Persons of Mean and Vile Condition, Zinn chapter 3
As we've discussed, historians must make choices when writing - why does Zinn choose this title for chapter 3? Do you agree with him? Why or why not? What is an alternate title for the chapter?
Zinn chose this title for chapter 3 because the lower classes in the colonies were subject to terrible conditions and were not exactly living the "American Dream" that is often romanticized. While people of the lower class were suffering, the upper class dominated society in pretty much every aspect. They ran the governments of all the colonies. Even if lower classes were allowed to be part of the government, they always deferred to the upper class' opinions. This caused a very large gap between the rich and the poor, which as we have seen in the past, leads to conflict. Even though the lower classes (including slaves) made up most of the population and were the backbone of society, they had to put up with poor living conditions and often starvation, leading to numerous deaths. I agree that Zinn's title is appropriate because it represents this societal gap and what the poor colonists had to endure. When we think of the colonies we think of a united force coming together to revolt against the mother country. However, in reality there were many revolts going on under America's own roof due to the power of the wealthy and the strife of the poor. An alternate name for the chapter could be "The High and Mighty overpowers the Powerless Poor," because the wealthy were essentially ruling over the suffering lower classes that had no say in their new country.
Zinn's chapter title "Persons of Mean and Vile Condition" set the stage for a chapter full of people who are downright awful. I completely agree with the naming of this chapter. The opening quote, describing Bacon and his large group of rebels as "Vulgar and most ignorant people" shows the view of the upperclass towards those who are less fortunate. Bacon himself was not exactly a man of great character himself. He was very anti-Indian, and staged raids on their villages frequently. Servants, another group of lower class colonist, were shown to be living in horrid conditions in the colonies. Women were raped and beatings were common. Indentured servitude, while we have read in textbooks sounds much better then slavery, is not much different according to Zinn. People were bought and sold like goods. Servants though are not free of the branding "persons of Mean and Vile Condition" There were accounts of servants striking back against their masters, often in a violent manner. One abbot commented that those servants were not exactly shining examples of perfect members of society. The poor were so numerous that poorhouses were needed to accommodate those without homes. Another title for this chapter could be "Thousands of Poor, Nearly Invisible" seeing that almost every example in this chapter show the status of the poor in the thirteen colonies and the little respect or humane treatment. - Rachel
This chapter is named this way to shed some light about the american colonist. When hearing about the 13 colonies you never hear about the class devision and hardships the poor go through. Its not until upper level US history classes where we hear about things like Bacons rebellion. I think Zinn rightly named this section of his book because it perfectly sums things up. The lower class was treated extremely poorly in the colonies and its something students and readers overlook when learning about the origins of The United States. The chapter needs no other name, anything else you could name it would be inane and unnecessary unless you wanted to focus more about the fear that the upper class had of blacks and whites uniting like in Bacons rebellion and overthrowing the upper class, in which case i would name it "The Top of the pyramid separates its Base." The top of the pyramid representing the upper class and the base representing the blacks and whites being separated by the "top."
Zinn's title, "Persons of Mean and Vile Condition" is an appropriate name for this chapter. Zinn depicts the story of where England gained its slaves and indentured servants from. Even though indentured servitude had its benefits over slavery, like earning freedom wages after their contract with masters expired, Zinn reveals that their struggles were very similar to slaves. They had state regulations put against them that banned them from long-term relationships such as marriage without the masters consent, also they were brutally assaulted by their masters for not reaching their level of production or for disobeying. Also once they survived the horrible voyage from Europe to America, in which they were locked up in cages and were covered in disease and human waste, they were sold to land owners, very similar to slaves from Africa. I believe that Zinn's title is a perfect choice to describe what facts are shown throughout the chapter. It describes the vile and mean upper class men that soiled Colonial America through unjust laws and restrictions of the lower class, which permitted the lower class from ever succeeding into the upper class of colonial society. --Stephen Cirillo
The naming of this chapter foreshadows the tale to come of social class cruelty. Lower class civilians are subjugated as inferior by the upper class. This includes slaves and indentured servants. The treatment of slaves included the horrifying Middle Passage and terrors in the New World such as hard labor. Then on top of that are laws that are enforced by the upper class, which are racist and disallow rights such as voting and land ownership. These were regulated to prevent uprisings, which is ironic in the fact that Bacon's rebellion occurred. This chapter further supports Zinn's idea to show the true side of history, what actually happened, unfiltered. He does a superb job of doing so.
