1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent Introduction to Early EuroAmerica, June 29, 2007
This review is from: New England Encounters: Indians and Euroamericans, ca. 1600-1850 (Hardcover)
Edited by Alden T. Vaughan, New England Encounters: Indians and Euroamericans, ca. 1600 - 1850, is a collection of essays written by various authors and culled from the journal The New England Quarterly: A Historical Review of New England Life and Letters . The original essays were written between the early-1950s to the mid-1990s and focus on the interactions between early American settlers from Great Britain who came to the New England area and the native peoples of that region, referred to as Indians in the text. In this book, Vaughan has collected essays that give the reader a snapshot in time of an era from long ago and attempts to resurrect an historical period that has been seemingly left behind in the current repertoire of historical writings. The book itself is subdivided into five distinctive timeframes: Early Intercultural Contact; Debates on the "Indian Wars;" Missionaries and Indians; Conflicts Over Labor, Land, and Jurisdiction; and Indians in the New Nation. The conclusions one can draw from these essays are that the new settlers neither were adequately prepared nor desired to live alongside the Indians; moreover, once the Euroamerican society was established as first British colony, and then became the independent United States of America, the dilemma over how to properly prevent the Indians from interfering with the country proved problematic.
The pilgrims that set sail from England in the early seventeenth century were ill informed about what to expect from the local population once they landed in the New World. For far too long the general public in England were given grim descriptions of the natives of North America. Prior to the movement to colonize America, Indians were described as "...bestial and diabolical." Further, they were said to be "...worshipers of `vile spirits' and regularly engaged in witchcraft, incest, sodomy, and cannibalism." These were not the kind of people one wanted to meet, especially when the safety of home was an ocean voyage away. However, that opinion began to change when investors, wanting to entice pilgrimage to America for financial gain, began to downplay the negative and put a positive spin on the conduct of the local inhabitants. Once the Pilgrims arrived, there were issues covering a wide range of topics like religion, law, trade, local government and land acquisition. The three essays that were written about this time period examine in stark reality the conditions that the New England settlers faced.
The so-called "Indian Wars" are another area of focus, specifically the Pequot War and King Philip's War. The Pequot War of 1637 was fought between an alliance of colonists and their Indian allies (i.e., Mohegan and Narragansett) as a way to reign in the Pequot Indians and their desired expansion. King Philip's War, which occurred in 1675-1676, was named for Metacom, of the Pokanoket Indians. He was named Philip by Plymouth officials as it was stylish in the Indian community to have an English name at the time. Tied in to these "Indian Wars" is the conflict between the Indians and the Puritan belief. As John McWilliams states in the forward to his piece Indian John and the Northern Tawnies: "In the 1660's, the clergyman-poet Michael Wigglesworth's `God's Controversy with New England' predicted that the Lord would punish his people for their failure to follow His rules and for backsliding from the first generation of New Englanders' high standards of belief and performance. King Philip's War seemed to fulfill Wigglesworth's prediction and to identify the method of divine retribution."
The religious relationship between the Indians and the colonists is examined in more depth in the section entitled "Missionaries and Indians." Three essays work to describe the efforts made by the Puritan settlers of the region to convert the Indians to Christianity. Thomas Mayhew, Jr. was successful at converting many Indians to Christianity through his congregation on Martha's Vineyard, for example. One author, William S. Simmons, reveals the hierarchal structure of the Indians in his piece "Conversion from Indian to Puritan," and defines terms like shaman, sachem, and powwow to give an in-depth view of the Indians' religious beliefs.
No discussion of the Indian - Euroamerican relationship would be complete without reference to land acquisitions by the colonists. While early settlers sought to live in peaceful coexistence with Indians, as the colonies grew throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, more land was desired by the British colonists - later the Americans. The early times of small towns and land parcels soon gave way to larger population centers and more demands for land. As demand grew, less consideration was given to the rights of Indians to hold land or to be fairly compensated when traditional tribal lands were granted to the English. Often, the compensation was significantly less than what the Indians thought fair, even though local governments sought "...to have the Indians quiet &[sic] in good temper." Two pieces written by Lion G. Miles and Eugene L. Huddleston show the depths to which the English and Americans sank to wrest land and sacred territories from the Indians.
The final portion of New England Encounters concludes with a description of the Indian Removal Act, signed by President Andrew Jackson in 1830, which caused the deportation of all Indians from the east to the west of the Mississippi River. Although the Southern states heavily voted in favor of the Act, most of the North and Northeast opposed it, "...citing its betrayal of past promises as well as the determined opposition of the Indians themselves." Of course, the supporters of the Act from the North and Northeast, in addition to supporters of President Jackson (Jacksonians), attempted to justify passage of the act by saying it was for the good of the Indians, "...claiming that the `corrupting' influence of white civilization made removal desirable from the Indian standpoint as well."
New England Encounters is an excellent introduction to the timeframe of the early Euroamerican settlers. By compiling these specific essays, Vaughan was able to emphasize the difficulties faced by the Euroamerican colonists, especially with regards to dealing with the Indians. What is striking about the book is that the essays are gathered from various periods of the latter half of the twentieth century. Any biases that could have formed during a specific period (e.g., the socially volatile 1960s) do not show themselves in the overall work.
The study of early America seems lost today. While it is important to study significant events and periods of the United States, like the Civil War or the World Wars, America's infancy and formative years are worthy of additional study to help explain what is happening between the "white man" and the Native American today. For example, how did the Indian Removal Act affect future generations of Indians? Or, how did reservations with casinos and tax-free cigarettes that exist today develop over the past one hundred years? More needs to be written of this relationship, not only from the early years as examined in New England Encounters, but also from 1850 to today.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
