Jamestown and Massechusetts

Abstract: This paper, using the book The Earth Shall Weep by James Wilson, will show the differences between the Massachusetts colony and the Jamestown settlement and that the reason for this was due to the totally different reasons for the colonies existance.

The English colony of Jamestown and the English Puritan colony of the pilgrims in Massachusetts, did not have the same outcomes with their interactions with the Native Americans. Both peoples came from the same country, lived in close proximity to the Indians, and had to interact with them. When looking at trade, the colonists motives for being in America, religious motivation, and the Powhatan Uprising and King Philips War, it can be seen that the reason for the difference was the in the completely unlike reasons for the settlemets existances.

Jamestown was established for trade. The people's main intent was to have exports for England. James Wilson said in his book The Earth Shall Weep"...The settlers concentrated on producing tobacco for export to England and continued to rely on their ability to wheedle or bully food out of the Native Americans or...take it by force," showing how the settlers of Jamestown were not as interested in learning how to have a stable colony; they were making money and being supported by the Indians. The Puritans in Massachusetts, however, did not live in a colony built on trade. They did trade with the Indians; but they were interested in stabilizing their colony and becoming self dependant. They wanted to live their seperatist religion and keep their culture with only those who were just like them, because that was their reason for being in America.

Jamestown was established to make profit and the people who were there came to make money; it was for business, whether good or not. The people of Jamestown wanted to continue trade with the Indians, but also wanted to take their food for themselves. To do this the Jamestown settlers kept the Indians in check; not through complete violence, but certainly by fear. James Wilson expresses this saying, "...Some settlers did make a heroic effort to live peacefully and deal equitably with the Indians...Smith believed this was dangerous sentimentality." In contrast, the Massachusetts colony wasn't founded with the main intention being profit through trade with the Indians. The settlers of Jamestown planned on interaction with the Native Americans, Wilson says "The Virginia Company had anticipated that Native supplies would be needed for the first year. It instructed the colonists to [not offend the Indians]," it was a large point of their being in America. The Puritans came to Massachusetts for a very different reason. The Puritans came to America with people of their own nationality (because they did not like to lose their English culture) to escape the oppression in England of their separatist religion. Indian interaction wasn't a priority, and was not even in the plan. If they had known how much they would have to interect with the Native Americans they might not have come. They left England because their religion differend from the people in England. They left the Neatherlands because of the cultural difference, and the Indians had both these differences and to the extreme.

The people in the Massachusetts colony had strong religious ties to their Puritan faith. The fact that they were Puritans and so religious, affected the ways in which they dealt with and interacted with the Indians surrounding them. Having already left England and the Netherlands because of religious and cultural differences, it is clear that the Puritans were very serious about how they were to be living and how they believed the rest of the world should as well. The Puritans did not want any Indian way of living to rub off on them; but they were set on changing the Indians. They pressed their culture and religion on the Native Americans, and even established 'Praying Towns' directed by John Eliot to fix the Indians. The correction process bassically involved changing Indians into Englishman. Wilson explains "The converts equipped with English tools learnt European skills...and made themselves useful to the colonists." These things did not have the best out comes though, and were one of the biggest factors that lead to King Philip's War. The people of Jamestown differed from the colonists of Massachusetts because they lacked the religious fervor of the Puritans. Jamestown was not an exceptionally religious place, and this was a help to them in dealing with the Native Americans because they did not push religion on the Indians in the way that the Puritans did. The people of Jamestown were not good to the Indians; but the lessened religious pressure was an asset in at least minimizing the conflict between them.

The Powhatan Uprising came about do to the conflicts and misunderstandings between the Powhatan Indians and the people of Jamestown. The Indians gave Jamestown a surprise attack and killed three hundred and forty-seven people. King Philips War came about for similar reasons; conflict between Indians and near by settlers. This time however the settlers were the Massachusetts Puritans, and instead of an uprising of Powhatan's, it was a bloody Pan-Indian War. The Uprising was devastating to Jamestown, but was short lived and trade continued. The King Philips War in Massachusetts was different; it lasted a year and when it was over, and the Indians defeated, the "Indian resistance in southern New England was effectively broken."

The settlements of Jamestown and Massachusetts differences existed because of the completely dissimilar reasons for why the colonies even existed. The Puritan colony was settled ina way that the Puritans could practice their religion and keep their culture, so when natural differences arose between them and the Indians, they reacted in ways that would close the conflict but protect the foundational purpose for their colony. Jamestown did the same, but because the reason for their settlement was for trade, the relation ship with the Indians, though not good, did not escalate and crash in the same way that the Puritans did. This is because they were protecting a settlement with a different purpose.