Colonial American Indian Analysis

A Comparison of the Acquisition of Wealth and Property among the Northeastern American Indians and the Colonial American English Colonists

Native Americans were living in North America long before the English discovered and began to settle in North America. The English began to take over the land and this brought about conflict between the Northeastern American Indians and the English colonists. This conflict arose because of the controversial views of property and wealth. What is wealth? Wealth is an abundance of valuable possessions or money; the state of being rich; material prosperity. What is property? Property is a thing or things belonging to someone. We use these definitions of wealth and property in our society today. The English

The Indians owned what they made with their own hands and they would use these things or give or trade with another person. This can be also considered personal property. The difference in the Indians and the colonists’ views on personal property is that the Indians had no issue giving away what they own for nothing in return. “Goods were owned because they were useful, if they ceased to be so, or were needed by someone else, they could easily be given away” (Cronon, 61). As can be understood here, that the Indians had no reason for accumulation. The did not believe in the need to continuously increase what they had unlike the colonists who believed that the only way to wealth is through the accumulation of valuable

Benjamin Franklin wrote that the way to wealth is to “waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both”. The English colonists had a clear concept of monetary value that the Native American Indians did not have. An Englishmen that owned property had more rights and more wealth than a slave. A slave was considered property and during this time in the 17th century, slavery was a big part of the English culture. Unlike the colonists, the Indians did not view land as property, they did not believe in the buying a selling of another man. For the colonists, land ownership as personal property represented one’s wealth and status in the community. “Property made the difference” (Breen, 5). There is even record in Virginia of blacks being able to have property. This gain of property gave the blacks status and wealth. “Property provided a livelihood as well as immunity for depredation. It gave them identity before the law and security in times of trouble” (Breen, 6). For one to own their own property meant freedom. An example of the difference that the acquisition of property made for a person’s life is the story of Anthony Jackson. “In one document he was described as a planter, a sign that his property brought him economic standing within the community” (Breen, 16). The record of his life alone shows how the ownership of property gave a person status and wealth even as a