Powhatan Confederacy

Examples of Powhatan Confederacy in the following topics:

• Jamestown, Virginia

  • They were the Powhatan Confederacy, ruled by their paramount chief, known as Wahunsenacawh, or "Chief Powhatan".
  • Powhatan's brother, a fierce warrior named Opchanacanough, became head of the Powhatan Confederacy.
  • After several years of strained coexistence, Chief Opchanacanough and his Powhatan Confederacy attempted to eliminate the English colony once and for all.
  • In 1646, Opchanacanough was captured and killed while in custody, and the Powhatan Confederacy began to decline.
  • Opechancanough's successor then signed the first peace treaties between the Powhatan Indians and the English.

• Virginia

  • The Algonquian Chief Powhatan controlled more than 30 smaller tribes and more than 150 settlements.
  • Powhatan's brother, a fierce warrior named Opchanacanough, became head of the Powhatan Confederacy.
  • After several years of strained coexistence, Chief Opchanacanough and his Powhatan Confederacy attempted to eliminate the English colony once and for all.
  • In 1646, Opchanacanough was captured and killed while in custody, and the Powhatan Confederacy began to decline.
  • Opechancanough's successor then signed the first peace treaties between the Powhatan Indians and the English.

• Settling the Southern Colonies

  • Several of the Algonquian tribes were associated with the politically powerful Powhatan Confederacy.

• Settling the Colonial South and the Chesapeake

  • Several of the Algonquian tribes were associated with the politically powerful Powhatan Confederacy.

• Confederate Diplomacy

  • Both the Union and countries in Europe refused to recognize the Confederacy as a sovereign nation.
  • Unfortunately for the Confederacy, the European countries also had economic incentives not to aid the Confederacy.
  • Moreover, the military situation worsened for the Confederacy.
  • The Confederacy had overestimated British demand for Southern cotton.
  • Moreover, Britain had much to lose by recognizing the Confederacy.

• International Diplomacy

  • No European countries formally acknowledged the Confederacy, preferring Northern grain imports and abolitionism to Southern cotton imports.
  • Though the Confederacy hoped that Britain and France would join them against the Union, this was never likely.
  • It also helped to turn European opinion further way from the Confederacy.
  • Britain did allow the Confederacy to purchase several warships from its commercial ship builders.
  • Recognition of the Confederacy seemed at hand, but Lincoln released two detained Confederate diplomats, tensions cooled, and the Confederacy gained no advantage.

• The Northwest Territory

  • The Western Confederacy, an alliance among the American Indian nations dating back to the French colonial era, was renewed during the American Revolutionary War.
  • The Western Confederacy came together in the autumn of 1785 at Fort Detroit, proclaiming that the parties to the Confederacy would deal jointly with the United States, rather than individually.
  • The Confederacy was renewed in 1786 when member tribes declared the Ohio River as the boundary between their lands and those of European American invaders.
  • The Northwest Indian War, or Little Turtle's War, resulted from conflict between the United States and the Western Confederacy over occupation of the Northwest Territory.
  • Following the battle, the Western Confederacy and the United States signed the Treaty of Greenville on August 3, 1795, to end the Northwest Indian War.

• Confederate Finances

  • The Confederate government desperately sought to secure international recognition of the Confederacy as a nation and gain European allies.
  • The Confederate government hoped to force diplomatic recognition of the Confederacy by starving Europe of cotton.
  • Throughout the war, the South clung to the notion that the Confederacy would be able to capitalize on its cotton monopoly.
  • Cartoon map illustrating General Winfield Scott's plan to crush the Confederacy economically, 1861
  • Describe how the Confederacy sought to finance the war and gain international recognition through taxes and the cotton embargo

• Confederate Politics

  • Confederate politics were dominated by the tension between states' rights and the military needs of the Confederacy.
  • Despite political differences, no political parties were formed within the Confederacy.

• The Aftermath of the War

  • Historians have debated whether the Confederacy could have won the war.
  • Some scholars, such as those of the Lost Cause tradition, argue that the Union held an insurmountable long-term advantage over the Confederacy in terms of industrial strength and population.
  • The Confederacy sought to win independence by out-lasting Lincoln.