Paper Sovereigns: Anglo-Native Treaties and the Law of Nations, 1604-1664

323 Pages·2014·12.74 MB·English

by  Jeffrey Glover

Paper Sovereigns
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Paper Sovereigns
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Anglo-Native Treaties and the
Law of Nations, 1604–1664
Jeffrey Glover
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia
Copyright © 2014 University of Pennsylvania Press

all rights reserved. except for brief quotations used for purposes of review or
scholarly citation, none of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means
without written permission from the publisher.

Published by
University of Pennsylvania Press
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-4112
www.upenn.edu/pennpress

Printed in the United states of america on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Glover, Jeffrey.
Paper sovereigns : anglo–native treaties and the law of nation,
1604–1664 / Jeffrey Glover—1st ed.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references and index.
isBn 978-0-8122-4596-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. indians of north america— Government relations—to 1789. 2. indians of
north america— legal status, laws, etc.— History— 17th century. 3. indians of
north america— treaties— History— 17th century. 4. United states— Politics
and government— to 1774. 5. United states— ethnic relations— Political
aspects— History— 17th century. 6. Great Britain— foreign relations—1 603–
1688— treaties. i. title.
e91.G55 2014
323.1197—dc23 2013046741
What will it availe you to take that by force you may
quickly have by love?
—Powhatan, chief of the Powhatans, as quoted in
John smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia,
New-England, and the Summer Isles (1624)
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Contents
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A Note on Naming and Spelling
ix
Introduction
1
Chapter 1
Heavy Heads: Crowning Kings in Early Virginia
27
Chapter 2
The Ransom of Pocahontas: Kidnapping and
Dynastic Marriage in Jamestown and London
71
Chapter 3
Gunpowder Diplomacy: Arms and
Alliance in Plymouth and Patuxet
118
Chapter 4
Trading Sovereignty: The Fur Trade
and the Freedom of the Seas
158
viii Contents
Chapter 5
Gift of an Empire: The Land Market and the
Law of Nations in Narragansett Bay
187
Notes
227
Bibliography
269
Index
301
Acknowledgments
311
A Note on Naming and Spelling
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the question of how to refer to the pre-Columbian inhabitants of north amer-
ica has been politically charged for many centuries. it is further complicated
by the inaccurate descriptions of european settlers and by the many migrations and
displacements that occurred after european arrival. Where possible, i use contem-
porary names for specific tribes. in cases where a tribe did not survive the colonial
period, i use the most widely accepted transcription of its name. i also use the most
widely accepted names for individual native americans, with the acknowledgment
that these are usually european renderings of names that did not take alphabetic
form. i use “native” as the default descriptor for pre-Columbian north americans,
but i also use “indian,” especially when paraphrasing european points of view or
referring to european concepts of american people. european spelling presents
problems as well. in general, i have preserved the punctuation and spelling of early
modern sources. However, i have corrected “u” to “v,” “i” to “j,” “vv” to “w.” i have also
silently modernized all shorthand or unusual typographical practices, changing “ye”
to “the,” “yf” to “if,” and “consultacòn,” to “consultation.” i have deleted the spaces that
early modern printers sometimes left before colons and semicolons. finally, i have
emended in brackets all obvious compositors’ errors. i have retained the capital-
ization of the titles of printed works, with the exception of words that are entirely
capitalized, which are capitalized only in their first letter here (articles and most
prepositions excepted).