to help pay for their defense. It chose to do that by levying taxes on the colonies and by attempting to enforce more strictly the trade laws that would increase British profits from American resources.
French and Indian War a war fought between France and England, and allied Indians, from 1754 to 1763; resulted in France’s expulsion from the New World
The series of acts passed by the British infuriated the colonists. The Sugar Act of 1764, which imposed customs taxes, or duties, on sugar, was seen as unfair and unduly burdensome in a depressed postwar economy, and the Stamp Act of 1765 incited protests and demonstrations throughout the colonies. Similar to a tax in effect in Great Britain for nearly a century, it required that a tax be paid, in scarce British currency, on every piece of printed matter in the colonies, including newspapers, legal documents, and even playing cards. The colonists claimed that the law was an infringement on their liberty and a violation of their right not to be taxed without their consent. Continued protests and political changes in England resulted in the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766. The Townshend Acts of 1767, taxing goods imported from England, such as paper, glass, and tea, and the Tea Act of 1773 were seen by the colonists as intolerable violations of their rights. To show their displeasure, they hurled 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor in the famous Boston Tea Party. Britain responded by passing the Coercive Acts of 1774, designed to punish the citizens of Massachusetts. In the process, Parliament sowed the seeds that would blossom into revolution in just a few years.
Don’t Be Fooled by . . . Your Textbook
Consider these two narratives describing the same familiar event: Christopher Columbus’s arrival in the Americas.1
From a 1947 textbook:
At last the rulers of Spain gave Columbus three small ships, and he sailed away to the west across the Atlantic Ocean. His sailors became frightened. They were sure the ships would come to the edge of the world and just fall off into space. The sailors were ready to throw their captain into the ocean and turn around and go back. Then, at last they all saw the land ahead. They saw low green shores with tall palm trees swaying in the wind. Columbus had found the New World. This happened on October 12, 1492. It was a great day for Christopher Columbus—and for the whole world as well.
And from a 1991 text:
When Columbus stepped ashore on Guanahani Island in October 1492, he planted the Spanish flag in the sand and claimed the land as a possession of Ferdinand and Isabella. He did so despite the obvious fact that the island already belonged to someone else—the “Indians” who gathered on the beach to gaze with wonder at the strangers who had suddenly arrived in three great, white-winged canoes. He gave no thought to the rights of the local inhabitants. Nearly every later explorer—French, English, Dutch and all the others as well as the Spanish—thoughtlessly dismissed the people they encountered. What we like to think of as the discovery of America was actually the invasion and conquest of America.
Which one of these passages is “true”? The first was the conventional textbook wisdom through the 1960s in America. The latter reflects a growing criticism that traditional American history has been told from the perspective of history’s “winners,” largely white males of European background. Together they show that history varies depending on who is doing the telling, when, and to whom. What this means to you is that the critical vigilance we urge you to apply to all information should be applied to your textbooks as well. And, yes, that means this textbook, too. In an age of mediated citizenship, you really have your work cut out for you.
There is some truth to the idea that history is written by the winners, but it is also true that the winners change over time. If history was once securely in the hands of white European males, it is now the battleground of a cultural war between those who believe the old way of telling history was accurate and those who believe it left out the considerable achievements of women and minorities and masked some of the less admirable episodes of our past.2
Bias is not reserved for history books; this textbook itself has a point of view. In these pages we have an interest in highlighting power and citizenship, in focusing on the impact of the rules in American politics, and in multiculturalism. We do not think that the outstanding political accomplishments of the traditional heroes of American history warrant ignoring the contributions of people who have not historically been powerful.
The fact that all textbooks have some sort of bias means you must be as careful in what you accept from textbook authors as you are in what you accept from any other source.
What To Watch Out For
Who selected the book? Textbooks are chosen by instructors, not the end users. Publishers have tailored the content to appeal to those making the selection. How does the politics of those individuals affect what you have been given to read?
The book’s audience. If it is a big, colorful book, it is probably aimed at a wide market. If so, what might that say about its content? If it is a smaller book with a narrower focus, who is it trying to appeal to?
The author’s point of view. Does he or she promote particular values or ideas? Are any points of view left out? Do the authors make an effort to cover both sides of an issue or a controversy? If something troubles you, locate the primary source the authors refer to in the footnotes and read it yourself.
Your own reactions. Did the book cause you to look at a subject in a new way? What is the source of your reaction? Is it intellectual or emotional?
1. These two passages accompanied Sam Dillon, “Schools Growing Harsher in Scrutiny of Columbus,” New York Times, October 12, 1992, 4, www.nytimes.com/1992/10/12/us/schools-growing-harsher-in-scrutiny-of-columbus.html. The first paragraph is from Merlin M. Ames, My Country (Sacramento: California State Department of Education, 1947); the second is from John A. Garraty, The Story of America (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991).
2. Frances Fitzgerald, America Revised (New York: Vintage Books, 1979); James McKinley Jr., “Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change,” New York Times, March 12, 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html; Laura Moser, “Texas Is Debuting Textbooks That Downplay Jim Crow and Frame Slavery as a Side Issue in the Civil War,” Slate, July 7, 2015, www.slate.com/blogs/schooled/2015/07/07/texas_textbook_revisionism_new_textbooks_in_the_lone_star_state_downplay.html.
Revolution
From the moment the unpopularly taxed tea plunged into Boston Harbor, it became apparent that Americans were not going to settle down and behave like proper and orthodox colonists. Britain was surprised by the colonial reaction, and it could not ignore it. Even before the Boston Tea Party, mobs in many towns were demonstrating and rioting against British control. Calling themselves the Sons of Liberty, and under the guidance of the eccentric and unsteady Sam Adams, cousin of future president John Adams, they routinely caused extensive damage. In early 1770 they provoked the Boston Massacre, an attack by British soldiers that left six civilians dead and further inflamed popular sentiments.
By the time of the December 1773 Boston Tea Party, also incited by the Sons of Liberty, passions were at a fever pitch. The American patriots called a meeting in Philadelphia in September 1774. Known as the First Continental Congress, the meeting declared the Coercive Acts void, announced a plan to stop trade with England, and called for a second meeting in May 1775. Before they could meet again, in the early spring of 1775, the king’s army went marching to arrest Sam Adams and another patriot, John Hancock, and to discover the hiding place of the colonists’ weapons. Roused by the silversmith Paul Revere, Americans in Lexington and Concord fired the first shots of rebellion at the British,