How Was King Philip's War Affected Puritan And Native American Society?

King Philip’s war had a dramatic effect on both Puritan and Native American society. It is evident that the war was indeed a turning point for Anglo-Indian relations and caused dissidence to form between the two cultures. It also effected the relations between the Massachusetts colony and the English government in England. The war demonstrated the weathering relations between the Wampanoag tribe and the New England colonies, the shifting Puritan self-image, and the relations between New England and London. Prior to King Philip’s war, it is made evident in Converging Worlds that relationships with Indians, albeit not equal, were decent. They interested diplomatically with multiple different tribes including the Wampanoag, Mohegans and Narragansetts.

This proved to be a devastating loss for both sides in the conflict and more was lost than just human lives. It would prove to be the most destructive war per capita in American history. In Daniel Gookin’s tract, it is made evident just how blurred the lines were throughout the war. He describes an account of the “praying Indians” and how difficult their lives were. They were constantly pressured by the Native tribes to join their fight against the English, however, they received little support from their fellow Christian English. His tract depicts how the English viewed all Native Americans as savages, whether Christian or not. This works into Mary Rowlandson account, where she describes Indians as vicious savages and her own capture being punishment from God due to her own lackadaisical Christian worship. Here in lines the great contradictions that plagued the two cultures, it is evident that religion was not what drove the war, it was the differing views by two very different

This is evident in Rowlandson’s account, and this idea is what caused the major shift in ideology toward the Indians. Instead of looking at the physical meaning of the war, in which the English were taking lands from the Natives and cutting trade with them, the English saw the Indians as message from God. Their idea was the “savages” were sent because the colonist were doing wrong in New England, they were pawns being used to carry out God’s will. This in turn made many settlers believe that the Indians were unable to be converted, thus killing relations with the Native