Chapter 3 Summary and Analysis

Land was a constant issue in early America, and the source of constant talks and conflict. Land speculators cheated Indians out of land, and Indian debt was encouraged by Europeans so that Indians would trade land in exchange for forgiving debt. In 1790, shady land deals were so prevalent that the U.S. Congress passed the Indian Trade and Non-Intercourse Act, declaring that all Indian land deals were invalid unless they occurred with congressional approval. And still, the Indians continued to lose land. On the subject of trade, Indians became increasingly dependent on European manufactured goods such as guns and clothes, forgetting their own self-sustaining ways.

The first text reprinted is a 1644 "Act of Submission" by the Narrangansett Indians. Continually encroached upon by Puritans, the Narrangansett formally submitted themselves as subjects of the English crown, figuring that they would receive protections and...