Historically, Americans have not been told the truth of European expansionism to the New World. Most Americans have learned only the beneficial aspects of the nation's heritage rather than the realities. Cristobal Colon (Columbus) landed on Santo Domingo in the New World in 1492 in search of precious metals, and they also brought with them deadly European diseases. He returned to Spain with as many as 25 Arawak whom he had kidnapped.

For Columbus' second voyage in 1493, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella furnished him with 17 ships, 1,500 men, cannons, crossbows and guns, and attack dogs. When he did not find gold fields, on Santo Domingo, he sailed to Cicao on Haiti where he treated the Arawaks mercilessly. Columbus' people demanded food, spun cotton, and gold. When the Arawaks refused to cooperate, Columbus punished them. A minor offense resulted in losing one's tongue or nose. At first, the Arawaks acted passively, refusing to plant food for the Europeans. Then they began abandoning their towns near Columbus' settlements and started fighting back with sticks and stones which were no match for the Spaniards' guns.

Columbus used the Arawaks attempts at resistance as a pretense for war. In March 1495 the Spaniards set out to conquer the natives. His men captured 1,500 Arawak men, women, and children. They were placed in pens guarded by Spaniards and dogs, and then 500 of the more healthy looking native Americans were loaded onto ships -- but 200 died. Since so many had died in captivity, Columbus was desperate to find another way to compensate Europeans who had invested in his venture.

The Spaniards ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Those without tokens had their hands cut off, and they bled to death. In addition the newly-arrived imperialists took the Arawaks' food as well as their manioc. In two years half of the 250,000 native Americans on Haiti either were murdered by Columbus' men or they committed suicide. Thousands of natives were slaughtered or made slaves of by the European colonizers. Within five years there were two epidemics and a famine. By 1500 most of the political structure of the aborigines had disintegrated.

Slave trade slowly led to the decline of the Arawaks. When the enslaved natives gradually began to die, the Spanish imported tens of thousands more native Americans from the Bahamas. Then Columbus' men landed in Cuba and Puerto Rico where they captured more indigenous natives. Because of the rising death toll, slave trade expanded across the Atlantic Ocean to Africa. Slave trade in Haiti sprung up in 1505 under Columbus' son. Fourteen years later, the first slave uprising in the New World occurred. African Blacks and native Americans linked together waged a large scale revolt which lasted until 1530.

Before Columbus arrived in Haiti, the island's population was approximately eight million. When Columbus returned for good to Spain in 1496, he placed his brother, Bartholomew in charge. That year, a census of adults -- all those over 14 years of age -- indicated that only 1.1 million Arawaks populated the island. According to Spanish records, by 1514 the number had dwindled to a mere 28,000. By 1516, statistics showed that 12,000 natives remained. By 1542, only 200 existed, and by 1555 they were extinct.

Besides the cruelty and genocide carried out against the Arawaks, the colonizers disrupted the ecosystem and culture of the indigenous natives. Forced to work in mines rather than in the fields, the Arawaks encountered widespread malnutrition. Diseases were introduced by the Spaniards, although smallpox did not reach the New World until 1516. Some of the natives fled to Cuba, but they were followed by Columbus' men.

These documented events obviously did not square with the various stories which most Americans learn. One scenario is that the white European colonizers arrived in a fertile but empty land. Seeing nobody around, they laid claim to God's country. After enduring countless hardships, they managed to eventually settle down. They lived happily ever after. In another scenario the colonists were attacked by belligerent and ignorant savages who carried out atrocious acts. In self-defense, the brave and outnumbered whites were able to defeat the savages and to establish a civilized society.

For over a century, the British ruled the American colonists with an iron hand. Most of the 13 colonies were unable to break the grip of royal autonomy and remained subjugated to the mother country. Politically the royal colonies were at the mercy of the crown. Economically the philosophy of mercantilism hovered over the Americans, as the British dictated to them what commodities they could sell and what prices they could request.

After the French and Indian War in 1763, the British presence became more conspicuous. The crown placed 10,000 Redcoats in New England and required them to be quartered in the homes of the colonists. Various taxes were levied as a source of revenue for paying for the cost of the war. Politically, the voices of the colonists calling for "taxation with representation" were unheard. By the mid-1770s, America found itself on the eve of revolution.

The two centuries following American independence witnessed a large magnitude of tortures and massacres, as well as the relocation of hundreds of thousands of native Americans by the United States government. By the turn of the nineteenth century, the United States wasted no time expanding internally westward. First, the United States acquired the Louisiana territory unconstitutionally when President Thomas Jefferson ignored the Senate which was required to ratify the treaty with France. With the acquisition of Louisiana came the extermination of tens of thousands of native Americans and the eviction of others to areas beyond the Mississippi River. Under the Presidency of Andrew Jackson, the Cherokees were ordered to evacuate their reservations where gold had been discovered. They were forced to march westward in what became known as the "Trail of Tears" despite the fact that the Supreme Court had ruled in their favor.

