As Franklin D. Roosevelt states, “If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.” In regard to the interactions of the Europeans, Spanish, and Native Americans, blindness and unfamiliarity were at the forefront of this developing time. In light of the world's’ new developments, each country's perspective varied from place to place, and members of each nation forged relationships with Indians in very different ways. Despite a vast assortment of economic and social status’ seen throughout both England and Spain, we see a similarity in the way the two interacted with the Natives. (4) No matter how important the Natives
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With generally mixed motives, the Natives naively thought of the strange Europeans as protectors and guardians. With the addition of trade and commerce, the Natives were optimistic about the settlers arrival. Despite generously helpful offerings from the Native such as food and fur, the disease, firearms, and religion that the settlers brought was bound to consume the Natives’ once simplistic lifestyles. However, as a short time passed, the native’s once warm welcome to the settlers turned cold. The settlers’ means to secure new land and convert all others to Christianity began to unsettle the Natives. With trade now seen as a channel for European exploitation, the Natives were no longer willing to please their new company. In The Divine Right to Occupy the Land (1), John Cotton gives insight on how many of the early settlers thought how it might have been lawful for them to take the land of the Natives. He shows how the danger arises when those who mine the Bible extract scriptures supporting their own ambitions. In this case many Puritans at the time believed it was their duty to come into this unenlightened area and show the “right way to live” to the weak and unknowing Natives. (1) They use this religious motivation as a way to seek and create opportunities in expansion. With religion and stereotypes being at the basis of their controversial reasoning, they are able to mask their alternate ambition of expansion. Philip Berg’s Racism and the Puritan Mind (2), he states that the Puritans did not arrive on American shores as full-fledged racist, by any means, but neither did they arrive with minds devoid of any preconceptions of the American Indians. Their beliefs were undoubtedly influenced by Spanish and Portuguese previous experiences. From what they heard from the Spanish, the idea of the
With generally mixed motives, the Natives naively thought of the strange Europeans as protectors and guardians. With the addition of trade and commerce, the Natives were optimistic about the settlers arrival. Despite generously helpful offerings from the Native such as food and fur, the disease, firearms, and religion that the settlers brought was bound to consume the Natives’ once simplistic lifestyles. However, as a short time passed, the native’s once warm welcome to the settlers turned cold. The settlers’ means to secure new land and convert all others to Christianity began to unsettle the Natives. With trade now seen as a channel for European exploitation, the Natives were no longer willing to please their new company. In The Divine Right to Occupy the Land (1), John Cotton gives insight on how many of the early settlers thought how it might have been lawful for them to take the land of the Natives. He shows how the danger arises when those who mine the Bible extract scriptures supporting their own ambitions. In this case many Puritans at the time believed it was their duty to come into this unenlightened area and show the “right way to live” to the weak and unknowing Natives. (1) They use this religious motivation as a way to seek and create opportunities in expansion. With religion and stereotypes being at the basis of their controversial reasoning, they are able to mask their alternate ambition of expansion. Philip Berg’s Racism and the Puritan Mind (2), he states that the Puritans did not arrive on American shores as full-fledged racist, by any means, but neither did they arrive with minds devoid of any preconceptions of the American Indians. Their beliefs were undoubtedly influenced by Spanish and Portuguese previous experiences. From what they heard from the Spanish, the idea of the