Voices of a People’s History

Read the first 70 pages of Voices of a People’s History, by Howard Zinc and answer the following questions.

What initial actions did the Continental Congress set forth towards Independence? What was the American strategy to win the war? What was the British strategy? What role did the Natives play in this confrontation? What was the French involvement? Why did the British lose? What were the Articles of Confederation? What were the problems with taxation for the New Republic and how did they solve them? How was citizenship define in the New Republic? Explain the causes for Shay’s rebellion. What is the difference between Democracy and Republicanism? What did the Federalists stand for? What does the Bill of Rights stand for? What are the threats to these rights? Explain the way the founding Fathers organized government and why. Explain Hamilton’s economic policies. How did the handle the debt and why? Explain the Jeffersonian vision for Government and the limits of this vision. Who was Tecumseh? What was his significance? Explain the role of women in the early republic and present examples. What was the Missouri Compromise? Why was Andrew Jackson so popular? Make sure you elaborate on his military, social, political and economic policies.
How and why Texas declared its Independence from Mexico in 1836. Why did the United States declare war on Mexico? What were the political conditions in 1846 in the United States that led to the war? Briefly explain the war’s narrative, including the US and Mexico military strategy. What was the outcome of the war? How did the United States benefit from the War? How did Mexico change after the war? Explain the Plantation Economy, including how it finance itself and the laws implemented to sustain it. What kind of culture it develop in the South? What was plantation life for Masters and Mistresses? What was plantation life for slaves? Explain the concept of Yeoman and what role did they play, alongside poor whites, in the plantation economy. How did blacks resist? Explain the wide array of ways this took place