Spanish Florida was acquired in 1819, and six years later President James Monroe declared the entire Western Hemisphere off limits to European nations. In 1823 Stephen Austin led 300 families into Mexico's Texas territory, and twenty years later it was annexed by the United States. With the election of James Polk in 1844, American hegemony to the Pacific was completed. Manifest destiny, the belief that it was God's will to expand, was used to justify the Mexican War. The United States stole over half of Mexico's territory as well as acquiring Oregon from the British.

Two decades later the nation was swept into civil war over the economic and moral issue of slavery. After having profited by slavery since 1619 and particularly since the invention of Eli Whitney's cotton gin in 1793, the wealthy Southern planters were forced to emancipate their slaves. Although blacks became American citizens three years after the Civil War ended as a result of the Fourteenth Amendment, they continued to live under oppression.

At this time Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto, written in 1848, became conveniently used by the conservative American media and government. The establishment began to speak of the dangers of anarchism, communism, and socialism. After the Civil War newspapers hailed Ulysses S. Grant as a foe of "communism, lawlessness, and disorder." Capitalism was referred to as "free enterprise" and was characterized as a system espoused by only true Americans, while communism and socialism were portrayed as an alien virus which was infecting the United States.

After the Civil War a revolution swept across the north. The Industrial Revolution would soon usher in two distinct classes of people -- the owners and the workers -- and the gulf between the two quickly widened. The robber barons -- entrepreneurs like Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, and Andrew Carnegie -- quickly swallowed up smaller capitalists. Vanderbilt exploited the small business person by monopolizing several railroads and steamship lines. Rockefeller cornered 95 percent of the petroleum market by perfecting his system of "horizontal integration," consolidating with competitors to monopolize the oil industry in his Standard Oil Company. Morgan's bankers' banks gained him the influence to be appointed to dozens of boards of directors, which became known as interlocking directorates. In 1901 Morgan's United States Steel Corporation became the nation's billion dollar industry. Finally, Carnegie became the kingpin among steel magnates, monopolizing 25 percent of the steel market by the turn of the century.

Workers swiftly attempted to seek solace in labor unions, but the National Labor Union and the Knights of Labor were torn apart by the giant capitalists. Finally in the 1880s, the American Federation of Labor gained a foothold, but most strikes were promptly put down by the owners. Workers toiled six days a week at 12 to 14 hours daily for a mere $15 per week. Children and women were frequently forced to work along with men under deplorable conditions. Workers were forced to sign ironclad oaths and yellow dog contracts which prevented closed shop. The government sided with the robber barons.

The courts worked hand-in-hand with the corporations. The Fourteenth Amendment was interpreted as to uphold monopolies, treating them as "people" under the equal protection clause. The Sherman Antitrust Act was used -- not to break up monopolies -- but to tear apart labor unions. The purpose of the Interstate Commerce Commission was to regulate the railroads, so they could not exploit the Western farmers, but the courts ignored its power. Additionally, religion -- the Gospel of Wealth -- was used to justify the exploitation of the working class. Only a small handful became millionaires, while the vast majority of Americans lived in poverty. The robber barons quickly turned to foreign markets. Sanford Dole soon made millions in Hawaiian pineapple and sugar. Vanderbilt, and the Boston firm of Castle and Cook, moved into Central America.

During the "Golden Twenties" the disparity between the rich and poor widened. Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon was one of the wealthiest men in the United States. The "Mellon Plan" pushed for a reduction of income taxes for the wealthiest Americans. Upper level taxes were dropped from 50 percent to 25 percent, while those of the lowest income group were cut from 4 percent to a mere 3 percent.

The "Golden Twenties" eventually faded away, and the stock market crash in October 1929 brought on the Great Depression. Due to a lack of economic controls, the gulf which separated the wealthy from the working class, continued to widen. The economy was stunned and barely moving. Small businesses were shut down, and by 1932 one in four employees was laid off. The wages of those who remained part of the work force tumbled. It was a time of deflation when Americans had little or no money. There was a surplus of food, but it was not profitable to transport or sell it. There were thousands of vacant homes available, since many fell into foreclosure. Stores were filled with clothing, but people could not afford to purchase anything. The inaction of the Republican government led to the election of the Democratic candidate, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who overwhelmingly defeated Herbert Hoover.

