Jamestown Vs. Plymouth
Heidi Wyman
2-4-08

Abstract: This paper will discuss the similarities and differences between the Jamestown and Plymouth/Massachusetts colonies interactions with the Native Americans. I will source Wikipedia, The Earth Shall Weep by James Wilson and Encarta. This topic is very important because these similarities and differences led to how we see the founders of our country.

When looking at the foundation of America, we look at the Pilgrims. We see a group of people who traveled from England to form a new world where they were free from English rule. We see these people as our founders but in fact they were not the first permanent settlers in North America. The Jamestown settlement was established thirteen years prior to the pilgrims landing in North America. We do not see these settlers of Jamestown as the founders of our country primarily because of different relationships each colony developed. We want to think and believe our country was based on the more peaceful relationship the pilgrims developed with Native Americans.

The foundation of Jamestown in 1607 signified the first permanent English settlement in North America. Three ships, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery all led by Captain Christopher Newport, brought 105 English settlers to Virginia, where they would soon find Jamestown. These settlers were looking for the same success in America that Spain had previously in South America. The main reason for the settlement in North America for these people was profit. They wanted to find gold and other valuable goods, they wanted to locate a north passage to Asia, trade with the indigenous population and force them into a pliant labor force, as the Spanish had done. [3] They chose to land in Jamestown for its position, it provided a good area of defense from other European forces that would come by water. After they settled, they found out why the land was unoccupied by the Native Americans. There was an abundance of mosquitoes, the water was undrinkable, hunting was very limited and the animals were all quickly hunted leaving them with no food. The land did not provide them with any soil that could be farmed again creating a lack of food. These conditions led to saltwater poisoning, infection, fevers, disease and starvation, killing half of the settlements people. A second factor that contributed to the high death rate was their inability to do manual and skilled labor, again leaving them with no food. The Native Americans first reaction to the English settlers was hostility. However, eventually they offered their food and hospitality to the English. The Jamestown settlement became very dependent on the Native Americans for there food supply. When the Native Americans stopped providing them with food cooperatively, the English took what they needed by force. The Native Americans again showed hostility toward the English and eventually started to attack the settlement, killing animals and burning the crops. Through the next ten years the English returned attacks on the Native Americans, carrying out search and attack raids, burning Native villages and crops and capturing natives. This pattern of relationship with native Americans was repeated throughout Native America leading to the demise of the Indians.

In 1620, a second group of English people came to North America to form the next permanent settlement. These people are known today as the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims fled from England because of religious persecution, they felt the church violated biblical principles of true Christians. The Pilgrims first went to the Netherlands where they could establish their own church that would be supported and enforced by their own state. They brought only their culture and spiritual beliefs to the new world, making it their own. One hundred and two English people set sail for North America on the Mayflower hoping to reach Virginia. Due to storms during their voyage, the Pilgrims ended up in Cape Cod where they established the Plymouth settlement. The settlers were unprepared and did not know how to live through the winters in North America, causing over half of the population to die before the spring. By the next winter, the Native Americans and the Pilgrims had a very peaceful relationship. Squanto helped the Natives and Pilgrim communicate with each other. The Natives taught the English settlers how to build homes that would stand the cold winters, how and when to plant maize and how to cook that maize. With the good relationship that developed between the Pilgrims and Natives they were able to set up a peace treaty. In the treaty, each side promised to live in peace and support the other if attacked. [8] The good relation between the Pilgrims and the natives also let three natives live among the Pilgrims. The Pilgrims had a much better relationship with the Native Americans then any other colony. Even though they had a better relation with the natives they still ended up at war. King Philip's war started with Sassamon bringing word of the Native American plan to attack the English. Sassamon is murdered and three Native Americans were arrested. The first action was taken by the Pokanket who attacked Swansea, a small English settlement. The war spread and included both the Podunk and Nipmuck tribes. There were many battles between the Native American tribes and the colonists some included the attacks at Middleborough, Dartmouth, Mendon, Brookfield and Lancaster. The war continued until 1677, over 600 colonists and 3,000 Native Americans were killed during war, several hundred Native Americans were captured and executed or sold to slavery.

