"The Name of War"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how Jill Lepore's book entitled "The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity" is about the war between the Anglo and Indian people (called King Philip's War) in seventeenth century New England. The paper looks at how the war, led by the Wampanoag nation's war chief Metacom - "Philip" to the puritans, was between the Native Americans of what is now southern New England and the English colonists (as well as their own Native American allies). The paper also discusses how Lepore suggests that this war has helped to shape America's identity - especially when it concerns Native Americans.

From the Paper:

"Mary Rowlandson and Joshua Tift were both captured by Indians and were forced to live in captivity with them. In the case of Mary Rowlandson, she was on the run with the Indians, freed after nearly twelve weeks. Joshua Tift, upon release, was killed for treasonous actions. Basically, the English wanted to weed out even their own if it meant that their own were sympathizing with the enemy. Lepore suggests that Rowlandson was not killed because she had not been "contaminated" by the Indians. She was still very much English. She was forced to become more savage in her time with the Indians, but she remained English at heart. Tift, on the other hand, was not spared because many believed that he did not stand up for his English beliefs. He agreed to become a slave if his life was spared. Perhaps the fact that Rowlandson wrote about her time there and therefore there was evidence of her "right mind", she was spared. Tift was not spared, and one can only speculate that the reason for this was because the English were afraid that Tift had somehow been contaminated or spoiled by the Indian people whom captured him."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Lepore, Jill. The Name of War: King Philip's War and the Origins of American Identity (New York: Vintage Books, 1999).

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