Pre-Colonialism and Roark’s Historiography, Essay Example

Roark’s Chapter Three discussion of the seventeenth century settlement of the southern colonies of America begins with the tale of great romantic voyages in an unknown land, debunking a stylized version of the meeting between Pocahontas and Captain John Smith. (Roark 49) By contrast to the traditional view of pre-colonial American history, Roark emphasizes that the Native Americans viewed power as a relationship involving traditions and respect rather than a control of weapons and local resources. During the ceremonial reenactment of Powhatan’s ‘adoption’ of Smith, few tribesmen could imagine that the sponsorship would sour within two years. Nonetheless, neither the Native Americans nor the colonial settlers are depicted simply as victims or perpetrators. Once colonists discovered that tobacco production was simply a matter of making “holes… into which they drop the seeds”,  their dependence upon Native American aide lessens, and the pretense of cooperation is altogether abandoned. (56) Roark carefully avoids both the skeptical and romantic perspectives of historical development, and the intentional nature of this path is obvious. Instead, the authors focus on the economic and social perspectives which furthered the support for African slaves. The struggles which the colonists underwent are depicted as a developmental factor in the social character of the American colonies. The southern colonies’ development as ‘the tobacco colonies’ provided a new and in-demand resource which promoted the cash crop as deserving of international attention and making wealthy men of farmers and colonial upstarts. In the process, the English emphasis upon the monarchy and hereditary endowments was gradually replaced with an ideal of America as a place of both religious and financial freedom and, subsequently, as a place for individual, merit-based accomplishments. (54-55)

Roark et al. utilize a formal language which still manages to celebrate the new possibilities of the ‘New World’, writing that “common laborers could buy a hundred acres for less than their annual wage… an impossibility in England”, presumably promoting the unification of the classes. (58) Interestingly, Roark mentions that the first ‘indentured servants’ arrived from Africa and relates the doubtful nature of this status but does not directly lead the reader to  assumptions regarding this possible connection to the introduction of slavery to the Americas. (58) The authors’ brief look into the anecdote of Powhatan, Pocahontas, and Smith reveals the root interest in a quick, easy, at-hand labor force. Yet those like Powhatan put up too strong a fight. Perhaps the most unique tool in Roark et al.’s arsenal lies in the authors’ ability to interpret paintings and other media of the day, which concealed the race and gender biases in utopian stills of southern tranquility. The majority of Virginian settlers, for example, were male farmers or land-owners, and a free will mail-order bride system developed rapidly. Until whites, too, were removed from the labor force, the importance of racial separation was not thought as influential as it was prior to the Civil War. (58-59)

Roark et al. write insightfully about a historic period which is frequently oversimplified and idealized. History books often avoid or even openly contradict the logical conclusions which a reader reaches after exploring the evidentiary support presented by the authors. Furthermore, these themes and events are bound by a thread of shared political development which is as pertinent to modern American life as it was to its origins.

Works Cited

Roark, James L., Michael P. Johnson, Patricia Cline Cohen, Sarah Stage, Alan Lawson, and Susan M. Hartmann. The American Promise: A Compact History, Volume 1: To 1877. Bedford Publishers. 2009. Print.