During these next 10 chapters of Sarah Vowell's book, a lot happens in the communities of the English settlers and Native American's. Vowell begins talking about her trip to Plymouth, Boston and Charleston with her nephew and sister. I can relate to her going to these places because one summer my family went on a trip down the coast and visited many places from Salem to Boston. One of those places was Plymouth and the famous Plymouth Rock. Before the trip I pictured the rock, a huge and majestic piece of earth which stood high and mighty. But I was wrong. It sat 10 feet bellow fenced in by an iron railing, small and lonely, and out of the picture. The replica of the Mayflower, the Mayflower 2, was getting more attention. At that time I thought it was pretty cool, but looking back at it now and learning all these things of what shaped America to what it is today, I am amazed that it all began with this rock. Apparently, as I came to find out, the rock had been moved, I believe, several times for whatever reasons.
Getting back to the early 1600's, there were several problems brewing within not only the Massachusetts Bay colony, but as well as Plymouth, Providence and the surrounding Indian tribes about to get a wake-up call. But before all of that, Winthrop takes us back to his journey across the Atlantic. "During Winthrop's two months on the Atlantic, he writes of the cold and the fog. There are tempests. There are days when the sea is 'beating us back as much as the wind put us forward.'" (Pg. 86) This was pretty much what it was like throughout their journey across the Atlantic. I would imagine that these events would lower a persons yearning to travel to a New World, or for that matter on a boat. Some days, you would see a whale, and on others you would get lucky fishing and catch enough fish to hold a feast.Nowadays, the boats are literally floating hotels. Which I think is pretty ridiculous if you ask me. But once through their perilous journey across the dangerous sea, Winthrop and his crew set their eyes on the best thing on Earth at that moment, land. This is where the fun starts. Unlike the "Mayflower Puritans," Winthrop had become lucky and ran into a colony welcomed by a man named John Endecott.
Once settled and doing well for a new colony, a man by Roger Williams steps into the picture and drastically changes history forever. Williams is a truthful man, unlike many. He sticks to what he believes in and doesn't change his mind. William's believes that the sacred and secular authorities should be different and there should be a wall separating the two. He also believes that, "a civil state should permit all forms of religion, including 'the most paganish, Jewish, Turkish [Islamic] or Antichristian consciences.'" (Pg. 136) With this I think is what got people talking about what if he is right But that was enough out of Williams and he was banished from Massachusetts Bay. Comparing Winthrop's "Model of Christian Charity" speech Vowell looks at Williams as an infection of the body. "Williams was no longer a member of their body-he was an infection that needed to be surgically remove." (Pg. 144) I agree with Vowell on this one and I think many of those people exist today in our society. I look at former president George Bush as an infection to the head of America making all the wrong decisions and making our country sick. His term eventually was up and the infection was successfully removed, but a little too late. Now our new president, Barrack Obama, needs to mend our wounds and heal alliances with other nations.
What I found interesting was the fact of the bigger Puritan churches had two jobs to fill. A pastor and a teacher. "'The pastor's special work is to attend to exhortation, and therein to administer a word of wisdom; the teacher is to attend to doctrine and therein to administer a word of knowledge.'" (Pg. 98) I had never heard of this before and just thought to point it out. Do churches still practice this way to this day?
When the Puritan settlers traveled to America they wanted to start something new and fresh and get away from the old. In their old country the ministers participated in the government and held office. Seeing that this didn't work out well, Winthrop and his fellow Puritan's went on a different course and separated the two. So, when Williams proposed that the church and state should exist separately, they agreed with him, somewhat. "Winthrop and his shipmates came here to get away from Bishop Laud, not create another one, and Laud's recent attacks on the charter only confirm that clergyman should not moonlight as magistrates." (Pg. 138) The only thing that would make this whole trip of Winthrop and his followers abandoning their homeland pointless, would be to become like they once were in England. Looking at America today, our current way of life has been shaped and molded a countless number of times. Those little and sometimes big changes for example the Great Depression changed the lives of many people. Inventions of the television, computer, telephone, and electricity changed the whole world sometimes for the better and other times for the worse. Disasters like Katrina and 9/11 has torn our country's emotions apart but has brought our families closer together. Either it be for the worse or the better, each event in history has shaped what we call America today and will continue to mold it in every way.
The second half of these chapters mainly focuses on the bloody and horrific Pequot War. I have only heard about this war, but when i started reading it I grimaced and couldn't believe the human nature of some people. But before the events of the Pequot War, it seemed as though a savior had arrived, Henry Vane the Younger. "Vane will have a long career...whenever he turns up-New England now and the English Parliament later-he is usually a voice of reason, moderation, liberty, and love." (Pg. 140) This was Vowell's explanation of Henry, but sadly never get to here of him besides his background. After Henry arrives, Williams is banished and creates his own community devoted to people with different religions. He also sides with native Indians in the south, and is determined to write a book he called The Key.
The Key was used by many persons, usually trappers, who knew close to nothing about the Algonquian language, and wanted to trade goods like animal furs. This close relationship Williams had set-up with the Indians was used by the Massachusetts Bay colony as a spy, negotiator, and an ambassador. When I read this I thought of 007 and his usual spying and undercover work he goes about doing in his movies. Searching for clues and useful information. During his stay in the Native Americans village he attempted to convert some of the people to Christianity because what he saw them do while worshiping their gods looked like the devils doing. But he had no success because they had spent all their lives worshiping many many Gods and couldn't except the fact that there was only one. Now, their are a countless number of religions and you can choose a religion that is either going to be monotheistic or polytheistic. The Indians were obviously polytheistic.
Now began the Pequot War, the first most bloodiest battles of the new settlers lives. It was a battle of deceit and lies, which are usually what most wars are, where one Native American tribe named the Pequot's were overthrown and defeated by the other two rival tribes, the Narragansett, the Mohegans, and the Englishmen. Like every war that is fought, the Pequot War was bloody and merciless. The three groups of men came together as one and surrounded the Pequot village. The other Native American's politely asked the Englishmen to spare the women and children. But of course, blinded by revenge and rage, they killed without thought. Slaughtering hundreds of people, it wasn't a war, it was a massacre. "'And thus...in little more than an hour's space was their impregnable fort with themselves utterly destroyed, to the number of six or seven hundred...' some of them babies, some of those babies' mothers, were burned alive in their homes." "Two Englishmen die and about twenty are wounded." (Pg. 193) Then they thank the lord for, "burning them up in the fire of his wrath, and dunging the ground with their flesh: It is the Lord's doings, and it is marvelous in our eyes!" (Pg. 194) This is probably one of the creepiest things i have heard ever. The sad thing is that, this is still happening today with the wars we are fighting now. It is unbelievable that we as human beings, all the same, continue to kill each other the way we do. Not even sparing a single child sometimes. I hope someday we will be able to realize what we are doing, that includes everyone, step back and say, "Why?"
Monday, August 24, 2009
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