American Revolution Synthesis

Colonial America was entangled in tension between both colonists and the British and the colonists and the Indians, thus producing dual sources of fear for the colonists. While one of these things tried to control colonists using attacking as a method, and the other tried to rid their rightful land of the colonists, it is difficult to determine which of these two oppositions were to be more fearful of.

In 1765, the British Parliament initiated the Quartering act, which required colonists to adjust or rebuild their living quarters and provide food for British soldiers which would be staying among the colonists. With thousands of red jacketed soldiers living in colonist’s homes it created an inescapable source of constant anxiety. These soldiers were sent by the English as a way to control the colonists’ behaviors and prevent the frequently occurring attempts at upheaval by driving terror into the colonists’ lifestyles. The soldiers were much a reason to be afraid of the British and the immense power they had over this group of colonies.

A population of about ten thousand Indians were all weakened by newly introduced diseases and driven from the coast inland. As a native people to America, they were disgusted at this invasion, and wished to rid their land of Europeans. Unlike the British, the Indians didn’t have any economic or general benefit from the colonists. This caused them to be un-phased morally whilst attacking the colonists, as the Indians were the real victims of the American revolution, losing masses of members of their society and living in the decimation of newly introduced diseases.

Though the British had more soldiers than there were Indians which used to reside in the colonies, they were relying on the colonies for wealth. The Indians gained nothing from the continuing residence of colonists on the East coast, and were decimated by the modern culture and diseases of the Europeans. Thus they had more of a reason to kill the colonists and no reason not to, but if the British kill the colonists, they do not make profit off of them. Because wealth and profit were the main focuses of the English, and maintaining life was the priority of the majority of colonists, they were less fearsome than the Indians because they had reason to continue the lives of the colonists while the native peoples had the the goal of extirpating the colonists and reclaiming their land and previous lifestyles.

Crash Seminar Post Write

The film Crash opens up new insights of the prevalence of racism in America. It shows how in reality many Americans are racist both consciously and subconsciously. This film represents racism in America as a whole. It shows racism in America sort of like slicing a piece of pie, the piece is the same as the rest of the pie, but you dont need to see the whole pie to know what is within it.

Columbus: A Heroized Villian

Christopher Columbus is quite likely the reason America has become how and what it is today, for he brought European Culture to the West. He catalyzed the discovery of many other lands in the West, and was also one of the most successful sailors of his time. Columbus is the reason for the modernization of one of the most modern countries of this time, and this has all come with the cost of Indian culture. Columbus, a hero in the eyes of many, is also the reason that the once thriving Indian population of about 10 million was slaughtered until it was less than one tenth of its size.(Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States)

The genocide of Indians is one of the largest atrocities of history and is the reason I do not believe Columbus was a hero, for someone who can mindlessly slaughter and pillage an entire race without remorse should not be heroized by anyone. Columbus enforced some of the least humane tactics to exterminate this race, even targeting babies and throwing them in rivers while chanting "Boil there, you offspring of the devil!"(Bartolome de las Casas, A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies). These acts of Immorality against the native people of the Americas are certainly some of the least respectable tactics to claim wealth and power ever committed by mankind, for the perpetrators could have easily made peace with the welcoming Indian nations.

Columbus’s role in the destruction of America could certainly have been filled in by any other explorer, because Europeans would inevitably search to the West for resources. This does not mean that Columbus is in any way not responsible for the atrocious nature of America’s development, for he and his colleagues were the ones to dehumanize and continue to deplete the Indians and their societal structure. In the text “A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies”, Bartolome de las Casas tells that the Spaniards treated the Indians as they were less than beasts, or “like excrement on the public squares”. If a different, more moral approach was taken by a different explorer to begin the white man’s residence in America, we would have a stronger cultural relation to the Indians, and we could have developed to a much higher level than we are at today, and our society would be much stronger than many.