E/MS Unit I:
Two Cultures Collide: Early Relations Between
English Settlers and Indigenous People in
Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies
Introduction
The English men and women who settled in what became Massachusetts did not arrive in an uninhabited wilderness. They founded their colonies in a region that had long been home to numerous
Indian tribes. Relations between the English newcomers and the native people were marked by
interdependence, misunderstanding, and violent conflict.
Framework
5.6: Explain the early relationship of the English settlers to the indigenous peoples, or Indians, in
North America, including the differing views on ownership or use of land and the conflicts between
them (e.g. the Pequot and King Philip’s wars in New England).
Essential Question
What happens when settlers come in sustained contact with indigenous people who have an entirely different set of values?
Unit Lessons
Lesson A:
Native American Tribes and English Colonists in Early
Massachusetts
Organizing Idea
When the first English settlers arrived in what we now know as Massachusetts, the population of native peoples living near the coast had already been dramatically reduced by
disease. Nevertheless, native villages remained, and colonists and Indians came in frequent
contact with one another.
Key Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Which native people lived in what is now Massachusetts in the early 1600s?
Where did they live?
Where were the English settlements located prior to 1675?
How did native people sustain themselves?
In general, how did English settlers view native people?
What can we learn from pre-1700 maps of Massachusetts?
Related Mass Moments
August 21, 1909 “Pilgrim Monument Completed in Provincetown”
When the Pilgrims arrived in the New World, their first stop was present-day Provincetown, where they stayed for five weeks.
April 7, 1630 “Puritans Leave for Massachusetts”
In April 1630, 11 vessels sailed from England full of passengers bound for the brandnew Massachusetts Bay Colony.
July 15, 1635 “William Pynchon Buys Land for Springfield”
After purchasing land from the Agawam Indians, Pynchon established a fur trading post
on the Connecticut River.
December 1, 1826 “First Steamboat Passes Through South Hadley Canal”
For almost two centuries, the Connecticut River served as one of New England’s main
highways.
E/MS Unit 1: Two Cultures Collide
Primary Sources and Materials Bank
Primary Sources
Document E/MS I-1: Excerpts from the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company,
March 4, 1629
Document E/MS I-2: Excerpts from Mourt’s Relation or Journal of the Proceedings of the
Plantation Settled at Plymouth in New England, 1622.
Document E/MS I-3: Friend or Foe? Excerpt from Roger Clapp’s Journal, 1630
Document E/MS I-4: Trading Wampam and Goods for Land: 1636 Deed Transferring
Land from Indians of Agawam to William Pynchon
Document E/MS I-5: John Seller’s Mapp of New England, 1675.
Document E/MS I-6: John Foster’s Map of New-England, 1677.
Materials Bank
Guide to Big Maps: Massachusetts towns settled between 1630-75
E/MS Unit 1: Two Cultures Collide
Activities
Activity 1: Mapping Native American Tribes
and English Settlements
First, have students study the map of the indigenous people who lived in what is now
Massachusetts. Using an outline map of the state, have the class create Big Maps to show
where each tribe lived. Students can use a variety of markers to differentiate the regions
where each tribe lived and then create a key. Explain to the class that large tribes, such as
the Wampanoag and Massachusett, were made up of smaller tribes and sub-tribal groups.
Have students map just the major tribes.
(Students can also use this information to create their own desk maps.)
Read together King Charles’s 1629 grant to the Massachusetts Bay Company. Using a plastic overlay sheet, map the area King Charles “granted” to the settlers. Using another color
marker on the Big Map, add the Massachusetts towns settled up to 1675 in chronological
order. Stop periodically to discuss why settlers founded a town or towns in a particular
location. For example, where were the very first towns? Why did settlers establish towns in
the Connecticut River Valley before moving inland?
Ask
1. What was the attitude of the English king and the settlers towards land in New
England?
2. Why did the settlers establish towns in specific locations?
3. On whose land were they “settling”?
4. Which areas of Massachusetts were still free of English settlers before 1675?
5. How might the native people have responded to the increasing number of English
towns?
