King Philips War

Unlike their Spanish and French counterparts, the New England colonists did not interact with or form good relations with their Native neighbors. They refused to intermarry, and regarded the American Indians as devil worshipping heathens. William Bradford wrote “(God) Who had wrought so wonderfully for them, thus to enclose their enemies into their hands, and give them so speedy a victory over so proud, insulting, and blasphemous an enemy.” (Doc D). Written just after the colonists attack on the Praying town of Mystic, Bradford glorifies the murder of the Pequot Natives, despite the fact that they were trying to convert to Christianity. His words reflect the Puritan belief that the Natives were inherently enemies of god, and could have no standing within their society. This common and bigoted belief created a wedge between the New England colonists and the Natives that lead to additional conflicts, such as Powhatans war. Ultimately, Puritan faith and the value placed on education greatly impacted the social structure of the New England

The Pequot war was a bloody conflict that demonstrated the hatred and distrust between the the Puritans and the Pequot Tribe. Both sides were deeply suspicious of each other” (10). The Puritans viewed the Native Americans as “godless savages” (19) while the Native Americans viewed the Puritans as invaders. Rather than trying to coexist, the English firmly believed “there would be no assimilation of Indian culture” (24) which lead to even more tensions that eventually manifested in the form of the Pequot war.

The New England colonies developed rapidly, largely due to the influence of the Puritans. The Puritans came to the new world seeking religious freedom and helped found most of the colonies in the New England region. The Puritans wanted a United government that will later become the basis for the Unites States, they believed that the overall well being of the people was more important than the well being of the few, and the Puritans believed that religion, church, and community were important aspects of the people’s lives. The Puritans’ religion allowed them to prosper in the political, economical, and social development of the New England Colonies in the 1630-1660’s.

May 26, 1637 was a fateful day in the history of America. The actions of Major John Mason and his Puritan men set a precedent for the next two hundred years of European and Indian relations. On that clear May night near the Mystic River of New England, hundreds of Pequot Indians were killed by the Europeans and their allies, most of the victims being the elderly, women, and children. This massacre was a massive turning point in the Pequot War, effectively ruining the tribe. Already weakened by disease and by competing native tribes, the Pequot were quickly routed and by September 21, 1638 the war ended with the Treaty of Hartford. The treaty

The Pequot War is a classic example of the tension that existed between the Indians and the colonists in early America. Zinn chooses to illustrate the Indians as completely innocent and harmless, placing the blame on the Europeans, while Foner illustrates the Pequots as Indians capable of holding their own. According to Howard Zinn, the Pequot War was caused by the “murder of a white trader, Indian-kidnapper, and troublemaker became an excuse to make war” (Zinn 14). Zinn’s bias is clear when he claims that this murder was an excuse, which makes it seem as though the Puritans couldn’t wait to murder a bunch of Pequots. This contributes towards making the Puritans look greedy and selfish. Foner, on the other hand, claims that “the turning point came in 1637 when a fur trader was killed by Pequots- a powerful tribe who controlled southern New England’s fur trade and exacted tribute from other Indians” (Foner 78).

The relationship between the English and the Native Americans in 1600 to 1700 is one of the most fluctuating and the most profound relationships in American history. On the one side of the picture, the harmony between Wampanoag and Puritans even inspires them to celebrate “first Thanksgiving”; while, by contrast, the conflicts between the Pequots and the English urge them to antagonize each other, and even wage a war. In addition, the mystery of why the European settlers, including English, become the dominant power in American world, instead of the indigenous people, or Indians, can be solved from the examination of the relationship. In a variety of ways, the relationship drastically alters how people think about and relate to the aborigines. Politically, the relationship changes to establish the supremacy of the English; the English intends to obtain the land and rules over it. Socially, the relationship changes to present the majority of the English settlers; the dominating population is mostly the English settlers. Economically, the relationship changes to obtain the benefit of the English settlers; they gain profit from the massive resource in America. Therefore, the relationship does, in fact, change to foreshadow the discordance of the two groups of people.

