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Student’s Encyclopedia of Great American Writers
Smith addresses the trials befalling JOHN WINTHROP and his colonists, arguing that the people
were prone to complaining about the smallest inconvenience rather than working to improve their situation (such as set aside enough provisions of Indian corn to keep them fed during the winter months). On a practical level, Smith disapproves of their abuses of American Indians, comparing the slaughter of the native population in the West Indies by Spaniards, who were then forced to seek slave labor in Africa, to the mistreatment of American Indians by Winthrop and his followers. Smith suggests they take the same tact he took in Virginia and befriend the American Indians (294). At the very least, if the colonists will not heed Smith’s advice, he hopes that of all “their mischances, misprisions, or what accidents may befall them . . . none is so malicious as attribute the fault to the country nor mee” (294). Smith concludes his Advertisements by returning to “Turks, Heathens, and Infidels” (299). As they are subjects of the British Empire, he imagines that all eyes are on the colonists and the manner in which they treat their neighbors. In a passage that clearly expresses Smith’s own values and principles, he writes, “Truly there is no pleasure comparable to a generous spirit; as good employment in noble actions, especially among [heathens] to see daily new countries, people, fashions, governments, stratagems, relieve the oppressed, comfort his friends, pass miseries, subdue enemies, adventure upon any feasible danger for God and his country; it is true, it is a happy thing to be born to strength, wealth, and honor, but that which is got by prowess and magnanimity is the truest luster” (299).
For Discussion or Writing 1. Compare the advice that Smith offers for future colonists in New England with the advice Cabeza de Vaca promotes in his Relación. Are the explorers imagining the transplantation of their colonial ways of life into new climes, or are they projecting utopic civilizations?
2. How does Smith’s treatment of Puritans, whom he terms Brownists, compare with Thomas Morton’s treatment of the separatists in his New English Canaan?
FURTHER QUESTIONS ON SMITH AND HIS WORK 1. Unlike other early colonists such as Winthrop and Bradford, Smith arrives in North America with a decidedly secular agenda—to gain fi nancial profit and fame. And yet, when one reads through his works, one is perhaps surprised to note the numerous mentions Smith makes of God, Christianity, and the Bible. Does Smith reconcile the secular with the sacred in his writings? Select one of his books and make an argument, making sure to employ specific quotations in support of your view. 2. Smith was in England when he wrote several of his books about America. Is his view of it realistic or idealistic because of his physical remove from Virginia? Select one of his later works and base your response on the specific language of the text. WORKS CITED AND A DDITIONAL R ESOURCES Barbour, Philip L. The Complete Works of Captain John Smith. Vol. 1. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986. ———. The Complete Works of Captain John Smith. Vol. 3. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1986. Emerson, Everett. Captain John Smith. New York: Twayne, 1993. Hayes, Kevin J. Captain John Smith: A Reference Guide. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1991. Howe, Henry F. Prologue to New England. Port Washington, N.Y.: Kennikat Press, 1969. John Smith. Available online. URL: http://www.wsu. edu/~campbelld/amlit/smith.htm. Accessed April 23, 2009.