William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation Essay Example

William Bradford had already predicted some drastic changes between them who are the pilgrims and the American Natives, Indians before they arrived in their new world which is New England. The Pilgrims were very excited because they would be able to freely practice their religion far away from their Old England which was very evil. Bradford further explains that the English settlers would face many problems from the Indians as he says that " the pilgrims will face the continual danger of the savage and barbarous people " (Williams 2014). When the pilgrims arrived in the Natives land, Bradford's prediction came true as they faced harsh weather conditions that left almost half of their company dead while others fell ill. They were also surprised when a certain Indian came and spoke to them in broken English (Williams 2014). This led encounter led peace relationships between the Natives and the pilgrims, and however, in the later decades, there was tension among the people.

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After the pilgrims shared their meal with the Native Americans in 1621, in what is widely known as the Thanksgiving holiday, some of the tribes of the natives which included the Massachusetts and Narragansett were not happy with the Europe settlers. As a result, the pilgrims in a joint effort with the Massasoit's destroyed the relationship among the Native Americans in the area. Decades after decades the relations between the pilgrims and the Indians, who were the earliest inhabitants of America, diminished. Through the use of muskets, the pilgrims can protect and seize their belongings from the Natives. The native Americans humiliated the pilgrims because they could not use force to protect their property for that reason, William Bradford describes the men as "savage and Brutish men "(Williams 2014)

One of the reasons as to why there was division and violence between the pilgrims and the Natives was because the pilgrims wanted to convert the inhabitants to Christians. By attempting to change them, the Natives started resenting the new settlers and strongly began to resist them. However, when the Indians refused to obey the European culture, the pilgrims were angered by their resistance, and as a result, hostility developed between the two groups. The conflicts with the Natives gave birth to the English attitudes towards the other races because; the pilgrims blamed the racial differences for failure to change the Native Americans to the Christianity faith consequently, this made them associate the people of color with all the negative personalities.

Another cause of disunion between the pilgrims and the Native Americans was the population increase among the English settlers. It caused the most significant gap between the demand and supply of the area's natural resources which at last brought tension, violence, and misunderstanding between the settlers and the Indians until there was an offensive war that broke out in the year 1637. First, it began as a land clash between the Dutch fur traders and the pilgrims in 1633 as both parties provided some legal papers that showed they bought an area in the River Valley near their enemies, the Indians. Both groups tried to claim the land by settling in first meaning that, if one part becomes the first to settle in the area, then it would belong to the first group. Additionally, the hostility further escalated when John Oldham was captured and killed in the year 1636 by the Indians. The English settlers later invaded the Native Americans to protect and maintain their security; John Endicott led the raid.

Since the Indians did not want to accept defeat, attacked the pilgrims again and this led to many deaths among the Indians because the English settlers burned down their villages. Over three hundred Native Americans were killed while a number of them were distributed all over New England as slaves for the English settlers. Later on, the English implemented a law that highly forbade the word "Pequot" in referring to the Indians (Williams 2014). Even though competition for resources caused the war between the Natives and the New Englanders, there was a high need for peace in the region since many lives were lost.

Iroquois Creation Text

Iroquois, a tribe of the Native Americans, have an exciting story about the creation of the world. According to their account, at the beginning of time, there were two worlds, the upper and the lower world. The upper world represented heaven where human beings lived while the lower world was where all the evils and monsters stayed. One woman became pregnant in a mysterious way and gave birth to twins; one was very good while the other harm. Their division started at the time of the delivery the wicked one said "let us go the other side of the womb, "and the good twin responded " if we go the other side we will kill our mother " unfortunately the evil twin killed his mother (Yasuda 2010).

Their grandmother raised the twins, and as they grew older, the evil twin was highly favored . The good twin-faced the unkindness of both his brother and grandmother. At one point, a human figure appeared to him saying "My child, I have seen all the distress they have caused you, please take courage, I am your father I will protect you" (Yasuda 2010). The major cause of the disunion between the brothers was that they both wanted to control the universe and the evil twin had planned to destroy his good brother this is after the deer told the good brother "he now plans evil acts against you "(Yasuda 2010). The other reason was that the good twin freed all the harmless captives that were put in the cave by his evil brother. His wicked brother was so angry that he asked his brother "what does it take to finish your life" (Yasuda 2010).

References

S.Williams (2014): Bradford's Description of the Indians: A Changing Perspective? |Retrieved from http://blogs.cofc.edu/pre-america/2014/02/13/bradfords-description-of-the-indians-a-changing-perspective/

Yasuda, A. (2012). Sky Woman and the Big Turtle: An Iroquois Creation Myth. Edina, MN: ABDO Publishing Company. Iroquois Creation Myth, 1816. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6375/