Beginning in 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt had to deal with these issues. The New Deal reforms went far beyond any previous legislation. America's unbridled capitalism had to be contained in order to overhaul and stabilize the economy. Hence, the alphabet soup programs of the New Deal were established: the NRA, AAA, TVA, CCC, SEC, HOLC, and SSA (Social Security Act). The government slowly brought workers back into the work force, either by direct or indirect relief programs -- by injecting socialism into the nation's economy.

The American entrance into World War II stimulated the economy and helped bring the nation out of the depression. By 1945 capitalism remained firmly intact, but the middle class was hit with a high rate of unemployment. The rich still continued to control the nation's wealth. as well as its laws and corporations. Enough help had been given to the workers to make Roosevelt a hero. Nevertheless, the system of inequality remained, as the philosophy of concern for profit over human need continued.

The United States emerged from the ashes of World War II as a superpower making it possible to carve out its own spheres of influence throughout the world. The biggest domestic gains were in corporate profits which rose from $6.4 billion in 1940 to $10.8 billion in 1944. One corporate windfall involved Dupont, Ford, and International Telephone and Telegraph. These multinational corporations owned factories in Nazi Germany during World War II and helped provide tanks, airplanes, and synthetic fuel to the Hitler regime. After World War II International Telephone and Telegraph collected $27 million from the American government for damages inflicted on its factories by Allied bombers.

With the emergence of the Cold War and McCarthyism after World War II, the media could castigate communism as well as its strongest product: the Soviet Union. The American public was told that the Red Army was mobilizing for war against Iran on one day. Another day the media reported that Turkey was about to be invaded. Still another day the Soviet's next prize would be Western Europe; then Yugoslavia; and finally Detroit. Senator Joseph McCarthy was supported by most of the American media between 1950 and 1954. He was supported for campaigning against "communists in government." However, his biggest mistake came in 1954 when he undertook an investigation of the Army loyalty-security program. It also was an attack on the Eisenhower administration.

Under the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 millions of Americans were required to sign anticommunist oaths. By 1950 thousands were investigated under the Smith Act of 1940 and by 1952, 110 people were indicted or imprisoned. In 1950 the McCarran Internal Security Act was enacted into law. This called for the registration of the "communist-front" and "communist-action groups." It also called for the construction of concentration camps for the purpose of interning suspected "subversives" with no trials. Furthermore it called upon the President or Congress to declare a "national emergency." Of the six camps built in 1952, several were maintained on a stand-by basis in the 1950s and 1960s. The attorney general and legislative groups such as the Committee on Un-American Activities frequently published names of groups which supported world peace, disarmament, racial and economic equality and stated that they were "communism's greatest weapon in the country today."

Between the 1950s and 1970s corporate profits rose at a higher rate than did workers' wages. The transportation industry was a prime example of prosperity. Throughout the country, National City Lines succeeded in decimating numerous public transportation systems. In Los Angeles in 1935 construction began on the Red Line, an electric train system, and it soon became one of the largest inter-urban rapid transit systems in the nation. It covered 75 square miles, carried 80 million people annually, and had 3,000 quiet, electric, non-polluting trains. Then National City Lines, a holding company controlled by General Motors, Firestone Tires, and Standard Oil, bought it out and began scrapping the trains and tracks. The sale of automobiles soon increased, and more people began using city busses. General Motors diesel busses with Firestone tires and fueled with Standard Oil gasoline were used. National City Lines went on to buy out more than 100 electric transportation systems in 44 other cities. Finally in 1949, the holding company was found guilty of criminal conspiracy and was fined $5,000.

The United States has been the richest nation on earth, and yet it has the greatest income disparity. During the Reagan-Bush era, the gulf between the rich and the poor continued to widen. The income of the nations's top 5 percent skyrocketed by 60 percent, while their taxes dropped by 10 percent. The income of the top 20 percent of Americans climbed 31.7 percent, and their taxes declined by 5.5 percent. In the same time frame, the middle 60 percent of American households witnessed a decline in their income by $2,000, while their taxes were raised by an average of $400. At the same time, the bottom 20 percent saw their incomes creep slightly upward by 3.2 percent, and their taxes also rose by 16.1 percent.

Additionally, the polarization of American social classes has been fueled by the increase in corporate welfare. More tax breaks and loopholes has helped bolster corporate profits. In the 1990s, 350 percent more federal money was funneled into the coffers of corporations than it was into implementing social programs for the 41 million Americans who lived below the poverty level. While corporations have been pocketing more "hand-outs" from the federal government, the number of Americans who live under the poverty level has been on the uprise. Over a three year period, 30.3 percent of the population lived below the poverty line for at least two months, while 5.3 percent stayed poor for at least two full years. In 1994, 15.4 percent of Americans lived in poverty each month, and about 22 percent or 55 million Americans were poor for at least two months. These poverty-ridden Americans are those whose income is under $13,650 for a family of three and below $16,450 for a family of four.