Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
All Roads Lead not to Rome, but to Death.
The following paper uses information gathered from James Wilson's The Earth Shall Weep, the article Jamestown: Legacy of the Massacre of 1622 on bookrags.com (1), the article King Philip's war on pilgrimhall.org (2), along with personal knowledge from class discussions to prove that although Jamestown and Plymouth ended up with the same results, they achieved these goals for completely different reasons, in completely different ways.
Both Jamestown and Plymouth were quite similar and comparable in their effect on the Native Americans that they interacted with; yet the actions that caused these effects, and, even more drastically the, motivation which led to these actions is where the differences between these two become overly apparent. From each of the very reasons for making the arduous voyage to America in the first place, to the way they went about getting what they needed from the Native Americans near them, to the bloodshed that ensued, both of the colonies essentially accomplished relatively the same things. The difference between the two lies in why they accomplished this.
Jamestown was founded as an English charter for colonization, so that the King wouldn't miss out on the "riches" of the new world that the
French, Dutch, and particularly the Spanish were already gloating about. It was a place of economic benefits first and foremost, and as such the people settling there, were there for the profit they envisioned was involved. Plymouth was founded by Puritans from England disliking the social atmosphere in both England and the Netherlands. They simply wanted a place which they can call there own, and establish their own culture, without being influenced in any way by those of others.
Jamestown planned to be dependent on the Indians for the first year of settlement, but after that time were supposed to have set up a system where they could be self sufficient; due to greed, and a little laziness, this didn't happen. The people of Jamestown remained almost completely dependent on the Powhatan's near them to provide them with food. The colonists spent their time and effort either growing lucrative crops such as tobacco, or searching for gold. This sort of pressure to feed not only themselves, but also the colonists of Jamestown, did not sit very well with the Powhatan's, but, at least for a while, they were persuaded to comply through intimidation, and a moderate amount of actual force. The Puritans on the other hand, after starting off using the same methods of forcefully securing the food of their own Native American neighbors, the Wampanoag's, learned the hard way during their first winter that they were going to need to learn how to sustain themselves. The quickest way of obtaining this knowledge was to go to those who had been unwillingly feeding them so far. The Puritans and the Wampanoag's decided on terms which named them as allies and mutual benefactors, unfortunately for the Wampanaoag's the Puritans were still intent on not being equal.
The colonists of Jamestown hated it when they silently realized that they were dependent on the Powhatan's. To them, they are English; they are supposed to be far superior to these mere savage natives; and yet here they were hinging their own survival on the resourcefulness of those self same "savages". This predicament led to an overwhelming psychological contradiction for the colonists in Jamestown: on the one hand they needed to establish their superiority, and on the other they couldn't let themselves get carried away and destroy the Powhatan's or else they would soon follow them to oblivion, and they knew it. However, this knowledge wasn't enough to keep the English from oppressing, and demanding more
and more from the Powhatan's as time went by, and eventually the Powhatan's simply refused to submit any longer; thus came the carefully orchestrated Powhatan uprising. With the massacre of 347 settlers the Powhatan's "meant to send a powerful warning that the English needed to recognize Powhatan superiority, behave appropriately, and restrict their settlements to the original Jamestown area." (1). This warning was the exact thing the people of Jamestown had been battling with in their minds, and served as an infuriating cause for retribution, justification to let loose the frustration they had been trying to hold at bay all along. "Open warfare lasted ten years" (1)
The Puritans demonstrated with their very coming to America, leaving even the Netherlands where they were religiously accepted, that they were very intent on keeping their own traditions and culture unaffected by outside influences in the least. When faced with having to have at least civil relations with the Wampanoag's the Puritans began to panic as to the affects this association would have on their ideas on how life needed to be led; they worried if they became to friendly with the Wampanoag's that they would start merging cultures, which was the very thing they had come across the Atlantic to avoid doing. It was this fear of assimilation that was the real reason why friction was created and escalated between the Puritans and the Wampanoag's to the point of all out war in King Philip's war. It was that unwillingness to accept the ideas and ways of others that caused the decimation of almost all of the Native Americans in New England. It was that close mindedness that caused the destruction of another entire way of living. Ironically, the Wamponoag's were forced to do just what the Puritans had been so adamant about avoiding, "As the traditional base of existence changed due to the Colonists’ victory, the Wampanoag and other local Native communities had to adapt certain aspects of their culture in order to survive." (2).
A general trend of results is quite evident through both the histories of Jamestown, and Plymouth as it relates to their interaction with Native Americans. The results of both being extreme hostility towards Indians, followed by killing of said Indians, however, these were brought about for almost completely different reasons. Each colony brought it's own mindset very distinct mindset with it when coming to America, and as such each made separate decisions based on completely different reasoning. The Jamestown colonists focus on profit, instead of their own well being, along with their need to be superior were the main driving forces behind their decisions and hostilities; while the Puritans unwillingness to even consider changes to their way of life were the main driving force behind their decisions and their hostilities. In the end though, though the methods and reasonings were much different, the results were the same. Death.