A few years before the tragedy, the two sons of Massasoit, a Wampanoag chief, were given English names. Metacomet's brother Wamsutta had his name changed to Alexander, and Metacomet's was changed to Philip which soon was recognized as King Philip to the English people. When their father passed away, they both shared the power. Unfortunately, Alexander died suddenly after being arrested by the English due to their suspicions about the chief having plans for a war against the colonists. As a result, King Philip

Metacom’s father, Massasoit, was a grand sachem of the Wampanoag, who stressed the importance of a peaceful relationship between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims. After meeting with the colonists at Plymouth, Massasoit was sure that the English would be excellent trading partners, resulting in peace accords. The English and Indians traded, and the Indians also taught the English how to

Butler, J. (2007). . In New Worl Faiths: Religion in Colonial America. [ebrary book]. Retrieved from http://lrps>wgu.edu/provision/17908228

In 1675, the Algonquian Indians rose up in fury against the Puritan Colonists, sparking a violent conflict that engulfed all of Southern New England. From this conflict ensued the most merciless and blood stricken war in American history, tearing flesh from the Puritan doctrine, revealing deep down the bright and incisive fact that anger and violence brings man to a Godless level when faced with the threat of pain and total destruction. In the summer of 1676, as the violence dispersed and a clearing between the hatred and torment was visible, thousands were dead.(Lepore xxi) Indian and English men, women, and children, along with many of the young villages of New England were no more; casualties of a conflict that

The social interactions that the New England and Chesapeake colonies had between Indians and their own people were very different due to alternate motives. Documents A and H each show the steps taken in order to achieve social unity. It is obvious that the two colonies didn’t have the best relationship with the Indians, but both colonies had different approaches when it came to mending relationships. Bacon’s Rebellion was a revolt against Governor Berkeley of Virginia in 1676 that started due to Berkeley's resistance of not fighting against the Indians because of the fur trade. This showed that the Chesapeake colony would rather take a better economy as opposed to stable social interactions,

In 1607, when English settlers arrived in North America, over ten thousand Native Americans were already inhabiting Virginia. English leader, John Smith, negotiated trade terms with the Indian leader Powhatan. Powhatan was only interested in trade involving weapons, but John Smith denied any weapons on account that there was none to spare. Powhatan the denied there was any corn to spare that the English wanted. The intentions for the trade brought about many questions from both parties. Powhatan questioned Smith as to why they would need all the weapons if they had come there “all being friends;” whereas Smith was wary of Powhatan and his deep interest in their swords (Foner, VOF, Document 7). This encounter between John Smith and Powhatan displays one of the many instances of conflict between European settlers and Native Americans.

Although white European settlers and the native Indians had existed moderately peaceful for around 40 years pressures rose in the mid-seventh century. Conflict arose due to decline in Indian territories, population, and their cultural integrity. These differences ultimately lead to conflicts in which collectively became known as King Philip’s War. What types of complaints did the Indians have against the settlers? How were the Indians expected to survive if the settlers kept taking their land? The primary sources in this collection of source documents touch upon on what each group (Indian or white settlers) did to survive: an excerpt from a narrative written by John Easton, a second hand account written by Thomas Church, a report written to the English leaders by Edward Randolph, a petition written by an Indian named William Nahton, and an excerpt of an account from a book written by Mary Rowlandson. These documents illustrate the main causes that sparked the war between the Native Indians and the white English settlers, narratives written by both sides to find peaceful solutions, and actual accounts of people who survived the conflict. The second hand account written about Benjamin Church’s meeting with the Indian group known as the Sakonnet Indians displays that the Indians knew their only chance of survival was to fight while the report written to English leaders by Randolph suggest that the settlers who viewed the Indians as uncivilized had ultimately forced the Indians

The Indian-White relationship had long been breaking down, due to a developing question between the pioneers and the Indians. One of the reasons of this doubt was that the pilgrims were exploiting the positive attitude of the Indians. The King Phillip's war was a contention between the Native Americans and the pilgrims. This contention was the aftereffect of numerous abuses toward the Indians executed by the homesteader. The King Phillip's war was an advocated war. Numerous elements added to the flare-up of this war, for instance numerous Indians felt that they did great to the pioneers and that the settlers were the first doing incorrectly. Another variable was that Englishmen were exploiting the Indians when arranging land; the pioneers were

Lepore’s chief criticism of the story was that Philbrick based his account of King Philip’s War solely on Benjamin Church’s unreliable narrative. She called his narrative unreliable because Church’s son wrote it well after the war. However, I believe that although Philbrick used Church as a major source, there were several other sources he used to gather information.