Although published later, John Mason’s first-hand account of the Pequot War (“A Brief History of the Pequot War”) demonstrates his 17th-century views of Native Americans as a Puritan colonist. Thomas Jefferson’s famous “Notes on the State of Virginia” present a later view of Indians (1784, about 150 years after the Pequot War).

Your job in this essay is to analyze these two documents (using primarily the text – you may use the Explanation and Analysis and other aids to help you with Jefferson’s longer text) and develop some argument regarding the views of Native Americans presented by both documents/authors. Do Mason and Jefferson have different thoughts on the nature of Indians? Why might this be the case, given the time frames for the documents? Or the context of the authors themselves? How might such different views have influenced relations between “whites” and “Indians”? You don’t have to answer all of these questions, but they might help you in developing your own thesis.

You’ll need to develop a thesis – an argument where you take a position that you must prove using evidence. If you look under Week 1’s content area on Titanium, I’ve included a document to help you construct a thesis. It is very important that you have an argument. This is not simply an exercise in comparison/contrast.

In constructing your response, you’ll need to cite specific quotes from the documents that you use as evidence. We’re going to use parenthetical citations in the text. If you’ve quoted something from the website, put the citation in parentheses immediately after the quotation. I do NOT want you to quote from the Explanation and Analysis or Overview material from the site. Please use only the document texts themselves. When you use text, place the name of the author (Mason or Jefferson) in parentheses at the end of the quotation. You do not need to cite my lecture notes (although I would expect you to use lecture material). You do not need to use outside sources!!!! If you do, however, you MUST CITE THEM AS WELL. Please DO NOT USE WIKIPEDIA AS A SOURCE.