These two groups of people may have come to the new world from the same country but they had many differences. The Pilgrims and the Jamestown settlers had very different reasons for coming to North America. The settlers from Jamestown came to the new world mostly for profit; they wanted to be successful like the Spanish. The Pilgrims were never thinking about money when they came to North America. The pilgrims came to the new world for a place where they could establish their own church away from England. These motives greatly show how much the two civilizations were different. A second difference comes with the relations between the natives and the settlers of the two colonies. Jamestown never had a strong relation with the natives. One of there intentions when coming to America, was to force the natives into labor like the Spanish had before them. Once on the settlement, they stole food from Natives causing a hostile environment with the Native Americans. The pilgrims had a mutually accepting relationship with the Native Americans. They worked with the Natives to learn how to live off the land in Plymouth; they also allowed Indians to live with them to help them live in the new world. The pilgrims also had a good enough relation with the Indians to have a peace treaty. This treaty stated that both groups would live in peace and support the other if ever being attacked by and outside force. Jamestown settlers were never able to acquire a peace treaty with the Indians. These differences greatly set the Pilgrims and Jamestown settlers apart from each other.

The two colonies also had some similarities. Both of these colonies were unprepared for the climate and land conditions of North America. Due to the settlers not being prepared, over half of both civilizations died from starvation and disease. The starvation led the English to rely on the Native Americans for their food supply. Some people may argue that the Plymouth settlers were not dependent on the Indians, but in truth the Plymouth settlers were very dependent on the Wampanoag ’s for many things including not only food but knowledge as well. They created a good relation with the Native Americans so they could learn how to live in their new world. The Native Americans reaction to the English settlers and the attack on the Native Americans in both colonies were very similar. There were four stages to this process that occurred over and over again throughout the history of English and Native American relations. First the settlers come to North America, the Natives come to resent the settlers dependency upon them. Then a highly respected native would receive a vision where they saw their tribes brought back to life and thriving again. The native and his vision would connect with the tribes military force which led to a pan-Indian war where the Native Americans would be completely destroyed.

Jamestown and the Pilgrim colonies have a variety of similarities and differences based on their relations with the Native Americans. These similarities and differences lead to many questions on how we see these two groups of people today and how we associate them with our foundation. When we look at the founders of our country we look to the Pilgrims, when really the Jamestown settlers were the first to have a permanent settlement in North America. In kindergarten students are taught about Thanksgiving, they make turkeys from hand prints and are told the story of how the Pilgrim came over on the Mayflower to form a colony and eventually the United States. They are shown the relation between the Native Americans and Pilgrims to be completely accepting leading to a great feast we know now as Thanksgiving. We are not taught that the Jamestown settlement was the foundation of our country, primarily due to the unpleasant relationship they had with the Native Americans. The Pilgrims created a peaceful relation with the Native Americans supporting our belief of our country being peaceful and accepting. We also identify with the Pilgrims because they came for a religious reason. The Pilgrims came to America to find a place where they could practice there own religion without English laws. Our society has always had a strong religious background that relates us more to the Pilgrims then the Jamestown settlers. The Pilgrims had a strong set of beliefs and values that were incorporated into our society again deferring our attention away from the Jamestown settlers as founders for our country.





SOURCES
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,_Virginia#Historical_overview_1508-1705
2. http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/colonial/indians/indians.html
3. nchs.ucla.edu/NH116-preview.pdf
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown_Settlement
5. http://www.historyisfun.org/History-Jamestown.htm
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrims
7. http://www.allabouthistory.org/pilgrims.htm
8. http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/refarticle.aspx?refid=761557909
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Philip's_War

Note all sources were used to make this paper.