Institutional Change Among the Powhatans

The Powhatans were a farming people who lived a stable lifestyle, governed by an orderly government. Women were responsible for the cultivation of the fields, while the men hunted and fished (Rountree 5). They prided themselves on their possessions by wearing deer hides that were decorated with different ornaments (Rountree 7). External clothing and decorations were also used to delineate the social hierarchy on special occasions. The different rulers were also expected to be addressed with specific special behavior (Rountree 9).

The southeastern nations considered the existing world as a gift from the benevolent Creator, which should be treated with great reverence. In their conception, the order of the world must be preserved to prevent the wrath of the Creator. By living in harmony with the other sacred beings and the will of the Creators, the Cherokee and the Choctaw Indians believed that they would be rewarded and not be harmed. Thus, they only used animals and plants for subsistence. By the same token, they also upheld the traditional social order and the relationships between the soc

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crib to be used to aid the poor and to support the government and ceremonies. Therefore, unlike the Europeans who worked for the accumulation of wealth, the Indian tribes were not interested in acquiring more food than was needed for subsistence. On the contrary, they were lauded for giving their surplus food and possessions away (Champagne, Social 34). Theoretically, undifferentiated institutions of the southeastern nations were resistant to change because change demanded a radical restructuring of the integral institutions, such as kinship, religious world view, political world view, political and economic relations. Therefore, the major groups of power, such as clans, kinship groups and religious leaders of Southeastern nations who risked losing their power were willing fight against the erosion of their power by implementing a system of government that ignored traditions (Champagne, Cultural 27). During the 19th century, the Powhatans were looked upon as people of color and therefore were treated as though they were Negroes. The government and the White citizens expected the Indians to "assimilate," thus disappearing into the lowest strata of the society as people of color (Rountree 187). However, the Powhatans were even
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Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)