Consider This

Right now I’m reading several books covering the same time period in American history, The War for Independence. A good thing about reading several books on identical subjects is that they hold each others’ biases in check. What one left out the other includes, making for a more historical account. A bad thing is that I forget which author said what.
One of the books I’m reading is A Peoples History of the United States by H.Zinn the other is What They Didn’t Teach You About the American Revolution by M.Wright. At the same time I’m sorting through a stack of old Christian Statesman and Christian Reconstruction magazines. So you will forgive me if I mess up my citations.
Having only read a hundred pages or so of each said book, I’ve got some pretty enlightening morsels to chew on. First though, scripture.

If you see the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, do not marvel at the matter. For He who is higher than the highest watches; and thee are some higher than they. Moreover the profit of the earth is for all; the king himself is served by the field. Eccl 5:8-9

As is obvious from H.Zinn’s book title, he’s attempting what, I believe, has not been accomplished before. Or at least in this comprehensive manner. Our history books are usually written from the perspective of upper-middle class authors, with upper-middle class influences and presuppositions. Not that it’s wrong, just biased. I would even say that some Christian historians don’t dig deep enough and are actually trying to fit history into a box they’ve created. Let’s face it, our founding fathers were not common folk like you and me. They were politicians with more money than we’ll ever have. They had family connections to each other and to many in England. The phrase apples don’t fall too far from the tree is an accurate description of politicians too. History has a way of idealizing everything from wars to conquest. For example, living in a soddie sounds like quite an adventure to us in 21st century New England. But before you pack up the kids, do a little reading about life on the Prairie. There’s a reason why people don’t live in soddies anymore, it sucks! I digress.
H.Zinn purports that America has been run by the elite few ever since it’s conception, and to think otherwise is ignorance. Pre-Revolutionary War rebellions weren’t aimed so much at England as they were Colonial Governments run by…Colonials!

Starting with Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia, by 1760, there had been eighteen uprisings aimed at overthrowing colonial governments. There had also bee six black rebellions, form South Carolina to New York, and forty riots of various origins.pg 59 Zinn

Bacon’s Rebellion was an uprising of poor whites and some black slaves. After this rebellion, two things happened. More English troops were sent to America because of the perceived threat to governance, and, laws were made to keep black slaves from fraternizing with poor whites. The politicians realized the inertia that ensued when these two disgruntled groups united. So, whites were promised government bennies and perks, in the hopes of creating a class division and too see the government as “a powerful protector of their common interests”. Here is where, the author purports, ‘racism’ in America really takes root. He argues that racism wasn’t specifically about black and white as much as it was about poor and poorer. A competition between the classes. Everyone’s after a piece of the pie. In order to climb the ladder to success, step on everyone below you. Zinn’s main thesis so far is that Colonial America ran on the oppression of the working class in order to continue to fill the pockets of the elite rich.
As much as I think Zinn is a socialist, he’s got some good points. So far, his book is more like a complaint. However, I’ve been taught to view American history as free of defects.

Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life on thy vanity, which he hat viven thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity; for that is thy portion in this life, and in they labour which thou takes under the sun.
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.Eccl 9:9,11

To be fair to Zinn he’s only thinking how he’s been taught. Attack the fruit and not the tree. He hates capitalism because it makes people poor. So instead of considering greed and pride, he thinks about money and equality.