Activity 2: Reading Early Settlers’ Accounts
Share with the students information from the Mass Moments about the Pilgrims landing in Provincetown and John Winthrop’s arrival in Salem. Divide the class into groups of
three. Document E/MS I-2 includes several excerpts from Mourt’s Relation; each group
can read a different part of this document. Another group should read the excerpt from
Roger Clapp’s journal.
Mourt’s Relation, first published in London in 1622, describes the Pilgrims’ experiences
between November 1620, when the Mayflower anchored off of what is now Provincetown,
E/MS Unit 1: Two Cultures Collide
and November 1621. Based on their map work, ask students which native people the Pilgrims would have encountered on the tip of Cape Cod? Which tribe did the English meet
in what is now Watertown?
After students read their assignments, have them individually answer the questions listed
at the bottom of the primary source and discuss their answers in groups. Have one member
of each group report what they learned from their reading about the early settlers and the
Wampanoag or Massachusett people to the class.
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Activity 3: Examining a Land Deed
Share information from Mass Moments about the founding of Springfield. Distribute copies of the 1636 deed or display it on a screen so students can follow along while you read it
aloud. Explain what a deed is and how every land transaction made in colonial (and contemporary) Massachusetts is recorded on a deed that is permanently archived. As you read
through the deed, discuss:
1. What is meant by “for ever to trucke and set”? (Even though these words are completely unfamiliar, students are likely to guess that the phrase means the Englishmen will settle permanently on the land.)
2. How did the settlers pay for the land? (Make a list on the board.) Do the terms
seem fair? What do several of the items have in common? Why might metal have
been valuable to native people?
3. Did the settlers use money to pay the Indians? What are “fatham of wampam”?
Students can use dictionaries or online sources to learn about wampam. Have they
ever heard of paying for goods with something other than coins or paper currency?
How is a shell different from a piece of stamped metal (e.g. a coin)?
4. What does the deed promise the native people in addition to payment for land on
which they have lived?
5. Ask students if they are familiar with how native people viewed land. If not, explain
to them that Native Americans did not believe that any individual or group of individuals could “own” land any more than an individual could own air. Have students
hypothesize about the difficulties this completely different understanding of land
ownership would cause.
6. Did the Indian leaders agree to this deed? How do we know?
7. Since the Indians did not believe anyone could own land, what do you imagine they
thought they were giving the English?
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Activity 4: Examining Historic Maps for Information
Divide the class into groups of four; give each group four copies either of Seller’s 1675 map
or Foster’s 1677 map. Ask students to determine what area their map represents and to
identify a few key places that will help orient them. Students working with Foster’s map
may be puzzled by its orientation. Ask the class what is “wrong” with this map? Why might
Foster have made the map in this way? Describe the types of tools cartographers had available to them in the seventeenth century.
Have each group locate the rivers and ocean and, once they agree, color them in blue. (Distribute magnifying glasses if available.) Students should then divide their map into quarters, with each student assigned to answer the following questions about his/her area:
1. Which kinds of animal life are represented?
2. Which topographical features are included?
3. How are human beings depicted and what are they shown doing?
4. Which towns are shown? Are they Indian villages or English settlements? Compare
this map to the Big Maps the class created.
Once students have completed their individual work, ask them to discuss their findings in
their small groups and work together to create a key for their map.
Ask the whole class:
1. What additional information did the maps provide about Massachusetts Bay and
Plymouth colonies?
2. How do these maps compare to the Big Maps the class created? What might account for the differences?
3. Why are rivers prominent on both maps? Are rivers so prominent on present-day
maps of Massachusetts? Why or why not?
4. What do the maps tell us about how Englishmen viewed the region?
5. What are some differences between the way maps today (such as maps published
by chambers of commerce) and maps from the 1600s are illustrated?
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Activity 5: Creative Extension - County Maps
Ask students if they know the name of the county in which they reside. Distribute outline
maps of the county and, using classroom and online resources, ask students to place what
they believe to be the most important information on the map. Students should include a
key. Encourage them to illustrate their maps the way Foster and Seller illustrated theirs.
