Abstract: This paper will discuss what happened with the contact Native Americans and English settlers of Jamestown. It will look at the cultural changes that the Native Americans went through during this time and leading up to the American Revolution in 1776. Looking at different occurences during this time that changed the Native Americans because of European contact. References inlcude: The Earth Shall Weep by James Wilson, website http://www.dowdgen.com/dowd/document/pequots.html, http://www.teacheroz.com/colonies.htm#Native, and also classroom disscusions.

Native Americans & Jamestown Settlers

Revolutionary Changes

by Alex Butler

The establishment of Jamestown was the first English settlement in North America. It was located near what is today Williamsburg, Virginia and was established on May 14, 1607. The Powhatans were very suspicious of these new peoples. These settlers had also arrived during a conflict between the Powhatans and the Chesapeakes, and supposedly were caught in the battle. During the first couple of weeks, the Europeans were attacked by some of the Indians. In the first summer, half of the colonists died from many diseases. The surviving of these colonists did not make much of an attempt to support themselves and their hope was in the Native Americans 'willingness' to feed them.

The Powhatan Uprising began on March 22, 1622 and was an attack of the Indians on the English settlers in Virginia. Hundreds of Powhatans came to the English colony and burned settlements and plantations all along the James River in a very sudden and quick attack. Approximately 350 English colonists were killed and 200 Indians once there was a signed treaty. The Indians attack was somewhat seen as a way to take their land. Edward Waterhouse wrote saying 'We, who hitherto have had possession of no more ground than their waste, and our purchase, may now by right of Warre, and law of Nations, invade the Country, and destroy them who sought to destroy us...'.

The Pequots were one of the most powerful groups in New England at the start of the 1630's. They controlled a large amount of area in what is now Connecticut and dominated many tributary tribes. Many disasters, catastrophies, and epidemics caused the Pequots to loose much of their population, which in turn caused them to loose some grip on their tribitary tribes. In 1636, the Massachusetts Bay colony forced Captain John Endecott to go to Block Island and kill all male Indiand he found there. He burned two of their villages which only resulted in one death. In years to follow, hostilities between the settlers, Pequots, and other small tribes escalated into the first Indian War. The huge end to this war was in 1637, when nearly 300 Pequot men, women, and children were burned out of their villiages, hunted, and then massacred.

Between the years 1630 and 1633, the Great Migration brought around 3,000 settlers to Massachusetts Bay. There were large areas of land that had been cleared and settled by Native Americans that had started to turn back to forest. William Wood talked about places 'where the Indians died of the plague soem fourteen years ago' that then happened to be covered in 'much underwood ...because it hath not been burned'. The Pilgrims then felt they were in a (quote from The Earth Shall Weep) 'hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men'. Massachusetts Bay was then arranged in that area that had been greatly cleared of Native Americans.

Thomas Dongan signed a treaty with the Five Nations, respecting their positions and letting them bring other tribes into alliance with the English. Anyone who joined this Chain of Covenant, he said, 'shall be protected from any outrage or force and I shall not suffer them to bee disturbed or harmed, but shall looke upon any violence offered that way, as done to my selfe'. The two sides actually viewed this Covenant Chain differently. For the Iroquis, it meant the same as the principles of the League: being associated with different people who came together for 'mutual defence'. The English viewes the Chain as a pyramid: New York at the top, the Iroquis (and New England Colonies) in the middle, and other dependent Native Americans at the bottom of this pyramid.

This period of time meant complete revolution for the Native Americans. They were hurt so badly as a society that they almost ceased to exist at all after these changes in their lives. They lost and forgot who they were and had been during this. They also forgot how they worked as a culture and how to get that back again. The Indians were no longer united and they lost their ability to trade well. The many Indians who died also did not help them to advance during this revolution, and the ones who were left afterwards could not keep up with their old culture. They ended up losing all that they had and could not gain it back again.

Abstract: This paper will compare and contrast the Early Jamestown settlers with the Plymouth colony while relating the different interactions with the Native Americans of their regions. It will also show how religion and social interactions affected the relations between the Native Americans with the English settlers if different colonies and different settlements. Sources and support include The Earth Shall Weep by James Wilson, websites (http://www.apva.org/history/index.html, http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h519.html, http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/researchstarters/plymouth/, and http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu/teaching/jamestown/images/jsmith.jpg) as well as classroom discussions.

