Teaching American History
Leadership in America: Dilemmas and Opportunities
Summer II 2009: Creation of a Nation (04.554)
Heather Goodwin
Methuen Public Schools
Credit Choice II: Leadership Handbook
August 1, 2009
Module 1: Metacomet
Metacomet, (also known as King Philip) born in 1638, was the son of Massasoit, the Wampanoag sachem who befriended the Pilgrims and negotiated peace with them in 1621. During the days of Massasoit, the tribe occupied the lands from the eastern side of Narragansett Bay to Cape Cod. Massasoit had developed a successful relationship with the colonists, but tribal lands diminished dramatically as the colonists expanded. The Wampanoags' dependence upon English manufactured goods led them into increasing land sales, resulting in resentment and tension.
Metacomet became sachem in 1662 after the deaths of his father and older brother, Wamsutta. Attempting at first to maintain the alliance his father had developed with the English, Metacomet was faced with the final degradation to his people when, in 1671, he was questioned by Plymouth's administrators, and was released only after surrendering a hoard of guns and promising that the Wampanoag would submit to English law. He vowed it would be he and his tribe’s last humiliation.
It was inevitable that Native Americans would rebel against Puritan abuses. After several decades, many Algonquians in New England were willing to risk everything to rid their home of the newcomers and their religion. The Algonquian warriors found the leader they sought in Metacomet. Metacomet had been anticipating war since 1662, going among the tribes of the Algonquin to build up support. Talking with various native tribes, he spent over a decade trying to persuade them of the need for war with the English. Many young, Algonquian warriors desperately wanted revenge against the English. The old sachems, however, were not ready for war. Metacomet had a decision to make. He had to decide if the time had finally come to go to war. Metacomet stalled his decision in order to build up more support among the various Algonquin tribes, specifically with the strong Narragansett. Resentful about the subsequent disgrace and misery to which he and his people were continually subjected by whites, Metacomet, in June 1675, led a confederation of Algonquian tribes consisting of Wampanoag, Narragansett, Abenaki, and Nipmuck warriors into battle. The confederation, outfitted with rifles and armor, attacked a series of colonial settlements. Though the attacks were vicious, they were no more so than those the Puritans had waged against tribes for decades with less provocation. English forces retaliated by destroying native villages and slaughtering the inhabitants. Most of the New England colonies fell into conflict. This conflict, known as King Philip’s War, would prove to be, in proportion to population, the most fatal war in American history. This war nearly destroyed the Massachusetts Bay colony, wiping out every English settlement west of Concord.
Metacomet and the other tribal chiefs were trained warriors and fierce leaders. The end to King Philip’s War came not from a lack of military proficiency, but from disease and famine suffered by the Algonquian people. By the summer of 1676, Metacomet's most loyal supporters saw his cause was hopeless. After tremendous loss of life and property on both sides, Metacomet’s confederation began to disintegrate and his attempts to ally with the Mohawks failed, leaving him in a difficult position. It was clear by April of 1676 that the confederation had been defeated after a series of losses to the colonial settlers. Metacomet returned to his ancestral home to plan the confederation’s next maneuver. He was soon betrayed and killed on August 12, 1676 during the Great Swamp Fight at Mount Hope. Accounts of the battle allege that he was killed by a Wampanoag turncoat who had allied with the colonists. After being fatally shot, his corpse was beheaded and quartered. His head was displayed on a pole for 25 years at Plymouth Colony.
Before the European settlements in New England, tribal governments held complete authority over their people and their general welfare. They educated their children, cared for their sick, and lived off of the land. Their way of living would officially come to an end with King Philip's War. The colonists triumphed, but the cost was tremendous. It would be more than two decades before all of the demolished settlements could be inhabited, and expansion in the West was seriously delayed. The confederation’s desperate battle to save their people and their land resulted in the loss most of their land, a tragic amount of casualties, and many being sold into domestic service in the colonies and slavery in the Caribbean. Despite the efforts of Metacomet and the Algonquian warriors, the New England Native Americans were devastated to the extent that their impact on future events would be almost nonexistent.
