A People Essays

A People Essays A People Essays October 13, 2014 A People’s History of the United States: Chapter 4 The fourth chapter of â€Å"A People’s History of the United States† is about how Britain started to become more aggressive towards the American colonies in order to tighten their loosening grip they had on the colonies. The colonies were supplying their mother country with raw materials needed in order to produce goods to send back to the colonies, benefitting the mother country. The colonists began to get tired of the on ­going monopoly with Britain and tried cutting ties all together by rebelling against Britain. To lead these rebellions, the founding fathers led groups prioritized on the hate and opposition of British ruling. The colonies had longed for an independent, self ­government, completely detached from British power. As in any place, wealth was not distributed evenly throughout the colonies causing more problems than it was probably worth. The separation between the classes throughout t he colonies led to an unequal balance between the rich and poor. The struggle for unity in the colonies was just another spark leading up to the revolution. The basic point of Zinn’s argument is â€Å"tyranny is tyranny†. He argues the American Revolution was one substitution for tyranny after another. He states the founding fathers were just as greedy and malicious as the king of England was. Zinn states the founding fathers were able to, â€Å"take over land, profits, and political power from favorites of the British Empire. In the process, they could hold back a number of potential rebellions and create a consensus of popular support for the rule of a new, privileged leadership†. The founding fathers wanted to keep the lower class suppressed as much as the king did. Zinn points out prior to the revolution, there was a great deal of anger and resentment already existing between the upper and lower classes of the colonies. However, in the time leadin g up to the revolution, the colonial â€Å"elite† had managed