Simply judging from the introduction I think I'm going to like this section better than the last one. I found it to be informative as to the history that was happening at the time. A few things that I thought were particularly interesting and/or odd:
1. The transatlantic trade routes created "the worlds's first multiethnic working class" (152). This was interesting to me since I am a sociology major, in addition to English, and have done quite of bit of study regarding socio-economic class structure. I would like to study the effects of the transatlantic trading more and see what kind of structure they had then that is still with us today.
2. Even this early in "American" history (as far as I can glean from the book, between 1713 and 1750) the colonists had a sense that slavery was unjust and un-Christian (152). So why did it take so long for there to be an outcry against slavery? Uncle Tom's Cabin, the book which supposedly caused the Civil War, wasn't written until 1852.
3. Human sympathy and sentiment was one of the causes of the Enlightenment? When I think of the Enlightenment period this is not on the forefront of my mind. Science, philosophy, mathematics, etc. But not sentiment.
There is also the couplet by Alexander Pope that resonated with me.
Know then thyself, presume not God to scan,
The proper study of mankind is man.
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