Hypothesis/Thesis

Hypothesis: Why were the Native Americans mistreated by the colonists?

Thesis: Native Americans were mistreated by colonists because government wanted full control, power, and land for what they thought was rightfully theirs.


Body:
I. Because the colonists were treated unfairly by the government, they went against the Native Americans.
---A. The colonial government and surrounding Native Americans agreed to a treaty in which Native Americans gave up all claims to the land already settled by the English.
------1. Because the colonists continued to multiply, they became land-hungry.
------2. "In their quest for land, they pushed beyond the treaty limits of English settlement and encroached steadily on Indian land." (1)
---B. "Bacon accused the Berkeley government of wrong doing, including unfair taxes and not protecting the western farmers from the Indians" (2)
------1. Berkeley wanted peace between the Indians and colonists, but because he did not allow colonists to take the Indians land, the natives and the government were now enemies of Bacon and the colonists.
II. Colonists abused the Indians for taking back what didn't belong to them.
---A. "[B]eaten or kill'd and the hoggs retaken from them[.]" (3)
------1. Basically, the author is saying that the hoggs belonged to the Native Americans, but because the colonists claimed everything to be rightfully theirs, they "took" the hoggs.
------2. Indians took revenge by taking the hoggs back since they were theirs in the first place, and the colonists either killed or beaten them for taking back what belonged to the Indians.
---B. "[T]hey de-vised a hundred ways to torter and torment those poore soules with, whose reched fate it was to fall in to there unmercyfull hands." (4)
------1. The author was very descriptive when writing this. The colonist's took it too far in punishing the Native Americans.
------2. I understand if the Indians took something back from the colonsists that belonged to them and they would beaten them, but torturing them for really no reason makes no since at all.
III. The government and colonists didn't like the fact of "sharing" land with the Native Americans.
---A. The colonists wanted full control of the land and that caused the Indians to loose their freedom.
------1. "The ensuing peace treaty between the colony and the natives virtually stripped the Powhatans of their independence, their lands, and their freedom of movement." (5)
------2. The land all belonged to the Natives, and the English came and took over claiming it because they believed it rightfully belonged to them.
------3. The colonists didn't just take the Natives land, but they took many poor souls; torturing them worse than animals.

Works Cited:

(1) "The American Promise" pg. 91

(2) "A Young People's History of the United States, by: Howard Zinn

(3) Document #2 "A True narrative of the Late Rebellion in Virginia, By the Royal Commissioners, 1677, excerpt."

(4) Document #5 "The History of Bacon's and Ingram's Rebellion, 1676, excerpts"

(5) "Whether They be Friends or Foes:" by Michael J. Puglisi