On Subjects Unto the Same King

This is an illuminating text about Massachusetts between 1621 (with the “first Thanksgiving”) and the revocation of the Massachusetts Bay charter/the establishment of Massachusetts as a permanent royal colony. In the book, Pulsipher argues that—although the declaration on the first Thanksgiving promised friendship between the English and Native Americans—the English rapidly came to see the Native Americans of New England as subordinate peoples, rather than friends. In contrast, chiefs (kings? leaders?) of the Wampanoag saw themselves as “brothers” of the King of England rather than necessarily being in a subordinate position.

Native peoples frequently collaborated with other peoples who rejected the authority of the leaders of Massachusetts—this included the Dutch, the French, the people of Maine, of New Hampshire, and of Rhode Island. However, over the course the 17th century, English power over Native peoples became stronger. The leadership of Massachusetts Bay often found itself in an antagonistic position to the English crown, as its charter promised near-sovereignty, but those opposed to the way Massachusetts was governed would generally appeal to the king. Whether the king could or did intervene depended on domestic conditions in England. The English Civil War and the growth of the Commonwealth, for example, allowed the governors of Massachusetts to significantly increase their power because Oliver Cromwell—as a Puritan—tended to side with the Puritans of Massachusetts, believing that they shared a project.

By the 1670s, Algonquian-speaking peoples of New England could no longer tolerate this situation and went to war against the English. This conflict, which has become known as King Philip’s War, ended with the devastation of the Wampanoag and neighboring Indian nations. Metacom (or King Philip) was killed during the war and his successor came to (or was coerced to) accept the supremacy of the English monarch—no longer did they claim that the king of the Wampanoag and the king of the English were equals. Unfortunately for the English of Massachusetts, the devastation wrought by this war brought New England to the attention of Charles II, who revoked Massachusetts’s charter and temporarily placed it under crown rule. After some shifting in authority between 1676 and 1691, Massachusetts was transformed into a permanent crown colony, wiping out the influence of Massachusett’s governors.

In the process, Massachusetts and a variety of Native American nations—which both saw themselves sovereign at the beginning of the period—both became fully subordinate to the English monarchy.

This is a really interesting study of legitimacy and political power, especially in the way that it shows the expansion of royal power across the Atlantic, which in many ways set the stage for the revolts in Massachusetts against British (no longer English) policies in the 1760s and 1770s. I find Pulsipher’s account to be both illuminating and convincing. While I was familiar with most of the major events mentioned here, I didn’t really have a strong sense of narrative to make sense of the processes at play. Instead, 17th century New England seemed more a cacophony of names, ideas, and places. Here, they come together really well.

Highly recommend.