This week’s assignment enlightened me about the true history of the Jamestown settlement and early Native American- English relations. To begin with, I was unaware the founders of Jamestown were not famers but actually held gold mining centered professions. Also, these craftsmen and artisans had such an aversion to farming that they would risk the possibility of starvation. This aspect of week two’s lesson harkened back to my middle school history class’s study of Jamestown. Specifically, the now infamous John Smith quotes “If you do not work, you do not eat.” Until this week’s lesson, I did not know the true inspiration for the Jamestown settlers’ perilous journey across the Atlantic. In truth, the driving force for founding Jamestown was
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Previously, it had always been conveyed to me, that in the early days of the English settling North America, Native Americans and Europeans banned together in friendship and goodwill, with each side ultimately benefiting. While it is true both the English and Native Americans gained from the relationship, perhaps their desires were not has pure as originally thought. In actuality, relations were rather ostensibly polite, with party having ulterior motives for forming the trade alliance. As John Green of Crash Course speculates, early trade negotiations were guided by the English’s nutrition needs and the Indians wanting of sophisticated weaponry. While most successful trade deals are built to be mutually beneficial, this agreement was doomed to fail from the beginning. It appears to me that the Native Americans did not foresee the influx of settlers that would soon be settling in the New World, which indubitably would have persuaded their agreement to the trade alliance. Similarly, the English simply viewed the Indians as means to an end. Through the expedient actions of the English, they sought to benefit from the Native American’s resources without a thought to the moral corruption in stealing land and refusing to integrate or comply with the Indian’s way of life. The salient wrongdoings of English settlers, during John Smith’s absence, truly showcase the categorical and remorseless contempt of the English towards the Native
Previously, it had always been conveyed to me, that in the early days of the English settling North America, Native Americans and Europeans banned together in friendship and goodwill, with each side ultimately benefiting. While it is true both the English and Native Americans gained from the relationship, perhaps their desires were not has pure as originally thought. In actuality, relations were rather ostensibly polite, with party having ulterior motives for forming the trade alliance. As John Green of Crash Course speculates, early trade negotiations were guided by the English’s nutrition needs and the Indians wanting of sophisticated weaponry. While most successful trade deals are built to be mutually beneficial, this agreement was doomed to fail from the beginning. It appears to me that the Native Americans did not foresee the influx of settlers that would soon be settling in the New World, which indubitably would have persuaded their agreement to the trade alliance. Similarly, the English simply viewed the Indians as means to an end. Through the expedient actions of the English, they sought to benefit from the Native American’s resources without a thought to the moral corruption in stealing land and refusing to integrate or comply with the Indian’s way of life. The salient wrongdoings of English settlers, during John Smith’s absence, truly showcase the categorical and remorseless contempt of the English towards the Native