New England Frontier Puritans and Indians by Alden T. Vaughan

Book Review by Joseph Osorio

During the 17^th Century the Puritans migrated to the Americas, as a form of escape form England. During their stay in the new world, they met a group of natives, also called Indians that both colonized and disputed among their differences. The book The New England Frontier was written by Alden T. Vaughan, during the colonial periods of 1600-1675. This book was the third edition published in 1995 but the original first edition was published in 1965. The reason for three different editions was to clear up points that Vaughan thinks the reader might misinterpret about the relations between the Indians and the Puritans. New England Frontier investigates the deep roots of the relations between the Indians and the Puritans. Vaughan combines history with stories about the lives of the early Puritans and their actions or attitudes toward the Natives.The book is mainly written to individuals such as young adults who seek to know the truth between the lives of Puritans and Indians in more depth.

Many people get the wrong idea about the relationship between the early Puritans and the Native Indians. They may assume that the Puritans came to take the land of the Indians, enslaved them, and cause a near extinction of the Indian race. However, all these perceptions are wrong. Vaughan, in the book New England Frontier, argues that the purpose of the Puritans attitude toward the Indians was to civilize them and try to get along with the natives. Vaughan takes a while before he goes more in depth with his main argument. The main reason for this is because he wants to prepare the reader of the situation of the Puritans leaving England. Vaughan also prepares the reader by devoting two whole chapters of the different cultures between the Indians and the Puritans. He starts off by showing us the life of the Indians and later the life of the Puritans. This helps our minds understand the clash of cultures that later happens in the book.

As Vaughan is writing the book I get a sense that he is sometimes in favor with the Indians and tries to justify the things they did. For example, in the book Vaughan speak about an Indian tribe named the Pequot’s who did not appreciate the Indians stay in America, therefore they planned to rebel against the early settlers. As Vaughan keeps writing he tries to explain the reasons why they did it, and how they had all the right to fight for their land. Yet, later on in the book he goes on the Puritans side and explains why they had to put up a fortress for protection, and why they had to take captive some prisoners for their well being and safety. Vaughan argues for both sides, creating a sense that he is not bias. Something that sparks interest is how could he know how the Indians felt or how they reacted if they had no written language or recorded documents. The only documentation and record of the early settlers came form the Puritans. There is little information or records about the Indians own writing and their actual feeling about the situation in which they were living. Therefore, I have debated on how Vaughan actually knew the true mind set of the Indians, because all he bases his writing on was their actions. This may lead to the dilemma of actions speak louder than words, but then how specific is the truth interpreted.

Although Vaughan seems confused on which actions to justify on behalf of either race he is able to show how the mix cultures bonded. He also helps the reader picture his composition by writing in detail about their cultures. Vaughan not only makes the word come to life, but also helps the reader visualize the early America, by providing us with early map, drawing, and photographs. Vaughan shows the specific borderlines of the Indian tribes, and also drawings of how the Indians felt on attacks such as the Mystic Fort. Vaughan is also able to tell the story of the relationship between the Indians and Puritans in a chronological order. He goes in order by the specific date and events that have occurred. The author is not too descriptive in the sense of making one feel as if he were there, but he tries to give the primary purpose of the way things were between the two races. During the book the author makes good argument points of how well they got along, but he also realizes that there were always going to be clashes between the races. Nevertheless he writes that even through all this, they were able to put their difference aside and understand and forgive one another.

As Vaughan is concluding the book he argues against other historians, and how they have misinterpreted the relations between the Indians and Puritans and how many of them have “ clouded our understanding of the Puritans treatments toward the Indians.” The author should have gone right into the argument and points of the book, but not of why others were wrong and of why he is the only one that did not fall into the myth of misunderstandings the attitudes of the early settlers towards the Indians. In spite of all this, Vaughan finishes with good arguments points on how the Puritans and the Indians got along with each other despite their differences in culture, and not in their race. The ending of Vaughan’s book is interesting in reassuring that the Puritans relationship between the Indian race had their differences, but they did not look at their skin color instead they saw them as he says “ sinners in God’s great Universe.” In similar response with Vaughan ideas, he makes good arguments with great detail on the relations between the two races that are misinterpreted. They actually were able to put things aside and live together no matter what circumstances they endured. The two races were always able to find some form of compromise that satisfied each side. In all, the author Vaughan described the relationship between the Indians and Puritans from a unique perspective that cleared the minds of many who were misguided by other historians.