Major themes in historical analysis: race, class, and gender

Historians discuss major themes dealing vast variety materials events encounter studying history.Three themes

Colonial Life Factors

Race, class and gender were highly important factors during colonial life in the country that would become the United States of America. In many ways, the very founding of this country was all about these three separate themes that became increasingly difficult to distinguish from one another once colonial life truly began in earnest. For instance, one can sufficiently argue that class was one of the primary reasons that colonists first came to America -- for the purposes of religious freedom (since religion can be considered a type of class) as well as for economic prosperity. Many colonists initially came to the country as indentured servants who were looking to find a better monetary existence for themselves.

This principle can be demonstrated most effectively by examining literature from and pertaining to Bacon's Rebellion. Essentially, this rebellion was an attempt for poor colonists to rally against the wealthy landowners in an attempt to procure land and increased rights against Indians, for themselves. At the heart of this rebellion, in which Bacon and a mob consisting of former indentured servants destroyed property in Virginia including substantial acres of plantation land, was the simple fact that these poor people wanted a means -- via their own land that was being inhabited (unfairly, so they thought) by Native Americans -- to earn a living and improve their lot (Bacon 1893). The historical significance of this rebellion, of course, is that due to this class struggle, the colonialists increasingly preferred slavery as their form of labor (Gisolfi 2004). This preference would greatly shape the nation to come.

Furthermore, class has played a highly substantial role in the history of and the foundation of this country. One need only look to the example set by Eliza Lucas Pinckney, who was one of the first women of note to operate a plantation and, in fact, was forced to run three of them after her father died during her teenage years. The historical effect produced by these unusual circumstances (particularly for this epoch in American history, which took place in the early to mid-part of the 18th century, is that Pinckney was largely credited with introducing a new crop, indigo, that would prove to be particularly profitable and of use to the textile industry. Moreover, Pinckney's business savvy and innovations in plantation life would prove to be a precursor to the women's liberation movement that would ensue in the following decades (Berkins et al. 2005, p 87). In many ways, the notion that women are equal to if not superior to men in many respects can be traced back to this young woman's contributions to colonial life, which demonstrates that gender was a significant factor during this time period.