Download Reading Questions for Howard Zinn`s

Reading Questions for Howard Zinn’s
Chapter 5 “A Kind of Revolution”
A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to the Present.
How much colonial opposition was there to British rule in 1776?
What motivated the colonial poor to fight the British?
Zinn argues that the American Revolutionary “War was [making the ruling elite] more secure against internal
trouble” (p.79). What evidence does Zinn provide to support this assertion?
The Battle of Saratoga (1777) brought the French into the war on the side of the Americans. Why was this
significant enough to make the Battle of Saratoga the “turning point” of the war?
Which of the following is the most appropriate thesis for the chapter: A) The Americans won the war only with
help from the French. B) The war was a struggle for power between members of an upper class. C) Rich men
ran the war. D) General enthusiasm for the war was not strong. Defend your choice and give reasons for
having eliminated the rest.
What were the grievances of the American troops who mutinied or rebelled during the American Revolution?
What were the methods of control used by the Revolutionary elite to control disobedient and rebellious
colonists?
How did farmers resist impoverishment?
Why did the Indians fight with the British against the colonial rebels?
How did blacks respond to the opportunities presented by the Revolutionary War? How effective were their
responses?
Why did the author of “All men are created equal,” Thomas Jefferson, remain a slaveholder all his life?
The US Constitution was: (Defend your choice in detail.) A) “a work of genius put together by wise, humane
men who created a legal framework for democracy and equality.” B) a work of genius put together by rich men
to benefit their economic interests. C) a work of genius which balances the interests of slaves, indentured
servants, women, men without property, and men with property. D) a compromise between slaveholding
interests of the South and moneyed interests of the North. E) all of the above.
Who benefits most from a strong central government? Why?
In the months preceding Shays’ Rebellion, what were the grievances of western Massachusetts farmers? What
were the state government’s responses (both judicial and legislative) to the grievances of these farmers? What
were the Boston merchants’ responses to Shays’ resistance?
Did Shays’ Rebellion have the salutary effect of “refreshing the tree of liberty”? Explain your answer.
(What effect did it have on the ratifying of the US Constitution?)
Explain the difference between Jefferson’s and Hamilton’s attitudes toward popular participation in the
decision-making process. If one were to look only at Federalist papers #10, does Madison agree with Hamilton
or Jefferson on this issue?
Did the US Constitution define a democratic government? Is a democratic government possible in an
economically polarized society?
Why did city mechanics in New York support wealthy conservatives in promoting the ratification of the US
Constitution? Is it surprising that they did? Explain why or why not.
Many historians argue that the US Constitution creates a neutral, level playing field on which contestants prove
their worth (that any inequality in wealth is not due to unfair rules but to unequal abilities). For what reasons
does Zinn disagree with this interpretation?
Why did Congress pass the Whiskey Tax? How did small farmers who manufactured whiskey respond? What
is the difference between the means by which Shays’ Rebellion was defeated and the Whiskey Rebellion was
defeated? What is the significance of the answer to the previous question?
Identify, compare, and contrast the forms of control used by the British versus the forms used by colonial
leaders and the government of the newly formed United States of America.
Discuss the similarities and differences among the classes of people who were oppressed, manipulated, and
controlled in the different colonies by both the British and the wealthy aristocrats and ruling classes of colonial
America and the responses to that oppression such as protest and rebellion. Take care to discuss the social,
economic, and political forces and institutions that affected the different classes. Include information about the
ways in which the colonial leaders focused colonial resentment and actions toward the British while avoiding a
backlash.
Express the lengths to which the elites in power found it necessary to go in order to solidify the middle class
and control the lower class in opposition to the British rather than colonial elites in order to address the prompt
thoroughly. Do not overlook rebellions and the reasons for them. Consider the hypocrisy of the controls used
and examine the effectiveness of such tactics even if they are contradictory to expressed political, social, and
economic rhetoric of the period in British colonial America and the birth of the United States of America.]