1. What was the Powhatan Confederacy and how did this group interact with the
   

British settlers?

1. What were the most difficult challenges faced by the Plymouth and Jamestown
   

settlers? Do you think they could have done anything to prepare more adequately

for life in the Americas?

1. What role did disease play in encounters between native groups and the first
   

British settlers?

1. Who was Prince Estabrook and what was his contribution to American
   

history?

1. In this episode, America is referred to as a “social experiment.” What do you
   

think this phrase means? Do you think the “experiment” is still ongoing?

America The Story of Us Episode 1: Rebels 2

1. What do you think was Powhatan’s overall message to
   

John Smith?

1. What do you think Powhatan meant by “you must consequently
   

famish by wrongdoing your friends”?

Powhatan Address to

Captain John Smith, 1609

Primary Source:

“I am now grown old and must soon die, and the

succession must descend in order, to my brothers,

Opitchapam, Opechancanough, and Kekataugh, and then to

my two sisters, and their two daughters.

I wish their experience was equal to mine, and that

your love to us might not be less than ours to you.

Why should you take by force that from us which

you can have by love? Why should you destroy us who

have provided you with food? What can you get by war?

We can hide our provisions and fly into the woods. And

then you must consequently famish by wrongdoing your

friends.

What is the cause of your jealousy? You see us

unarmed and willing to supply your wants if you come in

a friendly manner; not with swords and guns as to invade

an enemy. I am not so simple as not to know that it is

better to eat good meat, lie well, and sleep quietly with

my women and children; to laugh and be merry with the

English...

I, therefore, exhort you to peaceable councils, and

above all I insist that the guns and swords, the cause

of all our jealousy and uneasiness, be removed and sent

away.”