Cusr 2004

Douglas Griffith
November 27, 1995
Hist 392.02

The Establishment of Jamestown and the Decline of Indian Power

The Establishment of Jamestown and the Decline of Indian power What today is the state of Virginia used to be Native American lands. The Indians claim that God had given them the right to own and settle those lands. The problem as we have seen in class is the Europeans such as the Spanish and English came and took over the Native American land in the name of the King and /or Queen. They invaded their territory, and destroyed their culture, all in the name of conquest. What I intend to show is how these problems developed for the English from the years of 1607 to 1644.

Kirkpatrick Sale in his book Conquest of Paradise says that the English were just carrying out the Columbian legacy with the same brutality toward the Native American population. The main goal of the English as well as the Spanish was to settle large chunks of land and have military control over a backward (as they saw it) society. By 1610 the enemy for the English was the natives, or as they called them savages, and their mission was to take them prisioner and make them slaves. It even says in the charter granted to the colonists in 1607. "Which may by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the glory of his divine majesty, in propagfting of the Christian religon to such people as yet live in darkness and miserable ignorance of all true knowledge and worship of God and may in time bring the infidels and savages living in those parts to human civility and to settled and quiet government (Warner 38). Plus if the natives became hostile they felt that it w as their right to take their corn while in return giving them useless things of no pratical value, such as beads, compasses, and looking glasses. The English felt that in time the Indians would come to respect them. It wasn't until their final defeat in 1646 that left the Indians as a secondary culture, with their land, food and culture taken by what some might think as militaristic Europeans.

How this all came about was 1. as I already mentioned the conversion of the Indians and 2. to gain a foothold into North America as the Spanish had who were in search of gold and great wealth. But their primary reason was the planting of tobacco because it was introduced to the English economy by Sir Walter Raleigh who explored the lands called Virginia in 1585, and it could be a profitable crop to the English.

The charter was granted to the colonists on April 10, 1606 which establish the London Company which was to rule over the new colony which they called Virginia after Elizabeth the virgin Queen of England. The colonists were, Thomas Gates, George Sommers, Richard Hackluyt, Edward Wingfield, Thomas Harkin, and residents of London, Bristol Exeter, and Plymouth. They were granted a council which was to have a superior council in England governing over them. And they were to have all the rights and privledges of English subjects. They set sail in early April of 1607. Their first sight of land occured on April 26, 1607. Their first encounter with the Indians was not friendly. Captain John Smith described the savages as creeping along on all fours shooting at them with bows and arrows. Luckly they escaped, but further up the river their encounter was friendly. The natives were alarmed at first, but they welcomed them and took them to their town and treated them with corn, tobacco, pipes, and a dance. They then sailed further up the river establishing the colony of Jamestown.

After they established the colony they sent Captain John Smith to further explore the river, which they named after King James. In his many encounters with the tribes he found himself almost killed a number of times. When he discovered the Powhatan tribe the Indians took him in feasted him and then siezed him. Smith was about to be killed until Powhatan's daughter Pocahantas intervened saving his life. Powhatan then told John Smith to go back to Jamestown.

After Smith got back he told the other colonists what had happened to him. His associate Christopher Newport, decided then to trade with the Indians. The Indians gave Newport twenty turkeys and demanded they he give him swords in return. Powhatan decided to get more swords and sent Smith twenty turkeys and when he did not get the swords he was offended and sent his people to Jamestown to take the swords by force. Smith wipped them and imprisioned them. Powhatan had to send his daughter, Pocahantas, and another friend with gifts to negoiate the release of the hostages. In return the Indians were given presents and dismissed. Since winter was approaching and the provisions were low, Newport sailed to the West Indies to replenish the colony with more colonists. When Newport returned he was told from England that they had to find gold or they would be considerded banished men.

In the winter of 1608 and 1609 because of the cold, harsh weather and the low provisions the colonists started to help themselves to the Indians wigwams and their corn. Chief Powhatan told them to lay down their arms. When they did not Powhatan was siezed by the colonists and negoiated for peace. The reason for the colonists procuring most of the Indians food was that all their food in their store house had gone bad. So they felt that they could get if from the Indians by force. It was a case of the English making demands on the Indians, and if they did not cooperate the Indians would be slaughtered. This is why the Indians came to reguard the English as superior people, because they had power over their lives, and they could tell the Indians what to do and when to do it.

What led to the re-chartering of the colony in 1609 was the mismanagement of the colony by the colonists and not being able to find gold and the persistant Indian attacks. And England was seeking quick returns from the colony which it was not getting. With the new charter, the colony was enlarged and authorized to declare martial law. This gave the English more power to steal the Indians corn, beat them and make them prisioners. It essentially gave the English more power to move the Indians out of the way because they were on English land. This had been building for years because the English food supply had gone bad so they decided to take what they could get from the Indians

What led to the decline of Indian power over the English was the massacre of 1622. The cause of this massacre was that a few English decided to settle in Indian lands. When the Indians put up a fight for their land the colonists at Jamestown arranged an army and massacred the Indians. The result of the Indian attack was 349 killed. When news of this had reached England they were furious and King James the first promised to send 400 soliders over to the colony. Unfortunatly, he could not fulfill his promise because Parliament was not willing to send troops unless James made certain concessions. In 1624 the charter for the London Company was revoked making Virginia and all her lands a royal colony.

The last and final attempt for the Indians to re-claim their land from English was 1644. The instigation was caused the land grants of Sir John Harvy who was governor of the colony One Indian cheif, Opechancanough was captured by Sir William Berkley and taken prisioner to Jamestown and treated well. While at Jamestown someone shot him in the back and he died shortly thereafter. With the death of the Indian chief the Indians decided to negoiate for peace. This Indian chief was succeeded by another who decided to recoginze the authority of the King of England, while the assembly would protect him from his enemies. In return the Indians had to give the governor twenty beaver skins at the crying of wild geese. The Indians had to occupy the country north side of the York River and cede all the land between the York and James Rivers to the colonists. Thus the Indian resistance angainst the English was dead.

As we can see the English were very demanding of the Indians, they took them for granted by giving them useless things while they took their corn. And they captured the Indians for certain favors to be done, such as the insistnece with Newport and Chief Powhatan. It was the attitude of give me what I want or I will slaughter your population and take you prisioner. Plus the Indians were on English land when it really was their inherited land from their ancestors. It was like what Columbus did on Hispanola; he took over native lands and did what he wanted with the Indian tribes, steling their land putting them in slavery and having them recognize the Spanish as superior people. It was a battle between the Indians and the colonizers and as we can see the colonlists won. It really was a clash of cultures with the latter winning.

Bibliography

Campell, Charles. History Of The Colony And Acient Domion of Virginia. Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott and Co. 1860.
Sale, Kirkpatrick. The Conquest of Paradise Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy. New York 1991
Warner, Charles D. Captain John Smith 1579 - 1631 New York, Harvey Holt and Company. 1881

also read in Lunenfeld read Chapter 36 paragraph 5 page 237 onward to the end of Chapter 37. Thank You.

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