Both Jamestown and Plymouth were quite similar and comparable in their effect on the Native Americans that they interacted with; yet the actions that caused these effects, and, even more drastically the, motivation which led to these actions is where the differences between these two become overly apparent. From each of the very reasons for making the arduous voyage to America in the first place, to the way they went about getting what they needed from the Native Americans near them, to the bloodshed that ensued, both of the colonies essentially accomplished relatively the same things. The difference between the two lies in why they accomplished this.
Jamestown was founded as an English charter for colonization, so that the King wouldn't miss out on the "riches" of the new world that the
French, Dutch, and particularly the Spanish were already gloating about. It was a place of economic benefits first and foremost, and as such the people settling there, were there for the profit they envisioned was involved. Plymouth was founded by Puritans from England disliking the social atmosphere in both England and the Netherlands. They simply wanted a place which they can call there own, and establish their own culture, without being influenced in any way by those of others. Jamestown planned to be dependent on the Indians for the first year of settlement, but after that time were supposed to have set up a system where they could be self sufficient; due to greed, and a little laziness, this didn't happen. The people of Jamestown remained almost completely dependent on the Powhatan's near them to provide them with food. The colonists spent their time and effort either growing lucrative crops such as tobacco, or searching for gold. This sort of pressure to feed not only themselves, but also the colonists of Jamestown, did not sit very well with the Powhatan's, but, at least for a while, they were persuaded to comply through intimidation, and a moderate amount of actual force. The Puritans on the other hand, after starting off using the same methods of forcefully securing the food of their own Native American neighbors, the Wampanoag's, learned the hard way during their first winter that they were going to need to learn how to sustain themselves. The quickest way of obtaining this knowledge was to go to those who had been unwillingly feeding them so far. The Puritans and the Wampanoag's decided on terms which named them as allies and mutual benefactors, unfortunately for the Wampanaoag's the Puritans were still intent on not being equal.
The colonists of Jamestown hated it when they silently realized that they were dependent on the Powhatan's. To them, they are English; they are supposed to be far superior to these mere savage natives; and yet here they were hinging their own survival on the resourcefulness of those self same "savages". This predicament led to an overwhelming psychological contradiction for the colonists in Jamestown: on the one hand they needed to establish their superiority, and on the other they couldn't let themselves get carried away and destroy the Powhatan's or else they would soon follow them to oblivion, and they knew it. However, this knowledge wasn't enough to keep the English from oppressing, and demanding more
and more from the Powhatan's as time went by, and eventually the Powhatan's simply refused to submit any longer; thus came the carefully orchestrated Powhatan uprising. With the massacre of 347 settlers the Powhatan's "meant to send a powerful warning that the English needed to recognize Powhatan superiority, behave appropriately, and restrict their settlements to the original Jamestown area." (1). This warning was the exact thing the people of Jamestown had been battling with in their minds, and served as an infuriating cause for retribution, justification to let loose the frustration they had been trying to hold at bay all along. "Open warfare lasted ten years" (1) The Puritans demonstrated with their very coming to America, leaving even the Netherlands where they were religiously accepted, that they were very intent on keeping their own traditions and culture unaffected by outside influences in the least. When faced with having to have at least civil relations with the Wampanoag's the Puritans began to panic as to the affects this association would have on their ideas on how life needed to be led; they worried if they became to friendly with the Wampanoag's that they would start merging cultures, which was the very thing they had come across the Atlantic to avoid doing. It was this fear of assimilation that was the real reason why friction was created and escalated between the Puritans and the Wampanoag's to the point of all out war in King Philip's war. It was that unwillingness to accept the ideas and ways of others that caused the decimation of almost all of the Native Americans in New England. It was that close mindedness that caused the destruction of another entire way of living. Ironically, the Wamponoag's were forced to do just what the Puritans had been so adamant about avoiding, "As the traditional base of existence changed due to the Colonists’ victory, the Wampanoag and other local Native communities had to adapt certain aspects of their culture in order to survive." (2).
A general trend of results is quite evident through both the histories of Jamestown, and Plymouth as it relates to their interaction with Native Americans. The results of both being extreme hostility towards Indians, followed by killing of said Indians, however, these were brought about for almost completely different reasons. Each colony brought it's own mindset very distinct mindset with it when coming to America, and as such each made separate decisions based on completely different reasoning. The Jamestown colonists focus on profit, instead of their own well being, along with their need to be superior were the main driving forces behind their decisions and hostilities; while the Puritans unwillingness to even consider changes to their way of life were the main driving force behind their decisions and their hostilities. In the end though, though the methods and reasonings were much different, the results were the same. Death.
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