Chapter 2

  I've always had a fascination with the Renaissance period, and when they mentioned it in the chapter, I was intrigued to find out that even though the Renaissance period was the most artistic time, there was a lot of economic tensions. It was hard for people, especially peasants to keep up with taxes and they were the ones that were getting taxed the most. It's hard to believe that European kingdom would charge their lowest class to keep the economy going. Later, we find out that it actually benefit Europe in the long run, with Europe's population increasing by double and having less people compete for jobs.
 The other interesting part of the chapter is the African Slave Trade that was also brought in class. I was familiar with some of the passages of how traumatic the journey and the labor was for slaves, but it wasn't until we discussed it in class where you explained how dehumanizing it was for them. How life would only get harder for them once they left their native homeland.
  Another interesting fact that I didn't know is that the Spaniards tried to prevent any other nations from taking over the new land for they wanted to conquer most of America and kill off the Native Americans. Learning people's motives for coming to America, and their reason for leaving their homeland for new opportunity shows me that the American Dream has been established since the beginning. The dream for new hopes, dreams, and goals.