What is an American? Furthermore, what makes an early American? Early Americans included, obviously, people of British decent that traveled here to colonize and start what we now know as America. But also, the term early American refers to French and Spanish colonists as well as Native Americans. Now, why did those early Americans fight so much? For all-intensive purposes, let's ask why early British-Americans fought with other early Americans so much.
             There are several reasons for this fighting that are outlined in Ferling's book, Struggle for a Continent, but this paper will discuss only the most prevalent motivations. Early British-Americans did not get along with Native Americans for the most part, as is taught in most American History courses. Also, these settlers fought with French and Spanish settlers as the three countries vied for land. Eventually, violent confrontations erupted between new British settlers and the older British settlers. Finally, there were empirical causes for clashes between our country's ancestors.
             When British settlers came to America, they "harbored the same preconceived attitudes toward the Indians that had existed in the minds of the first settlers in Virginia" (28): they are primitive, unchanging, and they are all the same. These assumptions were false, and immediately alienated the Indians. "Predictably, the Indians resisted their new neighbors' policies, inaugurating in 1609 what has been called the first Anglo-Powhatan War" (19). Needless to say, there were many European casualties in this clash of cultures. The conflict with the Native Americans sparked fire on several other occasions through history, including the Second and Third Anglo-Powhatan Wars. Also mentioned in Ferling's writings are the clashes of the Puritans with the Nausets, Wampanoags, and Pequots. It must be noted, however, that "the
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