Chapter 1: Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress I chose this chapter because it gives the reader a bigger understanding of what happened when Columbus arrived, and how the Native Americans treated their arrival.
"When Columbus and his sailors came ashore, carrying swords, speaking oddly, the Arawaks ran to greet them, brought them food, water, gifts."
"Columbus wrote, 'As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts.'"
"...When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone..."
"Sails furled, flag drooping at the rounded stern, she rode the tide in from the sea. She was a strange ship."
"Everything in the experience of the first white settlers acted as a pressure for the enslavement of blacks."
"Black slaves were the answer. And it was a natural to consider imported blacks as slaves, even if the institution of slavery would not be regularized and legalized for several decades.