Exam #2

~Jamestown & Plymouth Colonies~

The English Jamestown colony along with the English Plymouth Puritan colony pilgrims each had their own reasons and ways of interacting and working with the Native Americans. These interactions can be seen through the reasons for each of these colonies coming to America, religion, King Phillip's War, and also the Powhatan Uprising.

The Jamestown colony was sent by King James I in June of 1606 as a group of entrepreneurs from London they called the Virginia Company . Many of the artisans, craftsmen, and laborers that came to North America helped with every effort that they had to make this colony succeed. The English settling groups have claimed their intentions to have been to spread Christianity, although many say that their real intentions were to find gold and silver. The reason for the move was to make money and they did that by developing exports for England. The settlers also depended on the Native Americans to have the necessary food for their survival and continued to take the food from them. This did not happen to give them a stable economy or colony, they were simply interested in money and knew that the Natives would have food they could live on and take whenever they needed it. This made it difficult for the Natives of Jamestown, who wanted to still have trade with the English, but wanted their food for themselves as well. The Jamestown colony tried to keep things how they were with the Natives, and did so by letting them be afraid. The Jamestown settlers possibly even planned to depend upon the Indians as they got their trade started, but knew they would have to be careful so not to insult them in any way. One of the biggest difficulties once this colony was settled was that they needed soldiers, farmers and craftsmen, but all that they had were men who were not used to manual labor. They wasted time and energy on looking for gold and silver and other ways of making easy money, when they would soon be depending on crops having been planted. These actions resulted in over one-third of the colonists dying of malaria, typhoid fever, scurvy, and dysentery. Later, the colony developed a cash crop of tobacco for their exports and which helped boost their colony and economy.

The Plymouth colony was America's first permanent Puritan settlement and was established in December of 1620 by English Separatist Puritans. The name Puritans was given to the extreme Protestants in the Church of England, who wanted to purify their national church by removing all Catholic influence it had. Many Puritans moved to the New World to find a commonwealth in New England in the 17th century. Among these people were the Pilgrims who founded the Plymouth colony in 1620. During the colonial period, Puritanism had much direct impact on religious thought as well as cultural patterns in America. It's influence in the 19th century did not have a direct effect, although can still be seen in the importance of education in religious leadership and religious motivations. This Puritan colony left England to find religious freedom and a better life with it as well. The settlers began to build shelters for the harsh winter, although by the end of the winter half of the colonists had died. The Puritan colony did not depend upon their trade and wanted to have independence and a stable lifestyle for themselves. Although they did trade with the Natives, they were not dependent only on them. The Puritans came to North America for a very different reason than that of the Jamestown settlers. They came to America because of their separatist religion. This, along with their religion, therefore affected how they interacted with the Natives. Which also meant that they did not need to be involved at all with the Natives for survival. Although, Squanto taught the colonists to plant corn, gather fruits, and to catch fish. The Puritans also got to meet the Indian Samoset, who then introduced them to Massasoit (chief of the Wampanoag Indians) with whom they signed a peace treaty.

The Powhatan Uprising was a fight between the Powhatan Indians and the people of the Jamestown colony. It came about because of some of their recent conflicts and tradings of the Jamestown settlers. The result was an attack on the Jamestown colony by the Indians in which killed almost three-hundred and fifty colonists. The uprising was very short and did not extend beyond this. After the death of Massasoit, the Wampanoag tried to get rid of the English settlers resulting in the King Philip's war. It was named after Philip, who was the son of Massasoit. The war lasted from 1675 to 1676, and happens to be the most destructive Indian war in New England's history. Fighting started at the frontier settlement of Swansea in June of 1675, which then resulted in conflict between Indians and the English across parts of New England, including colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Eventually other colonial parties forced even greater destruction onto the Indians, until they were defeated and did not resist and fight back again.

The two colonies of Jamestown and Plymouth both came to America for different reason and therefore had different interactions with the Natives and different reason to interact with them as well. The Puritan colony settled in North America because they wanted to practice their religion and live with no other influences on it as well as their culture. When there were common disputes between the Puritans and the Natives, the colony wanted to settle everything for the purpose of their religion and way of life. This can be seen in the length of the Powhatan Uprising. The Jamestown colony differed from this because their reason for coming to America was for trade and exports. This also meant that they did not get along and interact with the Indians as well as the Puritan settlers. For this reason, they almost always had some conflict with the Natives. The different reasons for these colonies to settle in North America meant that they also had a different purpose for interaction with the Native Americans.