Display the maps around the classroom and have students discuss their similarities and
differences.
E/MS Unit 1: Two Cultures Collide
Lesson B:
Indian “Praying Towns”
Organizing Idea
The English men and women who settled in Massachusetts in the 1600s believed it was
their duty to convert Native American people to Christianity.
Key Questions
1. What were the Puritans’ goals when they settled what is now Massachusetts?
2. What did Puritan settlers do to achieve these goals?
3. Where were the Indian “praying towns”?
Related Mass Moments
April 7, 1630 “Puritans Leave for Massachusetts”
In April 1630, 11 vessels sailed from England with passengers bound for the brand-new
Massachusetts Bay Colony.
February 19, 1781 “Natick Established”
Natick was among the first Indian “praying towns” established in Massachusetts.
May 3, 1997 “Ceremony Honors Early Indian Students”
Between 1655 and 1698, an Indian College existed at Harvard.
Primary Sources
Document E/MS I-7: An Example to All: Excerpts from “A Model of Christian Charity,”
by John Winthrop, 1630
Document E/MS I-8: Massachusetts Bay Colony seal, 1629
Document E/MS I-9: Teaching and Preaching: Excerpt from John Winthrop’s Journal, Describing the Rev. John Eliot’s Methods of Instructing Indians, 1647
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Activities
Activity 1: Examining the Puritans’ Goals in Relation to Native
Peoples
Explain to students that we do not know exactly when John Winthrop, the first governor of
Massachusetts Bay Colony, gave the famous speech “A Model of Christian Charity,” to the
men and women who sailed with him on the Arabella. Most likely it was on board the ship.
Share information from the Mass Moments essay and then read aloud the excerpts from
Winthrop’s speech, stopping from time to time to discuss what Winthrop was saying.
1. What goals did the Puritans have in coming to the New World?
2. According to Winthrop, how were they to behave?
3. What would be the rewards if the Puritans kept God’s commandments? What
would be the consequences if they did not?
Show students the original Massachusetts Bay Colony seal and explain that when King
Charles I granted the colonists a charter in 1629, he gave them the authority to use a seal.
This seal was used until 1686, shortly after the first charter was revoked, and again from
1689-1692. Read the words that form the outer edge of the seal: sigillum : gvb : et : societ :
de : Mattachvsets : bay : in : Nova : Anglia.
1. What language is this? [Latin]. Ask the students to try to figure out what it says.
[“Seal Government and Society of Massachusetts Bay in New England”]
2. Who is pictured in the center of the seal? What general impressions do students
get looking at the image?
3. What is the Native American “saying” on the seal? [“Come Over and Help Us.”]
4. What does that tell us about how English Puritans viewed the native people and
their responsibilities toward them?
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Activity 2: Establishing “Praying Towns” and Educating Indian
Youth
Share with students pertinent points from the Mass Moments essays on John Eliot and the
founding of Natick and on the Indian College at Harvard. Discuss Eliot’s goals and how
they fit with the goals of the colonial leaders. Distribute copies of an excerpt from John
Winthrop’s journal and have students take turns reading from it. Then discuss the following questions:
1. How would you describe John Eliot? What made him an unusual Englishman?
2. What do missionaries do today?
3. Why did the Puritans think they should convert Native Americans to Christianity?
4. How did John Eliot go about this? What do you think about his approach?
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Lesson C:
King Philip’s War
Organizing Idea
King Philip’s War was the violent culmination of growing conflict between the needs of
Native American tribes and those of the English settlers.
Key Questions
1. What led up to King Philip’s War?
2. What was each side fighting for?
3. How does it affect our understanding of events when the accounts are all written
by one side, or from one point of view?
4. What happened to the Christian Indians?
5. Was your community affected by the war? If so, in what ways was it affected?
Related Mass Moment
Related Mass Moments
June 24, 1675 “King Philip’s War Breaks Out”
As English settlers encroached on native lands, hostilities increased.
