While reading the first few chapters I became interested in a part of American history that isn't taught that extensively in any public school system (why is this?) or in any general American history class in college: the early years of European/Native American contact. There are many questions to be asked about this subject but I will ask just a few. 1) What factors contributed to the differences in Native American reactions to contact with the Europeans? Each tribe seemed to react differently, so I assume there must be a reason for this. 2) In the early years of exploration, why did Europeans focus more in the Caribbean islands and Mexico more than what would become the U.S.? 3) William Penn seemed to have a very good approach for dealing with the Native Americans. Why did other settlers not use this effective approach?
Another interesting topic is that of expansion. The U.S. expanded very quickly and with a fair amount of ease, it seems like. In just over 100 years, this country went from 13 little states to stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific. That's incredible, if you ask me. There are definitely some questions to be asked about this subject 1) Did quick expansion help lead to the Civil War? 2) Was it the foreign policies of the early 1800s, specifically in Mexico, that helped to split North and South? 3) Why did politicians and propagandists coin the term "manifest destiny" even though most of the population didn't believe in it? 4) Was is good domestic policy to limit where Native Americans could live, or did this policy create more problems than it "solved?"
