1. what was the powhatan confederacy and how did this group interact with the
british settlers?
2. 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?
3. what role did disease play in encounters between native groups and the first
british settlers?
4. who was prince estabrook and what was his contribution to american
history?
5. 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
6. what do you think was powhatan’s overall message to
john smith?
7. 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

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.”