This is one of my research cards from my Colonial research. I am researching government in the Colonial Era. For these note cards we find quotes and then analyse them. The reason this is my best note card is because I analysed this one the most. The reason this is good is because the more you analyse, the more you know about your topic.
Notecards
Crimes Committed in Tribes
Source:
Colonial interpreter. (2015). [Personal interview by R. M].
Quote:
“What crimes were committed in different tribes, and what punishments were dealt out because of them?”
“We had what we called blood law, and that was a major component in our law. It was basically an eye for an eye. So if I and several of my clan members were killed by another clan or tribe, we would go and seek retribution and restore the balance in our eyes by killing an equal number of people from that tribe.”
Paraphrase:
-What were the crimes in different tribes?
-What were the punishments in these tribes?
-The Natives had something called blood law.
-Blood law was a major part of their law.
-If someone got killed in your tribe by another person in another tribe, you could go kill that person.
My Ideas:
The concept of blood law is so interesting to me. I am so surprised that this did not end up in everybody killing everybody else. I am guessing that if the English ever heard of this they would be horrified because this is so unlike the English. A major problem in Colonial America was the relationship between the British and the Native Americans. Before the British came over to the new world, they were shown pictures of the Natives. In these pictures they were shown how uncivilized the Natives were. Even though at the time this was a form of motivation, when the British got to the new world they were in for a rude awakening. For the whole 17th century, these to groups of people were fighting and they just could not solve it.
The British ways were so different from the Natives and its so interesting how different they were. They didn’t know it but if they had ever allied they would have been so much stronger. Also the only reason that the British survived is because of John Smith trying to ally with the Natives and he got the colonist some food.
I feel like the Natives were more free going than the colonist. After hearing about this law I realize that they were very unsupervised, but even though they were very unsupervised they also were very organized and had a very complex form of government that was very powerful. Even though this blood law seems very small, its actually very big. It represents a part of who the natives are. Although the one problem with this is that this is the only side of the Natives that the British see. They could have allied with the Natives and seen who they really were. This would of benefited them greatly.
Was John Smith the only colonist to attempt to ally with the Natives? Did the Natives ever attempt to ally with the colonist? Was there a war between the Natives and the Colonist besides when they first got to the new world? Did everyone not want to ally with the Natives or was it a higher decision from the King or something?
History:
Created: 11/02/2016 10:45 AM