Chapter Content
Okay, so, let's talk about... okay, here we go. So, there's this book, right? And this chapter is all about... well, a whole bunch of stuff, actually. It's basically an overview of early American history, touching on some key events and themes.
It starts with, like, Columbus. You know, that whole thing. What was his deal, right? I mean, the text talks about how he saw the Arawak people, native to the Bahamas, as potential servants. He was all about finding gold and spices, and you get the sense that the people already there were just an afterthought, or maybe just a means to an end for him.
And it gets into how the Spanish, freshly unified and ready to get their money up, decided to gamble on Columbus and this whole western route to the Indies. Big promises were made, gold and spices were the big prize, and so here comes Christopher, Admiral of the Ocean Sea.
Then, oh man, the story really hits hard. The Arawaks, so welcoming, and then Columbus takes some of them prisoner to force them to find gold. Hispaniola becomes the site of this first European fort, Navidad, and things just spiral from there. There’s mention of fights with the indigenous people and some natives losing their lives.
Columbus paints this amazing picture of Hispaniola, but it's kinda skewed. He needs to make it sound good so more people come and start making it a good spot.
The thing about this is that Columbus wasn't just out exploring, he was basically launching a full-on invasion. And his priorities were way out of whack.
He’s sending back reports to Spain asking for help and promising them gold and slaves. It's kinda wild. Like, right from the start, it's all about exploitation.
And the book keeps diving into some of the really awful stuff that happened, like that slave raid where so many Arawaks died on the way to Spain. Then there's this system where Indians had to collect a certain amount of gold, or they’d have their hands cut off. It’s just... brutal.
And it led to, like, mass suicides and infanticide among the Arawaks, just to escape the suffering. It's a horrifying picture.
Then it talks about Bartolome de las Casas, who was initially involved in the whole thing, but then he changed his mind and started criticizing the Spanish for how terrible they treated the indigenous people. He’s one of the main sources of information about it all. He described some of the native folk as they were at the time. He really highlights how the Spaniards’ cruelty led to so many native folk dying.
He even admits he at first thought it was better to replace them with Black slaves, thinking they would last better, but changed his mind after seeing the effects on Black folk.
The book points out how, in history books, the Columbus story is often glossed over, just focusing on his seamanship or something like that. But the dark side, the genocide, is kinda buried. The author is arguing here that the historical focus is on who they perceive as "important" and not on all folk involved.
But what about those that got caught in the cross-fire from all these big names?
It questions, if atrocities like these are needed for progress, who should have to decide who gets sacrificed.
The book shifts to talking about how things weren't great back in Spain either, as it was pretty much just making the rich richer while the poor suffered. The book kind of hints at the idea that things were actually better with the natives than it was for the average Spaniard.
It then goes on to talk about Aztec and Incan civilizations, too. The Aztec civilization was incredibly developed, but there was also, like, human sacrifice. The Spanish saw that as justification for taking over. They had heard about one of their men, Quetzalcoatl, and thought Cortes may have been the same man.
But Cortes was there to find gold and went straight for the most extreme measures, turning the Aztecs against themselves.
Pizarro also did something similar with the Incas.
So, the same pattern emerges in North America with the English. Richard Grenville, before a permanent settlement, destroyed a whole Indian village over a stolen cup. Jamestown was established on Indian land, and eventually there was a massacre of settlers by the Indians, and then a war of extermination by the English. Brutal.
Then we get to the Puritans. Oh boy. The Puritans in New England declared the land a "vacuum" to justify taking it from the Indians. Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts just makes it up. Like, they just straight up used the Bible to justify stealing land and killing people.
The book describes one particular war with the Pequots. The English basically committed a massacre, burning down a whole village with people inside, killing hundreds.
After a while of the English’s behavior, Indians learned they couldn’t trust these newcomers. After this war, there were very few Pequots left.
After the Pequots, the Puritans then set their sights on the Wampanoags.
The author notes that ordinary English folk didn’t even want to fight the Indians, they just wanted peace, but the rich folk wanted the land.
The author emphasizes that many of the people died from diseases introduced by the white settlers. After being introduced to these diseases, many died.
It basically sums up everything by pointing out that all this bloodshed, from Columbus onward, was driven by this intense drive for land and resources, fueled by a civilization based on private property.
Then the author goes on to ask, was it needed for the human race to progress from savagery to civilization? What happened to the Indians for all this so-called progress? They ask whether the natives were really inferior in the first place.
They talk about how the natives had really figured out the whole agriculture thing.
They were growing all sorts of foods.
There was mention of the native building of mounds. Some of these mounds were giant.
There was mention of the Iroquois. They have their own vision of how folk should be and treat one another, which at the center is equality.
They lived communally. There was no need for poorhouses.
They even gave women a special role in the community.
Children were taught to be independent and not give in to authority.
Even the Maryland Indians tried to apply their own way of doing things, which the English had a hard time adjusting to. The English just wanted to do things their way, but the Indians weren’t willing to be forced into it.