Module 2: Powhatan
All of the tribes that were part of the leader Powhatan’s paramount chiefdom were referred to as the Powhatan Nation. There were as many as thirty separate tribes paying tribute to the great chief when the English arrived in 1607. Other tribes, such as the Chickahominy and the Rappahannock resisted becoming part of Powhatan’s confederacy, although they were usually allies of the Powhatan tribes.
When the English arrived in Virginia in 1607, Powhatan, also called Wahunsunacock, was the acknowledged chief of as many as thirty tribes, ruling more than one-hundred fifty towns and approximately 24,000 people. Powhatan, who was probably in his sixties when he first encountered the English, had acquired leadership of these tribes through inheritance and coercion that was reinforced through marriage ties. He held his position through military strength and personal charisma, as well as through a complicated system of social rules not fully understood by the English.
The tribes under Powhatan’s leadership paid him tribute through food and goods, which were then used for redistribution to needy tribes in his confederacy, trade, rewards, and various ceremonies. Captain John Smith was presented as a prisoner to Powhatan in December of 1607. According to some accounts, Powhatan threatened to kill him, but his daughter, Pocahontas, intervened to rescue him. Many historians now believe that a mock execution was a ritual intended to adopt Smith into the tribe and that there was never any intent on killing Smith. Regardless of the reason for Smith’s release, in less than a month, Smith was free, back in Jamestown, and had negotiated a deal by which Powhatan would provide the colonists with food in exchange for English goods. Powhatan and the English became allies and trading partners in early 1608. Both sides exchanged youths to learn the other’s languages and ways. Trading began with the Powhatan providing food in exchange for metal and manufactured goods. Their relationship began with his capture and developed into an alliance that saved the Jamestown colony. This relationship, unfortunately, soon deteriorated into one of hostility.
Powhatan could have easily destroyed the Jamestown colony in its first year. When the English arrived, tribes to the north and west were challenging Powhatan’s rule. Some people think that Powhatan may have seen neighboring tribes as a greater threat than the English. Perhaps he saw Captain John Smith as a new ally who could provide useful weapons. From the Native American perspective, the English had some abilities and knowledge that would have been useful if they could be brought under Powhatan’s leadership or if they remained as allies. He may have even believed that the English would leave soon. Opinions differ on why the alliance between the English and Powhatan failed. Possible reasons include: Smith violating agreements with Powhatan by trading with other tribes, the English would not submit to Powhatan’s rule, Powhatan realized that the English intended on remaining in Virginia permanently, and a clash between two tremendously different cultures and agendas.
There is no doubt that the food and assistance provided by the Powhatan allowed the colony to survive its first winter. Before the food relief, the colony was in dreadful shape. The English attempt to stage a coronation ceremony for Powhatan in the fall of 1608 in order to prove the importance of the alliance. The English colonists invited Powhatan to Jamestown offering him gifts and proposing to crown him, having him swear allegiance to King James I. Powhatan refused to come and the English went to Powhatan, exchanged gifts, formalized trade, and forced a crown on Powhatan’s head. This coronation ceremony marked the start of a power struggle. It is likely that Powhatan wanted to incorporate the English into his group of tribes, placing the Jamestown colony under his leadership. When he realized the English had a similar agenda, hostilities were inevitable.
Over the late fall and winter of 1608, the Powhatan tribes became uncooperative and refused to trade corn. Amidst a drought, Jamestown colonists were again dependent on Powhatan and near starvation. In January 1609, Smith visited Powhatan, but negotiations failed. After that, relationships between Powhatan’s tribes and the English were tense. There was no outright war, but there were hostilities and a lack of cooperation. During the course of 1609, relationships further deteriorated. The English changed their policies and decided to overthrow Powhatan and impose English rule on his tribe. Smith encouraged cooperation, yet the Jamestown colonists accused him of favoring Powhatan. Smith, suffering from an injury, returned to England. After his departure, open conflict between the colonists and the Native Americans intensified. Frustrated by the English, Powhatan retired from leadership around 1616, transferring power to his brother, Opechankanough, and died in April 1618.
