King Philip’s War is arguably one of the more brutal wars that go unheard of by Americans that occurred in American History. Sometime’s referred to as Metacom’s War, it was a battle between the Native Americans that inhabited southern New England and the colonists (English) alongside their Native American allies in 1675 and 1676. “King Philip” is the English name given to the Indian chief Metacom believed to have started the war. Metacom, the son of Massasoit, is known for welcoming the English settlers to Massachusetts about forty years before. The aftermath of the war left great casualties. Just like in the case of most wars, the causes of conflict are complex. Jill Lepore argues in the book, The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins
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King Philip's War stemmed from two different groups of people struggling to maintain their culture, sense of community, and ethnic identities. The colonists’ claim was complex, despite the fact they were persecuted by their homeland, the colonists still wanted acknowledgement as Englishmen. The problem with this is that they were thousands of miles away from their “home” and lived alongside the Indian’s whom they considered to be savages, uncivilized, or “sub-human”. The colonists were more worried about becoming like the Indians and fought hard to distinguish themselves and preserve their English identities. For example, the colonists felt a large part of their English identity is connected to land ownership and the improvement of it, houses, farming fields and cattle, and overall ownership of possessions. The colonists felt that the Indians did not understand how all of these values tied into the colonists’ understanding of what made one’s identity. Since the colonists did not believe that the Indians were doing anything to make use of the land or make it more valuable they did not “own” the land and it was free for the English to use how …show more content…
Lepore notes, “the colonists’ sense of the predestination of their settling in New England, their natural affinity with the land, and their cultural proclivity to conflate property with identity, all combined to produce this oneness of bodies and land” (Lepore p. 82). Christianity managed to wiggle its way into every chapter of the book in some form. The English were highly religious and had left England for religious persecution. The Indians also had a sense of religion, though different from the colonists in the eyes of the English. The Indians lived simplistically and highly respected the land and “mother Earth” whom provided them with everything they needed. The Indians saw the Earth as a living vessel. However both cultures had one major similarity, both felt informed by religion and searched for signs of the supernatural in the natural world. The colonists felt that the destruction of war brought upon them in the beginning of King Philip’s War was “God punishing them for their sins, not least among them their failure to convert the Indians to Christianity” (Lepore p.99). It was tough as the English believed that the Indians served the devil while simultaneously being tools of God. There were some Indians though who converted to Christianity and shared in the religious ideals of the colonists. These Indians also allied themselves with the colonists
King Philip's War stemmed from two different groups of people struggling to maintain their culture, sense of community, and ethnic identities. The colonists’ claim was complex, despite the fact they were persecuted by their homeland, the colonists still wanted acknowledgement as Englishmen. The problem with this is that they were thousands of miles away from their “home” and lived alongside the Indian’s whom they considered to be savages, uncivilized, or “sub-human”. The colonists were more worried about becoming like the Indians and fought hard to distinguish themselves and preserve their English identities. For example, the colonists felt a large part of their English identity is connected to land ownership and the improvement of it, houses, farming fields and cattle, and overall ownership of possessions. The colonists felt that the Indians did not understand how all of these values tied into the colonists’ understanding of what made one’s identity. Since the colonists did not believe that the Indians were doing anything to make use of the land or make it more valuable they did not “own” the land and it was free for the English to use how …show more content…
Lepore notes, “the colonists’ sense of the predestination of their settling in New England, their natural affinity with the land, and their cultural proclivity to conflate property with identity, all combined to produce this oneness of bodies and land” (Lepore p. 82). Christianity managed to wiggle its way into every chapter of the book in some form. The English were highly religious and had left England for religious persecution. The Indians also had a sense of religion, though different from the colonists in the eyes of the English. The Indians lived simplistically and highly respected the land and “mother Earth” whom provided them with everything they needed. The Indians saw the Earth as a living vessel. However both cultures had one major similarity, both felt informed by religion and searched for signs of the supernatural in the natural world. The colonists felt that the destruction of war brought upon them in the beginning of King Philip’s War was “God punishing them for their sins, not least among them their failure to convert the Indians to Christianity” (Lepore p.99). It was tough as the English believed that the Indians served the devil while simultaneously being tools of God. There were some Indians though who converted to Christianity and shared in the religious ideals of the colonists. These Indians also allied themselves with the colonists