Argumentative Essay On John Smith

Possibly one of the greatest and unluckiest men of his time, John Smith was known for being

the founder of Jamestown and supposedly being saved by the Native American princess,

Pocahontas. Smith was believed to be born in 1580 in England. After being an apprentice for a

merchant, he chose to get in the military. He became a soldier for hire after claiming to have

had a good career in the military. Smith embarked on campaigns that ultimately resulted in,

John, becoming enslaved. I believe my thesis statement is supported by this because it’s not good

fortune to be enslaved. Unfortunately, his mistress was kind hearted and didn’t desire to have

Smith as a slave so she sent him to her brother who was far less kind. Smith was forced to work

in

the fields but after being treated harshly by his master Smith killed him. I understand he was
treated harshly by the man but was it necessary to kill him.
Smith eventually got back to England in the early 1600s.

Then Smith eventually met a man

named Bartholomew Gosnold. Gosnold was involved with organizing a colony sponsored by the

Virginia Company of London that would be sent to America. Smith was selected to be part of the

council that would govern the colony. The purpose of the council was to make profit out of the

land and goods. The voyagers set sail around the end of 1607. During the voyage Smith was

accused of insubordination. He was nearly hanged but instead was put in custody. The group

arrived at Chesapeake Bay in April 1607. The settlement was named Jamestown and would later

be known as the first permanent North American British colony. At first the population shrunk

because of disease and lack of food.

Plus they were trying to claim land that was home to many Native American settlements. They

later found that the Native American settlements called themselves the Powhatan Confederacy.

A couple of weeks after their arrival Smith had been released from custody. Smith helped

overthrow the leadership of, President Edward Wingfield. Smith was responsible for the survival

of the first permanent British colony for the two years he was in North America. Smith

was
considered a great leader because he was fair to “his” people. At some point during those two
years Smith was captured by Powhatan Confederacy. The native leader, chief Wahunsonacock,
was going to execute John Smith. When he was about to kill him, his 12 year old daughter,
Pocahontas, stopped her and convinced him to let Smith go. The chief considered Smith as some
sort of figurative “son”.

As far as I can tell Smith was a bit embarrassed to be saved by a twelve

year old girl. The chief agreed to give him the land and goods but he expected to get

protection. Afterwards Smith began to treat the natives very harshly. He would make threats and

attacks so they can grab the natives’ food. The relationship kept getting worst and worst.

John was scared of his enemies in America so he went back to England. He became a writer

and wrote stories about his experiences. At some point in England he met Pocahontas again. She

actually had thought he was dead and was astonished that he was alive and well. She was also

surprised to find that he didn’t even try to stop it. Over all I believe John Smith was very harsh.

He was only good to his own people. Then ounce his allies had enough he left for his home

country. So as of now to me Smith sounds more like a coward, although in the articles it does

that England thought of him as a valuable asset because he traveled across the coast of North

America and found some promising land with all kinds of resources that could have been very

helpful to the colony.

Until the time he died, Smith had become pretty famous amongst the people of England.

Many
people had started to buy his books and publications. Some people use his books to advise
themselves. Smith is starting to sound pretty selfish. It was also kind of stupid not to let many
people in North America know that you are alive. Overall I believe John Smith is a selfish, racist
coward, who was trying to make money for his community by taking advantage of other less
developed settlements, who in fact were almost willing to be allies with them. Just because he
was a very good leader to his people does not make him a good man. Sure this guy did go
through a lot in his early life that doesn’t give an excuse to have been insulting their only allies. I
believe that he should of taken more time to consider his actions before actually writing or
sending through insult after insult. He could have avoided all of the issues and problems.