“Therefore Ye Are No More Strangers and Foreigners”: Indians, Christianity, and Political Engagement in Colonial Plimouth and on Martha’s Vineyard

Shortly before the outbreak of King Philip’s War in 1675, a group of sachems approached English officials in Plimouth, desiring an alliance. They framed their appeal in spiritual terms and quoted Ephesians 2:19. In the King James Bible, this verse reads: “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.” This group of sachems represented Mashpee, Satuit, and several other towns within the jurisdiction of Plimouth. They stated that only some of them had become Christians but that nonetheless they hoped the English would agree to their proposal. They sought English protection since they had “been informed of late that some persons had designed their destruction.”¹ The sachems stated that their enemies wanted to harm them because they were “seeking after the knowledge of the true God and his ways.”² The alliance seems to have been directed against Metacom, who opposed the Christianization of Indians, but it may also have been designed to garner increased protection from land-hungry English colonists. The Indians asked for help against “evil persons” who wanted to destroy them but did not elaborate about the exact nature of the threat to their well-being. Through quoting Christian scriptures, the sachems hoped to establish a bond of commonality with the colonists and convince the English to accept an alliance.

The petition crafted by the sachems from areas surrounding Plimouth reveals that Indians in colonial New England strategically used and engaged Christianity in their diplomatic correspondence. Numerous other court records and petitions likewise indicate that, for Indians in what would ultimately become the southeastern part of Massachusetts, Christianity represented much more than a new set of religious beliefs and rituals. Throughout the colonial period, it was a means by which Indians hoped to obtain tangible benefits, including diplomatic alliances and financial compensation.³

This article shows that politically active Indians in Plimouth Colony and on Martha’s Vineyard often expressed adherence to Christianity or used religious terminology while pursuing economic or political objectives. Other historians have amply addressed missionary activity in colonial Massachusetts and surrounding areas, typically directing their attention to how missionaries did their work and the extent to which Christianization altered Indian culture.⁴ My primary interest is in how Indians viewed, incorporated, and used Christianity, particularly in regard to their pursuit of political objectives. Spiritual and material concerns simultaneously guided and motivated Indians as they interacted with English officials. Indians’ “use” of Christianity reflected a strategic approach to political action that sometimes netted them material benefits and a limited amount of autonomy.⁵

Court documents and petitions pose certain challenges to scholars studying New England Indians.⁶ For one thing, English colonists likely transcribed many, if not most, of the documents attributed to Native American authors. How closely translators and transcribers adhered to the intentions and meanings that New England Indians originally desired to communicate is debatable. Furthermore, in the case of petitions, it is possible that missionaries suggested to Indians what scriptures to cite or what words and phrases to use in order to have the maximum effect upon English officials. On the other hand, contextual evidence would suggest that Indians themselves carefully read their Bibles and, at the very least, had the potential to use scripture verses in strategic ways. Missionary records show that Indians studied the Bible and used it as a means to challenge English attitudes regarding baptism, land use, and other issues of spiritual and political significance.⁷ So who, in the end, was primarily responsible for writing the Indian petitions sent to English authorities during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries? My belief is that firmly determining the authorship of all of the petitions analyzed in this essay would be impossible.⁸ Furthermore, even though Indians collaborated with missionaries when crafting their petitions, such texts can still hold important clues regarding Indian engagement with and use of Christianity.

Court records, like petitions, need to be read carefully by scholars studying Indian life...