APUSH AMSCO Topic 2.5 Study NotesAPUSH AMSCO Topic 2.5 Study Notes

A P U S H I S T O R Y · UNIT2

Interactions Between American Indians and

Europeans

AMSCO Topic 2.5

Learning Objective: Explain how and why interactions between various European nations and American Indians changed over time.

Study notes built from the AMSCO text only. No outside sources are added.

Big Picture

Europeans saw each other as rivals and generally viewed American Indians as inferior people to be used as forced labor, pushed off their land, or enlisted as allies. Surviving Native Americans, devastated by disease, defended their cultures, sometimes uniting against Europeans and sometimes allying with one European group against another or against a tribal rival.

Alliances Cut Both Ways

Tribes sometimes joined together to resist Europeans. At other times a tribe allied with Europeans against a rival.

Example: in 1626, in southern New York, the Mahican Indians persuaded Dutch settlers to join an attack on the Mohawk Indians.

Conflict in New England

In the 1640s the New England colonies faced threats from American Indians, the Dutch, and the French, and with England in civil war they expected little help.

New England Confederation (1643): Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven formed a military alliance for mutual protection. A board of two representatives per colony ran it with limited powers over boundary disputes, runaway servants, and dealings with American Indians. It lasted until 1684 (colonial rivalries and renewed royal control ended it) but set a precedent for unified colonial action.

Metacom's War / King Philip's War (1675-1676): English settlers were encroaching on Indian land. Metacom (called King Philip), chief of the Wampanoag, united many southern New England tribes. Some tribes, such as the Mohegans and Pequots, supported the colonists because of old rivalries with the Wampanoag. Villages were burned, hundreds killed, thousands injured. Colonists and Indian allies won, killing Metacom and ending most American Indian resistance in New England.

Conflict in Virginia: Bacon's Rebellion

Sir William Berkeley, royal governor (1641-1652; 1660-1677), ruled with dictatorial powers on behalf of large planters and angered small western farmers by failing to protect them from Indian attacks. Nathaniel Bacon, an impoverished gentleman farmer, led the frontier farmers' rebellion against Berkeley's government. They also resented control by a few large Chesapeake planters.

1676: Bacon's volunteer army raided and massacred American Indian villages on the frontier, including some friendly with the colonial government. The government accused Bacon of rebelling against royal authority. His army defeated the governor's forces and burned Jamestown. Bacon then died of dysentery and the rebellion collapsed. Berkeley executed 23 rebels.

Lasting problems it exposed: sharp class differences between wealthy and landless or poor farmers; frontier conflict between settlers and American Indians; and colonial resistance to royal control. These continued into the next century.

Spanish Rule and the Pueblo Revolt

Spain's economic policy forced Native Americans to labor for them through the encomienda system (see Topic 1.5), and Spanish Catholic missionaries pursued an aggressive, sometimes harsh conversion program.

Pueblo Revolt (1680): pressure led Pueblo tribes, including the Hopi and Zuni, to unite against the Spanish. Hundreds died and the Spanish were driven out until 1692.

After regaining control, Spain made some accommodations to American Indians. Ruling less harshly gave Spain greater stability.

Comparing the Conflicts

Conflict Date Who vs. who Cause Result

Metacom's

War

1675-

1676

New England colonists and Indian allies vs.

Wampanoag and others under Metacom

English settlers encroaching

on Indian land

Colonists won; most Indian

resistance in New England

ended

Bacon's

Rebellion

1676 Frontier farmers under Bacon vs. Gov.

Berkeley (and Indians)

Berkeley's rule for big

planters; failure to protect

frontier

Jamestown burned; Bacon died;

23 rebels executed

Pueblo

Revolt

1680 Pueblo tribes (Hopi, Zuni) vs. Spain Forced labor (encomienda)

and forced conversion

Spain driven out until 1692;

later gentler rule

Key Terms and Actors

Term / Actor What it is and why it matters

New England Confederation 1643 military alliance of four New England colonies; first experiment in colonial cooperation; ended 1684.

Metacom / King Philip Wampanoag chief who united tribes against English settlers.

Wampanoag Southern New England tribe led by Metacom.

King Philip's War Another name for Metacom's War (1675-1676).

Sir William Berkeley Virginia governor who favored large planters and failed to protect frontier farmers. Bacon's Rebellion 1676 frontier uprising against Berkeley; burned Jamestown; exposed class, frontier, and royal- control tensions.

Pueblo Revolt (1680) Pueblo peoples united and drove Spain out of New Mexico until 1692.

Encomienda system Spanish system forcing Native Americans to labor for colonists.

Making This Essay-Ready

Causation: Colonial expansion onto Indian land (New England, Virginia frontier) and Spanish demands for labor and conversion caused each conflict.

Comparison: Spain eventually softened its rule after the Pueblo Revolt; in New England and Virginia, colonists defeated or killed Indian resistance, ending most resistance in New England.

Continuity and change: Continuity: Europeans used Indians as allies and rivals as it suited them. Change: unified colonial action (New England Confederation) and, in Spanish lands, less harsh rule.

AMSCO Topic 2.5 · Student-written study notes summarizing AMSCO