Primary Sources
Document E/MS I-10: The Prowess of Native Warriors: Excerpt from Benjamin Church’s
Account of the War as Written by his Son Thomas in 1716
Document E/MS I-11: A Winning Strategy: Excerpts from Capt. Thomas Wheeler’s Account of the Ambush at West Brookfield
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Activities
Activity 1: Accounts of King Philip’s War
Have students refer to their maps showing where Native American tribes lived and where
English settlers had built towns prior to 1675. Share key points from the Mass Moments
essay on the war. Given what they have learned about the relationship between English settlers and native people, how do students think war could have been avoided?
Highlight on the Big Maps the English towns that suffered most from the war.
o Mendon, Brookfield, Lancaster, Deerfield, Northfield, Wrentham, Worcester, Groton, Rehoboth, Middleboro, and Dartmouth were reduced to ashes.
o In Swansea and Marlboro, only a handful of buildings were left standing.
o Hatfield, Springfield, Medfield, Weymouth, Scituate, Sudbury, and Chelmsford all
had significant loss of property and life.
If students live in or near one of these towns, check local histories to see what the authors
say about the war.
1. From whose point of view are accounts of the war written? Why?
2. Do we have a list of villages in which native people lived that were damaged or
destroyed? Why not?
3. If we only know one side of the story in detail, how does that affect our knowledge
of the event?
Give half the class Church’s account and the other half Wheeler’s. After students have
read the excerpts, discuss the following questions:
1. What do these accounts tell us about Native American military tactics?
2. What did Church think about the Native Americans’ tactics? Did Wheeler agree
with him? What words and phrases did Church and Wheeler use that help us
understand their thinking?
3. Does it make a difference that Benjamin Church’s thoughts were written down by
his son 30 years after the war ended? If so, why?
4. What don’t we know after reading these two accounts?
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Activity 2: The Fate of Indian “Praying Towns”
Ask students to imagine what happened to the Christian Indians during King Philip’s War.
Read aloud or share key points from the excerpts from “John Hoar’s Stand.”
1. Why do students think the colonists treated the Christian Indians so badly?
2. What might have been a reasonable and fair solution to the conflict?
3. Can students think of other instances in history when innocent people were imprisoned in this way (such as the internment of Japanese-Americans during WW
II)?
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Lesson D:
William Apess and the “Mashpee Revolt”
Organizing Idea
The first American Indian protest writer, William Apess helped the Mashpee regain their
independence.
Key Questions
1. Who was William Apess?
2. How did Apess present the Native American view of King Philip’s War?
3. What led up to the “Mashpee Revolt” and how were the Mashpees’ grievances
resolved?
Related Mass Moments
January 31, 1798 “Native American Writer Born”
A powerful orator, William Apess was the first American Indian protest writer.
May 21, 1833 “Indians in Mashpee Demand Self-Government”
Mashpee Indians petitioned the governor to restore their rights.
Primary Sources
Document E/MS I-12: King Philip—Leader of His People: Excerpts from the Rev.
William Apess’s “Eulogy on King Philip,” 1837
Document E/MS I-13: Let Us Rule Ourselves: Excerpts from the Mashpee Petition to the
Massachusetts Legislature, May 1833
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Activities
Activity 1: The Rev. William Apess Presents a Different Point
of View
Share the key points from the Mass Moments essay on the life of William Apess. He published five books, including A Son of the Forest (1829), the first published autobiography
written by an American Indian.
Apess’s final work was his “Eulogy to King Philip,” written in 1837, 161 years after the end
of King Philip’s War. Discuss:
1. How might a piece of writing be affected when so many years have passed since the
events it describes?
2. How do historians learn about events and people in earlier times?
3. Where might Apess have gotten the information he used in this account of the war
and its Indian leader?
Read aloud or share key points from the excerpts from the eulogy or have the students
work in pairs or small groups and then answer the questions at the end of the document.
Activity 2: The “Mashpee Revolt”
Read aloud or share key points from the Mass Moments essay that describes the Mashpees’ efforts to gain self-government. Have students read the petition and make a list of the
Mashpees’ grievances and demands; then answer the questions at the end of the document.
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