The chapter then shifts to discussing slavery with a black ship, carrying twenty slaves, arriving in North America in 1619.
Racism's been really big in the US for a long time. So it's important to ask how it started, and also how it might end.
Some historians think the first black folk were basically servants, like the white folk being servants, but the text kind of hints they probably weren’t.
They most likely weren't treated in the same way.
So a form of racism started, and that became a really big deal in the US. The text then dives into the reasons why this whole system worked.
Jamestown settlers basically went through really difficult times and were desperate for more labor.
They needed tobacco in order to keep making money.
They couldn’t enslave the Indians, they were too resourceful and defiant.
White folks hadn’t arrived in large enough quantities, and when they did, they didn’t want to have to work for the rest of their lives.
This all led to black slaves being the answer. By then, importing and owning them was an institution.
Black folk had already been stamped as laborers by the time all this was going down, so it was natural to consider them as slaves.
The slaves were easily enslaved due to their lack of heritage.
Black folk were often deemed inferior, and any different culture was often seen as inferior, especially when it benefited the people making the judgment.
Civilization in Africa was still fairly advanced at the time.
It wasn’t necessarily the best, but it was just as good as Europe’s.
Slavery also existed there. They just differed on how it worked and who qualified as a slave.
American slavery was different from any other slavery in that it was really brutal.
This all also meant the black folk had a really hard time when they were uprooted from their homes. Many people from different tribes and speaking different languages were chained together.
From the moment they were captured, it became clear that black folk were helpless. They marched for hundreds of miles, with many dying along the way. On the coast, they would be kept in prisons until they were purchased. They were inspected and branded.
Then they would be packed into the ship in areas barely big enough for them to fit, in chains.
People would often drown themselves just to get out of their circumstances.
One in three black people would die during transit, and it was all worth it because of the profits.
The Dutch and the English would often dominate the trade, and it was then taken up by New England.
By 1800, 10 to 15 million Black folk were enslaved.
Around this time, the church was being asked about whether it was okay to enslave black folk.
Their conclusion was that it was.
Desperation from the settlers, an impossible situation for native Indians, the temptation of more money for the plantation owners, the status for poor whites, the controls for slaves… it all led to this.
It wasn’t natural, though. It was historical.
As the plantation system grew, so did slavery.
Black folk always stood up for themselves, even when faced with extreme violence.
They would even run away, even if they got caught.
Resistance started in Africa.
There were slave revolts from the get-go.
A Virginia statute was created to refer to these revolts, and soon people began planning things.
In time, Indians learned that they couldn’t trust these newcomers. After this war, there were very few Pequots left.
There was a Virginia governor who warned folk of the threat of Black folk.
Since the slaves had no resources, slaves were often mutilating, dismembering, and killing themselves.
They would also run to find members of their families.
Fear of slave revolts was common in plantations.
So plantations created an intricate system to control Black folk. The system was psychological and physical. They were taught to see blackness as less.
There would also be punishments as severe as death.
Still, there were enough rebellions to cause fear.
In 1712 there was a large revolt in New York. As a result, twenty-one were executed, and others were tortured.
At Stono, South Carolina in 1739 slaves rebelled, stole weapons, and killed folk.
There were white people involved in helping slaves resist, too. White servants and black slaves conspired to rebel.
Edmund Morgan saw the two groups as sharing the same predicament. The two would runaway together, steal together, and even be intimate with one another.
As long as white men saw themselves as better than Black folk, their discontent would eventually fade away.
In 1700, the Virginia House of Burgesses even declared the White folk to be the worst sort of the people in Europe. They feared that they may rise upon them if given the opportunity.
There was a class consciousness at this time. It all boils down to this:
The text is pushing against that idea of "natural" and saying that we should be focused on how things happened and how they can change.
Lastly, there’s mention of Bacon’s Rebellion.
It began with a conflict between frontiersmen and the Indians.
The rebellion basically went down due to the tension of the poor with the rich.
Bacon himself came from the upper class and was more worried about the Indians than he was about the plight of poor folk.
Bacon eventually died, but the ship armed with thirty guns secured order and captured the rebel forces.
The rebellion was very big, though.
England sold Tobacco at prices that they dictated and used Black folk to maintain all this.
Richard Lee then said that this started with India policy, but due to people’s inclination to help him, they had hopes of leveling.
Levelling was equalizing wealth, and was also behind countess actions for poor folk.
Poor folk were being forced out of their homes due to the growth of capitalism.
As such, these vagrants were punished, forced to prison, or exiled.
Poor folk who wanted to go to America became commodities of profit for merchants, traders, and ship captains.
Then came the indentureship where passage to America was paid off by labor. The servants were also imprisoned so that they couldn’t runaway.
Their voyages to America lasted 8-12 weeks, and the servants were packed into ships.
If food was bad, and the trips lasted too long, folk would die from starvation. One woman even got thrown through a porthole due to her condition.