Europeans_and_Indians

Amir Ben Shabat Professor Jason Opal American History to 1865 HIST 211 February 5, 2010 Peace between the Europeans and Indians James Oakes et al., Of the People: A History of the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 33 Ronald Dale Karr, “Why Should You Be So Furious'”: The Violence of the Pequot War, The Journal of American History (1998) 877 wonder which European settlers were more successful in keeping the peace with the Indian peoples. I believe that the French were the most successful in keeping the peace, because of the fact that there were more intermarriage between French and the Indians, and the French had a more successful trade network between the Indians. One of the ways that the French were able to maintain peace was through intermarriages between them and the Indians. The French government was not very interested in settling their colonies. Most of the settlers in New France were men, who were mostly traders or priests. Many of these settlers took concubines or Indian wives and thus were able to promote good relationships with the Indians. “Both the Indians and the French believed that mixed marriages provided a strong foundation for trading and military alliances.”3 Without these alliances, the French would not stand a chance against other European settlers or Indian tribes. They also intermarried because of the fact that there were very few French women in the colonies, so the French settlers married the Indian wives of the chiefs. As such, many of the settlers moved in with the Indians and since “the Hurons were accustomed to adopting members of different ethnic groups”4; the French and the Indians were able to live in peace with each other. Furthermore, the French were also able to keep the peace with the Indians because of the trade network that they established with them. Oakes, Of the People, 50. Oakes, Of the People, 50. Professor Jason Opal, January 18, 2010, McGill University 7 Opal, January 18, 2010, McGill University