Essay On Native American Conflict

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As colonies expanded, tension between the natives and settlers increased. Yet, many scholars today ask if the conflict between Europeans and Native Americans was Inevitable. Some, like Kenny say that the relationship was doomed from the first sight of this land. Other, like Van Zandt, say that this conflict didn’t exist between the natives and Europeans, but the Europeans amongst themselves and there could have been a different outcome if the Europeans had a more open mindset. Though both are true, Van Zandt does not fully clarify the clashing personalities that eventually created conflict. Kenny realizes that yes, some colonies were kinder to the natives, but they still carried that European mindset that claimed superiority, and that this…show more content…
Van Zandt’s excerpt, she argues that conflict was not inevitable, and uses the Calibone and Susquehannock alliance and Jamestown as her examples. With Jamestown, she explains that this alliance helped shape the Susquehannock and English alliance and that the natives and English had mutual respect for each other as the natives saved the English’s life. With the Calibone and Susquehannock alliance, she explains that Champlain first looked at the natives and thought of them as a profitable alliance and treated them with kindness. Both people hoped to benefit each other. Eventually, Calibone arrived and realized this alliance would profit him in the trading world, and eventually made Kent Island: a specific land just for trading with those natives. For many years, Kent Island was closely tied with the Susquehannocks and worked with them peacefully. She argues that even after Kent Island was lost, it wasn’t the relations between the natives and Caliborne that caused the alliance to end, but the colonists who fought for the native’s alliance. For Van Zandt, her proving point is that the conflict was caused by Europeans versus Europeans and not natives versus Europeans. She says that without the European’s clashing ambitions, the natives wouldn’t have needed to
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