Envisioning America & What Caused the Pueblo Revolt? In recounting the relations between English and Spanish colonists and indigenous people, both Mancall and Weber remind us of the importance of perspectives in historical interpretationboth in the ways in which eyewitnesses to historic events express differing points of view and in the ways in which later historians interpret these events. For your first writing assignment, we would like you to examine the importance of perspective in creating accounts of the past. Imagine yourself in the role of an eyewitness to the English settlement of North America or the Pueblo revolt. What might your insights be? What are the limitations of any single point of view? Your first assignment is: 1. Carefully read both Webers What Caused the Pueblo Revolt? and Mancalls Envisioning America. 2. Consider the following questions: What kinds of sources are available to us regarding the Pueblo revolt or English colonization? What do they reveal to us? What do they obscure? How can we assess non-literary traditions, such as oral histories or picture writing? How did each group (Spanish colonists/Pueblos or English colonists/ American Indians) view the other? How did they view themselves in relation to history? How did these views reflect the familiarity or unfamiliarity each group had with the other? What did they hope to gain from contact with each other? Where did their expectations clash? Were these benefits and liabilities necessarily clear at the time? Considering the Pueblo revolt: Is there any room for disagreement within each group? Did the Pueblos have cause to support the Spanish? Were there Spaniards who opposed the subjugation of the Pueblos (or at least the way(s) in which people told the stories of conquest and subjugation)? Would a common Spanish soldier relate the same story as a Captain? A New Mexican colonist and a Franciscan friar? Considering English colonization: How did the English view North America? What are some of the factors that motivated people to leave England? How did the English view the native tribes that they encountered? Do frontiers of inclusionor frontiers of exclusion play a part in the ways that the English and the Spanish conducted their settlements? How? 3. After you have considered the above questions, write an eyewitness account from the point of view of ONE of the following individuals: Puebloan explaining the reasons for the Pueblo revolt A Spanish refugee recounting the reasons for the Pueblo uprising An English colonist describing life in North America An American Indian providing their perspective of the English Keep the following in mind as you write: What kinds of stories would these individuals tell? What details or events would be most significant to them? Essay Mechanics: This assignment must by typed, double-spaced, carefully proofread, and between four and five pages in length. Your essay should be imaginative and may even be fictitious to a degree. Although we do not require this, you are welcome to use alternate spelling or storytelling techniques that are consistent with your subject. However, you must present your ideas in a clear and understandable format. They must also remain firmly grounded in the facts as presented in the readings (no aliens shooting death rays from the Governor’s Palace