Zinn chose this title for chapter 3 to distinguish the social classes and the way the lower class(servants) were being treated by the rich. The labor they were appointed to do was physically impossible for the slave to do as they were suffering from starvation or didn't get paid enough to feed themselves. The situations for the lower class are stated severe enough for me to agree with that the upper class used the servants forgetting humanity, such as whipping, rape and not letting them in any kind of relationship so they can do hard labor at all times. The rebellions faced by the colonists were the results from the conditions they made for the servants to react in a such a way to get their freedom or let out all the sufferings they have been through. The name of this chapter can be alternated to The hard work of the poor used by the rich as it the hard work of the slaves made the colonies successful in their industries and yet their work was not recognized by any.
Howard Zinn chose to name the chapter "Persons of Mean and Vile Condition" because he wanted to reveal how the lower classes of Colonial America was living under harsh conditions that often went unrecognized. I agree with the naming of this chapter because the upper class had taken advantage of the lower class and used them to make a profit for themselves. After the immigrants signed the indenture they were often imprisoned for a period of time. After being imprisoned, they later realized that being on the ship that lead them to America was about as bad as being imprisoned if not worse. Zinn describes how the servants organized rebellions which often lead to a court trial and later punishments. The naming of this chapter is an excellent choice because it revales the vile upper class and how the lower class was treated with disrespect. The upper class disobeyed laws and restrictions in order to succeed and maintain there social status with a disregard to the lower class. --Dom
The title of Zinn’s chapter "Persons of Mean and Vile Condition” is derived from the very cruel and immoral nature of human beings, specifically that of the members of British Colonial America. Zinn discusses the actions of these colonists with a strong objective to reveal the truth, despite the harsh information he might be forced to unveil. I do agree with the naming of this chapter, as it focuses closely in on the poor treatment and injustices found among the people of the thirteen colonies. The 1600’s was a time that, for these colonies, involved large amounts of tension and disagreement between the varying groups. There were arguments and battles, both physical by means of war and autocratically through refusal to authority, and many conditions only hindered the situation further. The period discussed in this chapter is said to be a time of great poverty, strain between classes, and an early sight of going against authority; these unfortunate conditions are part of the reasons that so many people acted in ‘vile’ ways. Zinn states that “It was a complex chain of oppression in Virginia”, a perfect example being the event known as Bacon’s Rebellion. Nathaniel Bacon’s actions seem to have been in favor of the poorer farmer class, when in fact Zinn discusses that Bacon was more eager to execute Native Americans than he was to improve the conditions of the men he supposedly worked to help. Zinn does no more in this chapter than reveal the truth so many work somewhat hard to avoid: humans are not always kind by nature, and history often ignores their injustices to better focus on their achievements. He says that over time many battles broke out after one group would attack another and back and forth; while the Native Americans were by far a largely mistreated group, they were still aggressive and acted in unfriendly ways. Zinn’s wording and choice of chapter title easily gives the reader a true, pinpointed name for the personalities found in the thirteen colonies at this period of time.
Howard Zinn title “Persons of a mean and vile condition” is a proper title because it talks about the corrupt people and poverty in the colonies. Zinn talks about Bacon's Rebellion, slave rebellions, Thomas Hutchinson, Servants, people in poverty, free workers, and the aristocrats that control some of the major cities. Many people came to the new world thinking they did not have to work, because of this people became poor and dependent on one another. As some people strived and others did not, the gap between rich and poor grew immensely and riots started to break out. Also churches asked the council for money because of the “cries” of poor. A couple of examples are the early strikes of coopers, butchers, bakers, protesting against government control of the fees they charged and in 1650s porters in New York refused to carry salt, and carters . A rebellion led by slaves was started by one man; Nathaniel Bacon, he set Jamestown on fire and forced the governor William Berkeley to flee the city. Once the rebellion ended, with the death of Bacon, many other slaves started to rebel. I agree with this title because he shows insight of the corrupt and vile conditions of the people in the colonies. Another title for this chapter could be “Corruption and poverty in the colonies."
