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Themes In The Mayflower

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CAPE SEA Themes in the Mayflower
Culture and Society The Culture and Society of both the colonists and the natives was forever shaped and changed when the Europeans settled in America. As the colonists pushed Christianity onto the natives, the natives took it and made it theirs, intermingling ancient rituals with prayer. Many learned English and studied with the colonists. Even Massasoit’s sons participated, Wamsutta requested, “that the Court would confer an English name upon him...that for the future he shall be called by the name of Alexander of Pokanoket; and desiring the same in the behalf of his brother, they have named him Philip,” (pg 196). The colonists, though more wary of change, started to harvest and eat the same food as the natives …show more content…

All thought the colonists had seen the importance of Politics and Power from the beginning with the Mayflower Contract and the election of John Carver as their governor, laws hadn’t been particularly enforced. The 1630s saw all of the colonies being ruled by a General Court of a governor and his assistants, as well as deputies from the towns making up each colony. The General Court not only passed laws, levied taxies, and distributed land, but “probated wills and heard criminal trials,” (pg 175). Land disputes were abundant and the Court ordered many a execution for charges ranging from murder to …show more content…

Never before had they experienced summers so warm and winters so cold, especially as they arrived to America during “the little ice age”. Disease affected both natives and colonists. Smallpox devastated the Indians, “their flesh became so consumed with sores that their flesh adhered to the mats on which they slept,” (pg 172). Influenza also killed hundreds upon thousands of Indians and Colonists.
Settlement & Migration The colonists may have been wary of traveling to far into Indian territory when the first arrived to America, but they soon spread along the coast. When the colonists arrived, “there had been forty miles between them and Massasoit’s village at Sowams. By 1655, there were just a few miles between the Pokanokets’ headquarters and the closest English homes,” (pg 193). Settlement & Migration were key to the colonists surviving and thriving in America. Had they not explored further, they may never have found the food the needed or created the bonds with Indians they used to dominate the land.
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