American Colonies: The Settling of North America

“More than minor aberrations, Indian deaths and African slaves were fundamental to colonization. The historian John Murrin concludes that ‘losers far outnumbered winners’ in ‘a tragedy of such huge proportions that no one’s imagination can easily encompass it all.’” 

Early in his book, Taylor asserts that the story of the colonization of the Americas is, overall, a tragic one. While great economic, philosophical, and cultural strides were made, they came at tremendous cost to human life.

“In such exchanges and composites, we find the true measure of American distinctiveness, the true foundation for the diverse America of our time.” 

After debunking the myth of American exceptionalism, which Taylor argues is incomplete at best, he presents an alternate positive of the American experiment: a composite culture formed from the incredible diversity present in the colonies and, subsequently, the United States.

“In sum, white racial solidarity developed in close tandem with the expansion of liberty among male colonists. The greater opportunity and freedoms enjoyed by white men in the British colonies were a product of their encounter with a broader array of peoples—some of whom could be exploited in ways impossible back in Britain. Confronting that linkage has been the painful challenge faced by the American republic since 1776.” 

This quote is particularly important because Taylor draws slavery’s role in American history down through the present day. The painful legacy of slavery, he contends, must still be wrestled with now as one of the primary factors in America’s historical success.