Indians And The English Puritans example essay topic

American History 19 October 2001 King Philip's War: An Exercise In Failure In 1675, the Algonquian Indians rose up in fury against the Puritan Colonists, sparking a violent conflict that engulfed all of Southern New England. From this conflict ensued the most merciless and blood stricken war in American history, tearing flesh from the Puritan doctrine, revealing deep down the bright and incisive fact that anger and violence brings man to a Godless level when faced with the threat of pain and total destruction. In the summer of 1676, as the violence dispersed and a clearing between the hatred and torment was visible, thousands were dead. (Lepore xxi) Indian and English men, women, and children, along with many of the young villages of New England were no more; casualties of a conflict that was both devastating to the lives and the landscape of New England, as well as the ideologies of both the Indians and the English Puritans that inhabited this land. (Lepore 18) King Philip's war was not the basic Indian war that plagues American history. It was not the first archetypal Settler vs. Savage conflict, and nor would it be the last.

King Philip's war was a terribly violent and destructive conflict, which was sparked by the desires of maintaining cultural identity and preserving power and authority, both in societal and religious capacities upon what one believed to be his land. (Leach 21) Saying that this conflict left all of 17th century New England in a state of confusion is far more than an understatement. With nothing won, and terrific loss, the early Americans, both English and Indian, were unsure of their own, as well as each other's identity. This crisis, whether they are aware of it or not, has impacted Americans and their ideologies of themselves for hundreds of years. (Lepore 18) The Puritans came to this New World roughly forty to fifty years before this conflict began, but the guarantee of this conflict arrived in the same boats as they did. Something often misunderstood is that the Puritans themselves were not separatists, in fact they left England with the firm desire of staying English, maintaining their cultural identity, and remaining faithful and true to the majesty of the homeland.

They had left England with the desire of religious freedom, and with hope of having somewhere to practice freely and safely within the boundaries of English oriented society, but free of the sinful and heretical practices that were known to exist within it. (Andrews 64) This is in direct contradiction with the ways of the natives. Concurrently, as the Puritans intended on maintaining their way of life within the New World, a key goal of theirs was to avoid bringing great harm to the natives they would encounter. The English had witnessed the abuse of natives during the Spanish conquests and the harsh religious demands placed among non-Catholics in the Spanish Inquisition.

The torture and destruction of the native of life had been incredibly embarrassing upon the Spanish people, and in all obviousness, phenomenally painful and paralyzing to the natives themselves. These "Spanish Cruelties" were not only in great opposition to the Puritan beliefs, but as one knows, the last thing the Puritans wished to do would be to embarrass the great mother country of England. The Indians had an identity all their own, and were in many ways reluctant to open up to the English settlers, fearing the effects of their highly controversial way of life. Regardless, despite the devastating bouts with foreign disease that accompanied the settlers, and issues regarding the land the colonists claimed in the name of the king, the Indians were still relatively accepting and hospitable to the setting Puritans. (Drake 3) They traded openly, worked together in establishing villages, and notoriously, the Indians aided the Puritans in teaching them the ways of the land, and in guiding them through the difficult New England winters. Over several years, the two cultures began to mesh, and the bits and pieces adapted by the opposing cultures, began to cause trouble among the hierarchies of these two societies.

(Lepore 12) As previously stated, the English Puritans placed significant importance on the ideal of maintaining their Englishness, but it was proved very difficult. Historically, this difficulty is very vivid, as the Pilgrims had left Holland, a European developed nation, because they believed it was affecting their culture and customs. (Lepore 17) If such a task proved so challenging in the Netherlands, one could only imagine how difficult the struggle to maintain such an identity would be in the New World. Within time, the Puritans began to lose focus not only on their Englishness, but on their faith as well. Morals became somewhat lax in comparison to what was expected. Increase Mather, a Puritan Minister of the time predicted trouble in his sermons.

In a sermon entitled, The Day of Trouble Is Near, written in 1674, a year before the violent conflict began he stated, "there is... great decay as to the power of godliness among us" and warned, "ye shall hear of wars, and rumours of wars". (Mather 2) The common Indian man viewed the advanced goods that were brought by the colonists to be articles of great advantage and tools that aided their daily life, but in all entirety, these goods causes difficulties. Indians became dependent upon the rifle for hunting, and they became reliable upon the English stores and storehouses to provide other goods, such as basic food items and textiles. (Drake 17) This dependence was slowly but surely stripping the Indians of their individuality as they became more English.

This process of identity loss gained momentum very rapidly. Indians began converting to Christianity, moving out of Algonquian villages, and as a result, this common ground was expanding, leading the Puritans to believe they had the power to become the dominating political and religious force in New England. (Drake 25) The Puritans began to push Christianity and English forms of government upon the natives. (Leach 47) The Indians leaders were completely uninterested in the societal goals of the English, but the people of the tribes, excited by the grandeur of Christianity and the English way of life were intrigues.

