Zinn Chapter 9

In the book A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn, chapter 9 Slavery Without Submission . Emancipation Without Freedom talked mostly of the history of how African Americans were treated as slaves, as well as after they were freed. It talked about how the slaves were torn apart and sold to different white owners. There were many revolts/riots mentioned that were started by slaves and white abolitionists. After these types of events, the chapter talked about how the blacks were more severely punished that the white people. Eventually, Abraham Lincoln was elected as president and the Civil War took place. The war started to keep five slave states apart of the country and not by the fact of abolishing slavery. Once the African Americans were freed, they were still dependent on the Southern white man for food, housing, etc. I couldn’t quite figure out the main thesis that the author was trying to get across. It just seemed like he was stating a bunch of historical facts, which was more like a history lesson to me. At the very end, Zinn make reference to Du Bois by saying that the idea of capitalism was enslaving both whites and blacks. I took this to mean that every single person back then was only looking out for what would benefit them the most and at anyone else’s expense. I was wondering exactly whether Lincoln wanted slavery ended or not because of the two of his letters in the chapter supported opposite positions. Was Lincoln just trying to get everyone to like him by taking both sides of the issue of blacks being inferior? Also, I didn’t realize that the Northern whites were looking out mostly for themselves. They wanted change in the economic system that would benefit them and not free slaves necessarily. Was the basis of the Civil War purely on the idea of money and profit between the Southern whites and the Northern whites? Overall, the chapter was interesting, but it seemed to drag out. Also, I didn’t see a clear point to the chapter other than a history lesson. I think that the chapter could have been broken down and have had more of a clear focus.