Influence Of Howard Zinn On The Foundation Of The American Republic

The American Revolution was a political outbreak that changed the face of the nation. American colonies became independent and broke out of British rule to become its own country and formulated its own government to become what is known as The United States of America. The cause of the Revolution was to become independent and get out of the British’s treatment and rules and to develop their own method of ruling a nation. Howard Zinn had his own point of view and arguments on the events of the Revolution and what occurred behind the scenes. He opens a new angle to what actually happened and argues that the revolution was a substitution of one tyranny for another. Zinn criticizes the foundation of the American Republic and how we portrayed the

There was a separation in classes which caused an unequal balance between rich and poor. As the revolution came to commence, the poorer classes felt mistreated by the wealthy and disliked them so they sided with the British and supported and fought for them instead of their own people. The wealthy and rich soon realized that they needed the lower classes to support them and they reasoned with them to gain their trust and support. They started economic policies to appeal to the lower classes and adapt their hold in the war. Zinn announces that the Founding Fathers wanted the lower classes to stay down and wanted to control the profits and economy of the government for their own benefits and appeal to only themselves. He also explains that there was a lot of tension and anger from the lower class to wealthy elites before the revolution and that the Founding Fathers convinced the lower class members to support their side against the British. This means that there was a lot of unfairness to the lower classes because the higher classes were controlling them and their beliefs to get them what the wealthy people wanted. I think Zinns critique was effective because it undermines what they Founding Fathers did and how the inequality of the classes had an effect on the

The Constitution was the supreme law with articles that were created by the government which involved the Founding Fathers and wealthy class. The Constitution was rules and statements that the people had to follow and live by to create a formulated society and was the national framework of the government. This created equality amongst the poor and rich, separations of power, talked about the formation of the nation’s government. The Constitution did not mention the involvement of slaves in America and any law to uplift that. Zinn argued that this was wrong because slaves and the poor, common people were the backbone of the American society and wouldn't have won the nations independence if it wasn’t for them fighting for their country. This relates to the subject of equality and tensions amongst the poor and wealthy and how the elites want to stay in power and be superior and control the lower classmen. Zinn’s critique on the Constitution is effective because he rightfully states how the Constitution was unfair for the slaves and lower classes who worked really hard to help their country and society form to how it is today and they didn't earn their