Focusing now on how the Puritans interacted with the Indians, Taylor develops significantly the portrayal of New England from last week\u2019s reading. His descriptions of Puritan anxiety to suppress natives and of imbalanced trades capture the darker facets of New England, practically unmentioned in chapter eight.<\/p>\n
The special attention given to King Philip\u2019s War certainly addresses Shane\u2019s concern last week, that Taylor writes of \u201cinternal problems\u201d in New England with little regard for potential \u201cexternal threats.\u201d Charlotte, similarly, wrote that the violence present in Jamestown seemed to create a contrast to New England relations with natives; like the Americans of classic Thanksgiving stories, the Puritans of chapter eight appeared \u201cdemocratic\u201d and \u201cegalitarian.\u201d Although Taylor mentions the persecution of religious dissenters, until chapter nine, the harshness of the Puritans is far from apparent. Instead of families searching for religious freedom and harmony, the Puritans referenced in King Philip\u2019s War feel \u201ccompelled to destroy their Indian enemies\u201d to prove \u201ctheir own worthiness\u201d in God\u2019s eyes (200).<\/p>\n
This point also raises questions about religion as a justification to exploit native people, an issue which Taylor does an excellent job of highlighting. Puritans claim that they\u2019re permitted to exploit others because they are in God\u2019s favor, but the fact that they do so successfully is also used as proof that God does in fact favor them. The rationale seems circular and flawed, yet the Puritans saw no faults with it, and their religious convictions only increased violence in their interactions with natives.<\/p>\n
I appreciate Taylor\u2019s emphasis on the effects of King Philip\u2019s War within English colonies, as I was mostly familiar with its damages to the many native tribes involved in the war. Taylor\u2019s observation that the New English faced \u201cshocking and demoralizing\u201d losses and mass destruction from the Indian rebels creates a more complex context for colonies in the New World. The New English may have decimated the natives in some respects, but both sides suffered dramatic losses, and English losses often left settlements vulnerable to their European enemies, such as the French. Taylor\u2019s forte as a historian is arguably showing the complexity and diversity of American colonies over time. Though he struggles to incorporate all elements of the story at times, the story he does tell challenges common notions of colonial America and reveals much overlooked in a high school US history course.<\/p>\n
This trend of pulling focus from the English continues in Taylor\u2019s description of the middle colonies, when he devotes almost half of the chapter to the Dutch Empire. I found the detailed information on Dutch activity in the New World especially intriguing because in my former experiences with US history, the Dutch are merely mentioned in passing. The brief background usually presented only serves to clarify later English activity, yet Taylor closely examines the Dutch in their own context, thereby enriching the following account of English middle colonies. I didn’t realize how extensive the Dutch Empire was in the New World, and while Taylor\u2019s focus on the non-English has some flaws, in this instance it also created a richer context for the middle colonies, much more diverse than New England and the Chesapeake Bay colonies.<\/p>\n
Taylor\u2019s writing best suits one already acquainted with American history, for his approach to history, while a fresher perspective than that of a textbook, does overlook points generally emphasized in the history of colonial America. As someone mentioned earlier in class (my apologies, I don\u2019t recall who), John Smith, a renowned and significant figure in American history, receives little attention, while Taylor\u2019s account of the French fur trade spans a considerable number of pages.<\/p>\n
In these chapters on the English middle colonies, Taylor once more struggles to include the important information about the English without giving them the spotlight. He provides invaluable and often overlooked information in many instances, but his writing is best used when supplemented with other material and discussion; it perhaps lacks the focus to serve as a fundamental resource on American history. I enjoyed reading about the Dutch history in the region but was surprised by the resulting lessened importance of English colonies. I\u2019m left wondering: what exactly is <\/i>best to include in an account of American history?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Focusing now on how the Puritans interacted with the Indians, Taylor develops significantly the portrayal of New England from last week\u2019s reading. His descriptions of Puritan anxiety to suppress natives and of imbalanced trades capture the darker facets of New England, practically unmentioned in chapter eight. The special attention given to King Philip\u2019s War certainly … <\/p>\n