A Peoples History of the United Zinn A Kind of Revolution Essays

A Peoples History of the United Zinn A Kind of Revolution Essays A Peoples History of the United Zinn A Kind of Revolution Essay A Peoples History of the United Zinn A Kind of Revolution Essay Alana Martin October 18, 2010 APUS-3 Strong â€Å"A Kind of Revolution† If one were to look back on most of the tales of the American Revolution, they would see stories of full of patriotic heroes and colonists risking their lives for their country. Zinn on the other hand realizes that these stories are too good to be true and exposes the truth of the American Revolution. The fighters in the American Revolution all had purposes behind their gunshots, however very few of them were for independence. John Adams broke the colonists into thirds in their viewpoint of the war, one third in approval, one apposing, and the other neutral. However this did not include every single person, in what would later be known as the Unite States, at the time because Indians, free slaves, white servants and free poor white men were not approved to fight. Only in the most desperate times were the poor white men called in to battle. Even then the colonists were not all fighting for the same reasons. Howard Zinn recognizes that patriotism was not sweeping the nation rather peoples own self agenda. While the struggle between upper and lower classes was still occurring in the colonies, the lower classes were given an incentive to fight due to the possibility of being able to climb the social ladder. People were risking their lives not for the benefit of their country, but for themselves. Also Zinn points out that the great unity between all the colonists didn’t exists. Rarely were upper class citizens rushing to the battle fronts, they sat back comfortably as the lower classes worked to achieve that kind of comfort for themselves. The beginning battles were not won by the colonists, but the smaller and more essential ones were which eventually lead to the defeat of the British. In the end the upper classes push on the lower classes to join the war and even going so far as jailing those who did not fulfill their military duty paid off with their victory. The victory looks great in the textbooks, but Zinn points out it did not bring what most colonists believed they were fighting for. Although equality was promised, it wasn’t really true equality. Slaves were nowhere near equal o the upper class and the class structure that already exists didn’t change radically. Even farmers who were promised land for their military services I not receive what they expected on the other side. In addition the now free colonists were hungry for land and took this as their opportunity to seize all Indian land and never look back. Blacks also struggled to make their way in a white society while the whites struggled to get what they believed they deserved from this new government that they fought so hard to create. Howard Zinn exposes the American Revolution for what it was and not what it appeared to be. While it may seem that the colonists were fully united as one, each individual seemed to have their own reasons for why they actually fought the war for independence. Even after the war concluded, life did not result in what was promised and everyone seemed to be working at fighting just as hard as they were before the war. This story of the American Revolution may not be as glamorous but it is the undying truth.