view of the American Revolution?
The aim of the revolution, Zinn argues,
was to divert colonial class anger of the 1760s, shifting it away from colonial assemblies and onto the British government
. In doing this, the revolutionary elite was able to seize control of part of the British Empire and rule it as their own.
Who were the colonists two enemies How did the colonists see the proclamation of 1763 uniting these two forces?
The colonists had two enemies;
the English and the Indians
. The colonists seen the the Proclamation of 1763 unite these two forces by the British declaring Indian lands beyond the Appalachians out of bounds to whites, wooing the Indians in a way. You just studied 12 terms!
What was Zinn’s argument in chapter 2?
In essence, the question Zinn is trying to answer is, “which came first, slavery or racism?” Zinn’s argument is that, whether or not people are hard-wired to feel racism,
racism as it arose in the American colonies was the product of a concrete, economic need for slavery
, not the other way around.
How does Howard Zinn view the Constitution?
Howard Zinn’s theory of the Constitution asks
how the document and its principles have affected the quality of people’s lives
. Zinn takes a skeptical stance and states that the document is frequently ineffective and fails to protect those who might need it most.
What is the color line?
The term color line was originally used
as a reference to the racial segregation that existed in the United States after the abolition of slavery
. An article by Frederick Douglass that was titled “The Color Line” was published in the North American Review in 1881.
What does it mean to draw the color line?
color line in American English
US.
the barrier of social, political, and economic restrictions imposed on blacks or other nonwhites
. Idioms: draw the color line.
What does drawing the color line mean?
draw the color line in American English
to impose or accept the color line
. See full dictionary entry for color line.
