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Women In Powhatan Society

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Thesis: The English were a prideful group, entangled in ethnocentrism, that caused a condescending and harsh treatment of the Native Americans, while the Native Americans were actually a dynamic and superior society, which led to the resentment and strife between the groups. P1: English view of Native Americans in VA Even though the English were subordinates of the Powhatan, they disrespected him and his chiefdom due to their preconceived beliefs that they were inferior. “Although the Country people are very barbarous, yet have they amongst them such government...that would be counted very civil…[by having] a Monarchical government” (Smith 22). John Smith acknowledges the “very civil” government of the Natives but still disrespected them by calling them “very barbarous,” which …show more content…

The men were “...tall of stature, and strength...and the women have handsome limbs, slender arms, and pretty hands…” (Strachey 20). All the way from the individual men who were masculine with “tall [] stature, and strength” to the women who were beautiful, shows the individuals in the society were elite. The society as a whole was very elite and intricate society with “a Monarchial government” gaining land through “inheritance” and “several conquests,” with a type of justice system, where those who “offend [the Powhatan]” are punished (Smith 22 & 23). The Natives were already an intricate society, but when foreigners arrived, they proved to be a dynamic society by adapting to further their civilization. When the English arrived the Natives were “bold and audacious as they dare [came] unto [the English’s] forts, truck and trade with [them]...” (Strathcey 21). The Native Americans from the individual people all the way to their hierarchy, justice system and willingness to adapt set them in the same category of eliteness and intricacy as all other foreign societies at the

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