Module 3: John Quincy Adams
No American who ever entered the presidency was more equipped for that office than John Quincy Adams. Born on July 11, 1767 in Braintree, Massachusetts, he was the son of two passionate revolutionary patriots, John and Abigail Adams. Living amongst the battles of the Revolutionary War near Boston, John Quincy Adams was a child of the American Revolution. He adopted his parents’ beliefs about the future of the United States and dedicated his life to the nation's strengthening and expansion. John Quincy twice accompanied his father on dangerous, diplomatic voyages to Europe in order for his father to give him international experience and to mold a second generation of enlightened leadership in U.S. foreign affairs. Through the example and observation of his parents, he learned the sacrifices that leaders need to make to preserve and protect the welfare of society.
As an adolescent, two opportunities soon arose for John Quincy to actively serve his country. In 1781, he accompanied Francis Dana, the U.S. Minister to Russia, as his private secretary and French interpreter. Upon his return to his father in France, in 1783, Adams served as a secretary to the U.S. commissioners in the negotiation of the Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution. In 1784, John Quincy Adams returned to America to attend Harvard University and become an attorney like his father. He graduated in 1787 and, after completing an internship, John Quincy was admitted to the Bar in Boston in 1790 and became a practicing attorney.
First appointed by George Washington in the 1790s, Adams began a career as a diplomat. President Washington appointed John Quincy Adams as U.S. Minister to Holland. Adams' views were so valued that George Washington even quoted him in his "Farewell Address" of 1796. President Washington even praised John Quincy Adams as "the most valuable public character we have abroad." When John Adams was elected President in 1797, he appointed his son as U.S. Minister to Prussia. John Quincy intended to improve relations between the U.S. and Prussia. In order to achieve this, Adams worked hard to become fluent in German. This made his diplomatic work easier and he successfully negotiated the Treaty of Amity and Commerce in Prussia's capital city of Berlin in 1799.
John Quincy returned to Massachusetts in 1801 and was elected to the Massachusetts Senate. In 1803 the Massachusetts legislature elected him as a member of the United States Senate. As U.S. Senator, Adams approved the Louisiana Purchase (1803), refused to take a pro-British stance in the Napoleonic Wars, and aligned himself with the policies of Thomas Jefferson and his Secretary of State, James Madison. John Quincy's adherence to his own principles in supporting President Jefferson's Embargo Act (1807), at once gained him the appreciation of the Republican Party. Although Adams understood that the Embargo was unpopular in New England because of its harmful effect on the region's economy, he daringly supported the act because he believed it was the best method to gain British respect of American maritime rights.
In 1809, President Madison appointed John Quincy Adams as the first United States Minister to Russia. With the hard work of Adams, the United States soon exceeded England as Russia's leading trading partner. At the onset of war between England and the United States in 1812, Adams became involved in efforts to negotiate an end to hostilities, which resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Ghent that ended the War of 1812.
John Quincy completed his long and brilliant career as a diplomat by serving for two years as U.S. Minister to England before he returned to the United States to become Secretary of State in President James Monroe's Administration. Serving between 1817 and 1825, he rightfully earned the distinction as one of the United States' finest Secretaries of State. He guided negotiations with Great Britain that resolved the remaining disputes between the two countries and began an era of friendly relations between both nations, which continues today. He contributed to the drafting of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 in order to protect Latin American plans for independence.
John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson were the two likely replacements for Monroe. A feud was created between Adams and Jackson because Jackson believed that Adams had inappropriately won the presidency. Jackson's supporters immediately opposed Adams in every way possible. As a result, John Quincy Adams entered the White House with severe political liabilities. Adams advocated a broad system of internal improvements (mostly canals and turnpikes) to be paid for out of increasing revenues from western land sales and tariffs on imports. He supported a uniform system of weights and measures and the improvement of the patent system, both to promote science and to encourage enterprise and invention in the United States. His plans were met with contempt and ridicule. Soon his Jacksonian enemies won control of both Houses of Congress in the election of 1826. As his presidential term proceeded, John Quincy Adams' best intentions for the improvement of his nation seemed to always meet with failure. Even in foreign affairs, despite John Quincy's vast experience, the Administration failed to achieve its goals due to the opposition in Congress. Grieving over the deaths of his son and father, and believing his political career to be over, Adams retired to Quincy to seek comfort in his garden and his books.