1. Zinn's purpose in writing A People's History of the United States is to write about American history from the point of view of the people, and not the rich or the men who made the decisions, but the people who lived those decisions and whose lives they were wanted. Its purpose is not to make the people who were in charge look bad, but to see what they did from all perspectives.2. Zinn's thesis for pages 1 through 11 is to tell Columbus's arrival as it actually happened from the Indians' point of view. He doesn't try to hide the things Columbus and other Europeans did to the Indians and talks about how the Indians were not as inferior as the Europeans thought they were. In traditional history books Columbus is often described as the hero who discovered a new land. These books do not mention the Indian massacres that occurred, and if they do, they only say so briefly and focus on all the positive aspects of Columbus. Zinn disputes Kissinger's claim because in Kissinger's book he discusses how, from the perspective of the leaders of nineteenth century Europe, everything was peaceful, but he ignores the working class and those who suffered because of the decisions made by these leaders . Kissinger claims that “peace” was re-established in Europe, but for the lower classes everything was far from peaceful.5. Columbus initially oppressed the indigenous populations because he was under the impression that they knew where the gold was and by capturing them they would eventually take it to where it was. After discovering that there was not as much gold as they thought, Columbus began forcibly bringing Indians back as slaves to Spain to make up for the lack of gold. Powhatan said, “Because… middle of paper… the Rican Revolution.” He says this because the rich people who had led the revolt had become even richer and the poor class had remained mostly poor. Everyone remained in their social classes and no new ones were created.6. The Indians had been ignored in the Declaration of Independence, they had not been considered equal, certainly not in choosing who would govern the American territories in which they lived, nor in being able to pursue happiness as they did before the arrival of the Europeans. But without the British in command, the Americans were free to drive the Indians off their lands and kill them if they resisted. Before the Revolution, the Indians had established a coexistence with the colonies, but with the rapid growth of the colonial population after the war, the pressure to move westward for new lands was causing conflicts with the Indians..