A People’s History We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank...

A People’s History: We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God, Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom amp; The Other Civil War Chapter eight discusses the Mexican-American War. Zinn argues that while some people have represented the war as a popular cause, the truth was fairly different. He mentions that President James Polk pushed an expansionist agenda to excuse his conquest of Mà ©xico, and the press supported his actions by lying about the conflict and popular response to it. Zinn argues that soldiers and the public did not like the invasion of Mà ©xico at all. Thousands of soldiers died from disease and desertion. Zinn’s main argument is that the invasion of Mà ©xico was labeled as a defensive action to gain†¦show more content†¦Zinn argues that the U.S. government supported slavery because it was profitable, and when freedom came, it came via organized war rather than rebellion for similar reasons. If slaves had been allowed to rebel, Zinn argues the rebellion might have spread to a generalized class movement. Zinn describes many slave rebellions, abolition movements, the civil war, and also the consequences of these actions on the African American people. Zinn describes the fear that some slaves caused by starting uprisings and rebellions. For example Nat Turners Rebellion where â€Å"Turner, claiming religious visions, gathered about seventy slaves, who went on a rampage from plantation to plantation, murdering at least fifty-five men, women, and children. They gathered supporters, but were captured as their ammunition ran out. Turner and perhaps eighteen others were hanged.† Zinn also talks about the feeling of many of the slaves as they are taken from their families and never seen again. Slavery had destroyed African-American families. At this time many of the Southern slaves were trying to escape to the Union, which brought about the Fugitive Slave Act. â€Å"The Act made it easy for slave owners to recapture ex-slaves or simply to pick up blacks they claimed had run away.† Even after it became illegal to ship slaves to America the slave trade continued. Many people give Abraham Lincoln a lot of credit for freeing the slaves, but inShow MoreRelatedOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesBrier, and Roy Rosenzweig Also in this series: Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, eds., Oral History and Public Memories Tiffany Ruby Patterson, Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life Lisa M. Fine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture in Recent America Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., History and September 11th John McMillian and Paul Buhle, eds., The New Left Revisited David M