Voyage From Holland To America Analysis

Introduction Understanding the different reasonings why David Pietersz DeVries opposed the New Netherland Governor Willem Kieft’s tactics is vital because it allows us to understand the mindset of the people in the 17th century and why they did the things they did. DeVries’ document, “Voyages from Holland to America”, also gives people insight on the Governor’s senseless massacre of the Indian people in 1643. David DeVries was born in the early 1590s in Rochelle, France. He emigrated from France to New Netherland and became a patroon. He died after he returned home to New Netherland, disappointed, after the Kieft’s War in 1662 (HR, p. 98). When reading this document, one can pick out three reasons why DeVries opposed the Governor’s massacre, those being on humanitarian, pragmatic, and personal grounds, the main reason being on humanitarian grounds. These three reasons will be further analyzed to truly understand all reasonings.
Humanitarian Grounds David DeVries had strong oppositions towards Governor Kieft’s raid of the land, his main point being on humanitarian grounds. He believed that the raid was a senseless mass murder and made it clear that he

The most selfish reason was the fact that all of his personal belongings and crops would have been affected. He made this massacre about himself by saying: “My own dwelling, my people, cattle, corn, and tobacco will be lost” (HR, p. 99). Although his views were reasonable, at that moment it was necessary to bring the topic up when there were a large amount of people’s lives at stake. Another reason, which was more logical than selfish, was that he was not consulted. As a member of the “Twelve Men” he should have been talked to before making the decision (HR, p. 98). The idea behind the twelve men were put in place so that the military could be sure they were making fair and logical