Summary Of Powhatan Genocide

Between 1492-1776, although many people moved to the “New World”, North America lost population due to the amount of Indians dying from war and diseases and the inability of colonists to replace them. John Murrin states, “losers far outnumbered winners” in “ a tragedy of such huge proportions that no one’s imagination can easily encompass it all.” This thought of a decreasing population broadens one’s perspective of history from that of an excluded American tale full of positivity to that of a more unbiased, all-encompassing analysis. The Indians and slaves have recently been noted as a more crucial part of history than previously accredited with.

The colonization of the Americas began in the year of 1492, when Christopher Columbus and his band of explorers arrived off the coast of the Bahamas. This new “discovery” for Europe would have drastic effects not only on the settlers themselves, but on the natives and their environment. It is without a doubt that the appearance of these explorers placed the Indians on a dangerous trajectory. Now, it is currently understood how the colonization of the American continent brought disease, war and ultimately death for many of the natives. Early exploration, conquest and settlement brought about new economies for the Europeans, new religious freedoms, and knowledge of the world and of exploration, producing great benefits for the colonists. Although the settlers did face risks and sometimes death during their conquest, they undoubtedly benefitted from this expansion. The Indians, however, were dealt a different hand. The culture that they had developed and the immense civilizations that had evolved were ultimately destroyed as the spread of epidemics, constant war, and brutal exploitation brought these prosperous and hospitable peoples to their knees.

This section highlights that history has created a false narrative depicting the natives as a victimized people, which they were to some extent but only in the fashion that they did not possess the same technology for warfare, immunity of communal diseases transmitted, and they were not anticipating combat. All other factors considered, the natives stood to be a potential threat. In regards to knowledge obtained by Spaniards prior to arrival and knowledge gained from observation, it would be remiss had they not prepared for battle. This argument is not to be misconstrued in approving their actions; I do recognize colonization as an evil for both the reasons employed and its damaging effects, but rather to change the narrative surrounding that of the native people. While they did experience a tragedy, I feel that it is erroneous to write them into history as being incompetent resulting from their

Nations of dependent Indians, against their will, under color of law, are driven from their homes into the wilderness. You cannot explain it; you cannot reason it away.... Our friends will view this measure with sorrow, and our enemies alone

As a rule, the Native Americans are perhaps the most overlooked sector of the population of the colonies. This war completely varied their knowledge of their land and its value. “We know our lands have now become more valuable,” (Document B). No more would they be fooled by

Prior to the Revolutionary War, the Native Americans were considered to be an essential part to learning and living on the North American landscape. However, after the relationship between the Colonists and British tensed, the Native Americans found themselves in the middle of a war that would divide the Native American people. However, during the course of the war, the Native Americans had to consider who they should fight with/for. While both sides, the British and the Colonists, professed the benefits of fighting with/for them, the Native Americans’ decision would determine the fate of many Indian generations during the course of expansion in North America. On one side, the British offered diplomacy, land, and economic expansion; on the other, the Colonists promoted freedom, equality, and the promise of land. The struggle of the tribes to decide which side to fight for would prove to be the true battle that many of them would face. However, the relationships of the Native Americans and the English people did not start with the Revolution; it began almost two-hundred years prior in the settlement of Jamestown.

Looking throughout the overwhelming events the American Revolution had on everyone involved, allows us to examine how the governments’ policies toward the Indians changed over time. It shows how the policy changes effected the Indians as well as the Americans’, their attitudes toward each other as the American’s pushed westward and the Indians resisted. Then the actions on both sides which lead up to the final removal of all Indians to west of the Mississippi in 1830’s.

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.

During the year of 1607, three ships from England came upon an island near Chesapeake Bay. The people in the ships had hopes and dreams for the colony, to start a new life for themselves. However, little did they know the struggles and dangers they were getting themselves into. As the people had begun to settle into their new home, one by one a colonist had died from something tremendous that they had no defense against. In other words, the reason why so many of the colonist had died were from their struggles of diseases, relations with the indians, and choices on beneficial laborers.

The author implicates that the Native Americans needed stronger allies to defend themselves against incoming invasions by enemy forces, especially ones that had advanced weapons that could kill more people than with a bow and arrow. Without these alliances, the Natives suffered mass losses of tribal members and their numbers are

The arrival of New English colonists foreshadowed the doomed fate of many Native Americans. Along with Native American being affected by colonialism, a chief named Tecumseh of the Shawnee Tribe asked,“Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pokanoket, and much other once powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the white men”. The chief questions the presence of many tribes due to the colonists.

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 Pottawatomie Massacre happen one night on May 24,1856. John Brown was a Abolitionist he was against slavery he murders five men from pro-slavery settlement on pottawatomie creek. John brown led the anti-slavery and by many men and family. The victims who were killed were associated by franklin county court. The Pottawatomie Massacre was one several that stirred national over bleeding kansas and slavery.during the US territories in the mid

American people were moving west in order to establish a transcontinental railroad system, obtain new land and rush for the newfound gold in California. Native American tribes lived in the area for many years with little trouble brought upon by the “white man”. These tribes included Sioux, Cheyenne, Nez Perce, Comanche, Kiowa and many more. The book Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee provides many stories of these different Native American tribes that were forcefully brought in the middle of the unwanted expansion on the West. The book also offers many great examples of the American government’s policy towards the Native Americans and the reactions of these policies by the different tribes as they struggled through the hard change.

The concept of American national identity has been one of the founding structures that unifies the group of people that that call and consider themselves to be American. Since the “founders” of this nation settled in New England their patriotism has been celebrated. The legendary story of how the Puritan Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock seeking religious freedom is often taught to young children as a way to help them learn one of the key narratives in the formation of the nation. The story is even more glorified when linked to the greatly loved holiday of Thanksgiving, where the peaceful Pilgrims eat a peaceful meal with the friendly Indians. However, it is never told of how the friendly Indians were betrayed, used, degraded, and in many cases, defeated by the peaceful Pilgrims. During the 19th century, a time of Indian removal and other forms of structural oppression, William Apess addressed how that portion of history was neglected to be told and therefore took matters into his own hands to give the proper historical moment to Native Americans. The hidden and untold story of violence of the Pilgrims continues to this day.