Zinn chose the title “Persons of a mean and vile condition” for chapter 3 for many reasons. During this time, the lower classes in the colonies experienced terrible conditions. The lower class did not hold powerful positions in the government because the wealthy and elite colonist had more power. The lower class also dealt with poor living conditions and starvation, where some even died. Zinn’s title is appropriate because it represents the hardship and terrible conditions the poor colonist endured. An alternative title for this chapter could be “Poor plunging to lower levels as the wealthy rise to new heights,” because the poor became more destitute as the wealthy became richer. This caused a larger gap to form between the two social classes in the colonies, which began to expand as time went on.
The title of this chapter of Zinn wa titled "Persons of a Mean and Vile condition". The name of this chapter bookmarks the traits of the people involved in and the acts that were part of the rebelliom. When Zinn says vile conditons, he means if you not in the right financial situation you can be brutally whipped. He means if you do not have the kind of money a small minortiy does, you can be dragged away from home and shipped out of the country. The wealthy people COULD and DID take control of the gap between classes. They were the people in charge associating with the government and they took advantage of that. When we talk about this title, it was a combination between acts and people. Poverty, corruption, harm. The people who were leading these rebellions are the vulgar people. The knew how to manipulate and be persuasive, so they were. The most disturbing fact about this to me was how originally, everyone who came to the new world was poor. That is WHY they went. The rich stayed in Europe. They all knew what it was like to be poor, but they eventually found wealth.They knew what it was like and still became so greedy and harmful. That is why an alternate title could be "greed and corruption in the colonies".
Zinn chose this title for chapter 3 because the lower classes in the colonies were subject to terrible conditions and were not exactly living the "American Dream" that is often romanticized. While people of the lower class were suffering, the upper class dominated society in pretty much every aspect. They ran the governments of all the colonies. Even if lower classes were allowed to be part of the government, they always deferred to the upper class' opinions. This caused a very large gap between the rich and the poor, which as we have seen in the past, leads to conflict. Even though the lower classes (including slaves) made up most of the population and were the backbone of society, they had to put up with poor living conditions and often starvation, leading to numerous deaths. I agree that Zinn's title is appropriate because it represents this societal gap and what the poor colonists had to endure. When we think of the colonies we think of a united force coming together to revolt against the mother country. However, in reality there were many revolts going on under America's own roof due to the power of the wealthy and the strife of the poor. An alternate name for the chapter could be "The High and Mighty overpowers the Powerless Poor," because the wealthy were essentially ruling over the suffering lower classes that had no say in their new country.
ReplyDelete-Chloe
Zinn's chapter title "Persons of Mean and Vile Condition" set the stage for a chapter full of people who are downright awful. I completely agree with the naming of this chapter. The opening quote, describing Bacon and his large group of rebels as "Vulgar and most ignorant people" shows the view of the upperclass towards those who are less fortunate. Bacon himself was not exactly a man of great character himself. He was very anti-Indian, and staged raids on their villages frequently. Servants, another group of lower class colonist, were shown to be living in horrid conditions in the colonies. Women were raped and beatings were common. Indentured servitude, while we have read in textbooks sounds much better then slavery, is not much different according to Zinn. People were bought and sold like goods. Servants though are not free of the branding "persons of Mean and Vile Condition" There were accounts of servants striking back against their masters, often in a violent manner. One abbot commented that those servants were not exactly shining examples of perfect members of society. The poor were so numerous that poorhouses were needed to accommodate those without homes. Another title for this chapter could be "Thousands of Poor, Nearly Invisible" seeing that almost every example in this chapter show the status of the poor in the thirteen colonies and the little respect or humane treatment.
