Why Did Paul Johnson Use Early American Settlements?
Public schools in America give students the day off for Columbus Day, but most people have no idea who it is they are celebrating. Historians have continuously portrayed Christopher Columbus as a great seafaring and heroic captain that discovered America, ignoring the genocide he started in the Americas. Believing they are doing good by the people, historians like Paul Johnson do not delve into the brutal ventures of famed figures in history when regarding America. Other historians, like Howard Zinn, are writing to tell history from sides otherwise overlooked with complete wholeness on the subject. No matter how many horrid crimes theses conquerors, explorers, founders and so on did, greater things came out of the ashes of those crimes and
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Johnson does not ignore the messy parts of history, but he skims over them without breaking the surface. He reports that “50,000 African slaves had been imported into Sāo Tomé alone, which likewise became a slave entrepot. These profitable activities were conducted, under the aegis of the Portuguese crown,” yet he skims the topic (Johnson 5). In his writings, Johnson acknowledges that the slave trade is horrible and cruel, but he does not elaborate into these. By only acknowledging crimes like these, it is a choice that historians make to put emphasis on victories instead of the disgusting means famed conquerors and prestigious countries used to advance themselves. With the annihilation of the Arawaks, came the wave of European and eventual English settlement. The foundation of dead bodies that early America was built upon allowed a great power to rise up. As immaculate as the United States can be, its glories do not forgive the atrocities the pursuit of American advancement left behind. A long-lasting and powerful country, it is easy to argue that while what happened was horrible, what has risen from the ashes of natives makes better for its past. Paul Johnson admits himself that “such grievous wrongs must be balanced by the erection of a society dedicated to justice and fairness” (Johnson 4). America today holds a strict legal system, attempting to enforce moral and ethical codes as a way to avoid such wrongs. Johnson will address the inhumanities committed by powerful figures, but by using others words, “with all cruel inhumanity … they subdued a naked and yielding people, whom they sought for gain… against the course of all human nature did scorch and roast them to death,” a quote by an Elizabethan observer (Johnson 8). In this, Johnson admits that these crimes were
Johnson does not ignore the messy parts of history, but he skims over them without breaking the surface. He reports that “50,000 African slaves had been imported into Sāo Tomé alone, which likewise became a slave entrepot. These profitable activities were conducted, under the aegis of the Portuguese crown,” yet he skims the topic (Johnson 5). In his writings, Johnson acknowledges that the slave trade is horrible and cruel, but he does not elaborate into these. By only acknowledging crimes like these, it is a choice that historians make to put emphasis on victories instead of the disgusting means famed conquerors and prestigious countries used to advance themselves. With the annihilation of the Arawaks, came the wave of European and eventual English settlement. The foundation of dead bodies that early America was built upon allowed a great power to rise up. As immaculate as the United States can be, its glories do not forgive the atrocities the pursuit of American advancement left behind. A long-lasting and powerful country, it is easy to argue that while what happened was horrible, what has risen from the ashes of natives makes better for its past. Paul Johnson admits himself that “such grievous wrongs must be balanced by the erection of a society dedicated to justice and fairness” (Johnson 4). America today holds a strict legal system, attempting to enforce moral and ethical codes as a way to avoid such wrongs. Johnson will address the inhumanities committed by powerful figures, but by using others words, “with all cruel inhumanity … they subdued a naked and yielding people, whom they sought for gain… against the course of all human nature did scorch and roast them to death,” a quote by an Elizabethan observer (Johnson 8). In this, Johnson admits that these crimes were