Why did the Puritans of the 1600s view the Native Americans as “Devils”?
The root of the Puritan viewpoint was the fact that the Puritans came to America to practice their faith system and believed that their voyage and subsequent colonization was God’s will. It was this philosophy that led the Puritan to believe that if the Puritans are with God and His plan, anything and anyone that stood in their way must be in league with the Devil and his demonic ways. When they arrived in Massachusetts, their so called Promised Land, the Native Americans were already showing signs of loss in their population die to unseen pathogens and their lack of immunity against English disease. The Puritans erroneously viewed this as a sign from God, leaving science in the wind of ignorance. Since the ways of the Native American were different from the Puritan they were viewed as barbaric and demonic, subsequently the Native American himself became the manifestation of the Devil. The fact of the matter was that the Native American had been living in peace and prosperity for many moons. They, unlike the Puritan, believed in a synergistic view of the land, where equality between man and his environment were essential to survival and growth.