Algonquian leaders were greatly angered by the effect such goals were having on the Indian people. As the English gained power, the sachem (a king-like title among the Algonquian people) lost power, and as the Christian Church gained power, the medicine men, or pow waws, would lose their grip on the Algonquian spirituality. (Lepore 28) This angered Metacomet, sachem of the Algonquins, (also known as King Philip), to organize a party devoted to a forceful rebellion. John Sassamon, a devoted Indian Christian and a former friend and advisor to Metacomet, heard of this, and released the information to the English authorities.

Sassamon was found dead, several days later, and was presumed murdered by members of Algonquian tribe, who were later captured and executed. (Lepore 43) With this bloodshed, the violence commenced and the conflict exploded upon Southern New England. Accounts by Mary Rowlandson and Hubbard, depict great violence to the extent of unnecessary pain and torture, in which both sides participated. (Lepore 53) The Algonquians and their allies destroyed most of the new villages in Massachusetts and Connecticut, and killed many innocent civilians within them. (Leach 132) This great violence unleashed a fury within the English defense campaign, and the Puritans resulted in committing acts just as horrible in return.

Regardless of bias and propaganda involved, the accounts of Hubbard's torture witnessing were at a minimal grotesque, and in fact, when such novels went on sale later in England, they did very well in the markets that cater to such literature. This violence would later prove very detrimental to the Puritan cause. (Lepore 73) The war ended as the Algonquians lost allies and lost land. They pushed up far enough into New England that their only way out was west and into the territories of their Iroquois enemies. King Philip was captured and killed, and in a very un-puritan like fashion, his head was placed on a poll in Plymouth. (Drake 82) With the closing of the war, both sides realized nothing had been accomplished except for excessive destruction and extensive death, all across New England.

Both sides were confused and unaware of what path to follow, on how to pick up the pieces and move forward. Despite English victory, the Puritans suffered greatly for this conflict from a political standpoint. The fatalities set the colonists back nearly a decade in population, and many of those who survived lost everything in the destruction of nearly half of the villages in New England. (Drake 97) They lost the trading opportunities and the allies they previously shared with the Algonquians. The Indians very gravely effected to an even greater extent than the Puritans. The Indian casualties were devastatingly large, and many Indian villages had been ravaged and burned as well.

On top of all of this, the Indians were far more dependant on the English now, and in a much more horrible way. They were unable to pose another rebellion considering the fatalities of their warrior leaders, and they no longer had any say in their relations with the Puritans. (Drake 103) The Puritans had full governmental control now, and instead of trading for what they wanted, the Puritans would just take from the Algonquians as they chose fit. (Leach 292) While these political ramifications seem ridiculous and unimaginable, the emotional and historical affects are far more outstanding.

The Puritans became what they believed was an embarrassment to themselves, their homeland, and their God. They believed the losses they had encountered were an embarrassment to the colonies they had worked so diligently to establish, and that the ability to let such terrible things happen reflected poorly on their Protestant work ethic. (Lepore 112) They believed they had embarrassed their homeland by following in the path of the Spanish through their engagement in a horribly violent war with the natives, and they believed that they had offended God, committing violent sins that are unpardonable and far beyond the spectrum of Puritan theology. (Lepore 117) This loss of confidence in the Puritan New England ventures had grand effects on future projects.

Both England, and the Puritans themselves, didn't feel as if future expansion of New England colonies was necessary at such a time. The rebuilding period itself took several years, and because of this, the populations in current New England towns grew rapidly, and powerful cities became great trading areas. (Lepore 281) For the natives, the historical ramifications proved far more debilitating. As stated before, this was neither the first nor the last Indian war, but it was the defining force in New England relations with natives. (Lepore 201) Considering the New England Puritans were the earliest colony of any true success, one can conclude that King Philip's failure to succeed in his rebellion is directly related to the treatment of Native Americans throughout much of American history. (Lepore 215) One is not to say that this is the force contributing to the image portrayed throughout American culture of the brutal savage, the beast of a man who takes pride in violence and violation of the rights of the settlers, but it certainly and undoubtedly was a strong contributor.

King Philip's war was an exercise in failure. The concept that a diverse society can explode into violent civil war isn't uncommon throughout history, but this particular war had a large-scale affect on American history. The war forever changed the approach on colonization, and made an outstanding effect on the development and cultural identity on New England. It altered the mind set of an expanding and driven people, and established a strong enough foundation for an ethnic debate that has been a constant throughout most of American history. These social, political, and cultural effects are what make this war such an event worth noting. As was stated before, this was neither the first, nor was it the last of the Indian wars in developing America, but it is the only one to expel such consequences and to so greatly effect the landscape that is American history.

Bibliography

Andrews, Charles M. The Colonial Period of American History Volume II: The Settlements. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1936.
Drake, James D. King Philip's War: Civil War in New England. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999.
Leach, Douglas Edward. Arms for Empire: A Military History of the British Colonies in North America. New York: Macmillan Company, 1973.
Lepore, Jill. The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins or American Identity. New York: Vintage Books, 1998.