ABSTRACT
The history of Native Americans and Puritans in seventeenth-century New England reveals a pattern of racism and genocide that is often hidden, misrepresented, and misunderstood in both historical narratives and popular myths and culture. This chapter documents and analyzes theological beliefs in Puritanism that provided an impetus for conquest, enslavement, massacres, executions, persecutions, forced removals, reservations, internment camps, and the eventual usurpation of all Native lands. These beliefs contributed to a systemic pattern of distrust and aggression toward Native Americans, resulting eventually in the extermination of most tribes across southern New England and beyond. The paradigm continued to inform the United States policies and attitudes in later centuries, albeit in a more secular form, through the concepts of manifest destiny and American exceptionalism. Thus, New England history is an important model and key to understanding racism, violence, and aggression present in the United States society today.