ReplyDelete- Rachel
This chapter is named this way to shed some light about the american colonist. When hearing about the 13 colonies you never hear about the class devision and hardships the poor go through. Its not until upper level US history classes where we hear about things like Bacons rebellion. I think Zinn rightly named this section of his book because it perfectly sums things up. The lower class was treated extremely poorly in the colonies and its something students and readers overlook when learning about the origins of The United States. The chapter needs no other name, anything else you could name it would be inane and unnecessary unless you wanted to focus more about the fear that the upper class had of blacks and whites uniting like in Bacons rebellion and overthrowing the upper class, in which case i would name it "The Top of the pyramid separates its Base." The top of the pyramid representing the upper class and the base representing the blacks and whites being separated by the "top."
ReplyDelete-Matthe DiRe
Zinn's title, "Persons of Mean and Vile Condition" is an appropriate name for this chapter. Zinn depicts the story of where England gained its slaves and indentured servants from. Even though indentured servitude had its benefits over slavery, like earning freedom wages after their contract with masters expired, Zinn reveals that their struggles were very similar to slaves. They had state regulations put against them that banned them from long-term relationships such as marriage without the masters consent, also they were brutally assaulted by their masters for not reaching their level of production or for disobeying. Also once they survived the horrible voyage from Europe to America, in which they were locked up in cages and were covered in disease and human waste, they were sold to land owners, very similar to slaves from Africa. I believe that Zinn's title is a perfect choice to describe what facts are shown throughout the chapter. It describes the vile and mean upper class men that soiled Colonial America through unjust laws and restrictions of the lower class, which permitted the lower class from ever succeeding into the upper class of colonial society.
ReplyDelete--Stephen Cirillo
The naming of this chapter foreshadows the tale to come of social class cruelty. Lower class civilians are subjugated as inferior by the upper class. This includes slaves and indentured servants. The treatment of slaves included the horrifying Middle Passage and terrors in the New World such as hard labor. Then on top of that are laws that are enforced by the upper class, which are racist and disallow rights such as voting and land ownership. These were regulated to prevent uprisings, which is ironic in the fact that Bacon's rebellion occurred. This chapter further supports Zinn's idea to show the true side of history, what actually happened, unfiltered. He does a superb job of doing so.
ReplyDelete~Joe Albanese
Zinn chose this title for chapter 3 to distinguish the social classes and the way the lower class(servants) were being treated by the rich. The labor they were appointed to do was physically impossible for the slave to do as they were suffering from starvation or didn't get paid enough to feed themselves. The situations for the lower class are stated severe enough for me to agree with that the upper class used the servants forgetting humanity, such as whipping, rape and not letting them in any kind of relationship so they can do hard labor at all times. The rebellions faced by the colonists were the results from the conditions they made for the servants to react in a such a way to get their freedom or let out all the sufferings they have been through. The name of this chapter can be alternated to The hard work of the poor used by the rich as it the hard work of the slaves made the colonies successful in their industries and yet their work was not recognized by any.
ReplyDeleteFarhan
Howard Zinn chose to name the chapter "Persons of Mean and Vile Condition" because he wanted to reveal how the lower classes of Colonial America was living under harsh conditions that often went unrecognized. I agree with the naming of this chapter because the upper class had taken advantage of the lower class and used them to make a profit for themselves. After the immigrants signed the indenture they were often imprisoned for a period of time. After being imprisoned, they later realized that being on the ship that lead them to America was about as bad as being imprisoned if not worse. Zinn describes how the servants organized rebellions which often lead to a court trial and later punishments. The naming of this chapter is an excellent choice because it revales the vile upper class and how the lower class was treated with disrespect. The upper class disobeyed laws and restrictions in order to succeed and maintain there social status with a disregard to the lower class.
