Chief Powhatan Research Paper

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Recommended: Native American and colonial relations

Over the years, the Native Americans have had multiple, very different opinions about the Europeans and the relationship between the indigenous people and some European powers has differed as well. In this essay, I will be discussing the various and complicated responses of Native Americans toward Europeans immigrants and explorers, and the relationship between indigenous people and European powers which include Virginia, New England, and France.

In Virginia, the Native Americans were generally not very pleased with the English and their decision to settle. The Natives and the English had been in disagreement since the moment the English first arrived. Chief Powhatan saw that the English settlers were in need of help and decided to be of …show more content…

The Puritans looked down upon the Natives and viewed them as “heathens in need of salvation,” but they also realized that some of their people might want to join the Natives because they did have ways of life that could be appealing to them such as equality of the sexes.(Crash Course, Natives and English, 3.0) In order to prevent betrayal, the Puritans created a sentence of hard labor for three years for those who choose to go native. They also used a lot of propaganda to sway people into not wanting to go native. In the early part of the 17th century after an English fur trader was killed by some Pequot, the English, and some Narragansett Indians, fired back by burning down a Pequot village killing about 500. (Crash Course, Natives and English, 3.0) Capitan John Mason was the brains behind this attack and had order the village burned and survivors killed. Even after being so brutally attacked, the Pequot still chose not to battle. (Steele, Warpaths, 92) Being that the Natives were obviously outnumbered, a few months later by the end of the war, most of them were either killed or sold in the Caribbean as slaves. Even though things weren’t looking so good for the Natives, they continued to resist.(Crash Course, Natives and English, …show more content…

In the 18th century, the teamed up to fight, in what is known as the Seven Years War, against the British. Although the British won the war, the Treaty of Paris made it so that America was independent. The war essentially just balanced out the power between the two continents. (Calhoun, War That Made America)

Overall, the Natives just treated the European immigrants and settlers the way that the European immigrants and settlers treated them. The golden rule to do unto others as you would have them do unto you plays a huge role in their relationship between the three different European powers I went over in this essay, but without all this having happened, we would not be where we are today. Everything in history happens for a reason and we will continue learn from our mistakes and make sure we don’t do the same thing all over again.

Steele, Ian K. Warpaths: Invasions of North America. . New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Calhoun, William. “The War That Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War.” Naval War College Review 60, no. 1 (Winter 2007): 293. Accessed February 21, 2016. Questia Database. Mindtap-Cengage

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