ReplyDelete--Dom
The title of Zinn’s chapter "Persons of Mean and Vile Condition” is derived from the very cruel and immoral nature of human beings, specifically that of the members of British Colonial America. Zinn discusses the actions of these colonists with a strong objective to reveal the truth, despite the harsh information he might be forced to unveil. I do agree with the naming of this chapter, as it focuses closely in on the poor treatment and injustices found among the people of the thirteen colonies. The 1600’s was a time that, for these colonies, involved large amounts of tension and disagreement between the varying groups. There were arguments and battles, both physical by means of war and autocratically through refusal to authority, and many conditions only hindered the situation further. The period discussed in this chapter is said to be a time of great poverty, strain between classes, and an early sight of going against authority; these unfortunate conditions are part of the reasons that so many people acted in ‘vile’ ways. Zinn states that “It was a complex chain of oppression in Virginia”, a perfect example being the event known as Bacon’s Rebellion. Nathaniel Bacon’s actions seem to have been in favor of the poorer farmer class, when in fact Zinn discusses that Bacon was more eager to execute Native Americans than he was to improve the conditions of the men he supposedly worked to help. Zinn does no more in this chapter than reveal the truth so many work somewhat hard to avoid: humans are not always kind by nature, and history often ignores their injustices to better focus on their achievements. He says that over time many battles broke out after one group would attack another and back and forth; while the Native Americans were by far a largely mistreated group, they were still aggressive and acted in unfriendly ways. Zinn’s wording and choice of chapter title easily gives the reader a true, pinpointed name for the personalities found in the thirteen colonies at this period of time.
ReplyDelete-Allie
Howard Zinn title “Persons of a mean and vile condition” is a proper title because it talks about the corrupt people and poverty in the colonies. Zinn talks about Bacon's Rebellion, slave rebellions, Thomas Hutchinson, Servants, people in poverty, free workers, and the aristocrats that control some of the major cities. Many people came to the new world thinking they did not have to work, because of this people became poor and dependent on one another. As some people strived and others did not, the gap between rich and poor grew immensely and riots started to break out. Also churches asked the council for money because of the “cries” of poor. A couple of examples are the early strikes of coopers, butchers, bakers, protesting against government control of the fees they charged and in 1650s porters in New York refused to carry salt, and carters . A rebellion led by slaves was started by one man; Nathaniel Bacon, he set Jamestown on fire and forced the governor William Berkeley to flee the city. Once the rebellion ended, with the death of Bacon, many other slaves started to rebel. I agree with this title because he shows insight of the corrupt and vile conditions of the people in the colonies. Another title for this chapter could be “Corruption and poverty in the colonies."
ReplyDeleteZinn chose the title “Persons of a mean and vile condition” for chapter 3 for many reasons. During this time, the lower classes in the colonies experienced terrible conditions. The lower class did not hold powerful positions in the government because the wealthy and elite colonist had more power. The lower class also dealt with poor living conditions and starvation, where some even died. Zinn’s title is appropriate because it represents the hardship and terrible conditions the poor colonist endured. An alternative title for this chapter could be “Poor plunging to lower levels as the wealthy rise to new heights,” because the poor became more destitute as the wealthy became richer. This caused a larger gap to form between the two social classes in the colonies, which began to expand as time went on.
ReplyDelete-Elisa Santelia
The title of this chapter of Zinn wa titled "Persons of a Mean and Vile condition". The name of this chapter bookmarks the traits of the people involved in and the acts that were part of the rebelliom. When Zinn says vile conditons, he means if you not in the right financial situation you can be brutally whipped. He means if you do not have the kind of money a small minortiy does, you can be dragged away from home and shipped out of the country. The wealthy people COULD and DID take control of the gap between classes. They were the people in charge associating with the government and they took advantage of that. When we talk about this title, it was a combination between acts and people. Poverty, corruption, harm. The people who were leading these rebellions are the vulgar people. The knew how to manipulate and be persuasive, so they were. The most disturbing fact about this to me was how originally, everyone who came to the new world was poor. That is WHY they went. The rich stayed in Europe. They all knew what it was like to be poor, but they eventually found wealth.They knew what it was like and still became so greedy and harmful. That is why an alternate title could be "greed and corruption in the colonies".
ReplyDelete-Julia Coash