East of the MississippiThe first European settlers to North America discovered a sparsely populated coastline that gave them the opportunity to settle and succeed where others had failed before. As many pilgrims were seeking religious freedom, they saw a land that their god had prepared for them by exterminating the natives due to pestilence and disease. The fact is that the scourge of disease that wiped out more than 90 percent of the original inhabitants of the northeast coast was brought around 1617 by European fishermen, fond of cod, to the Massachusetts Bay region. These fishermen would come ashore for firewood, fresh water and occasionally kidnap natives to sell them into slavery and unknowingly left behind Old World diseases. The natives' immune systems were in no way prepared to deal with diseases such as viral hepatitis, smallpox, chickenpox, measles, and influenza as the Europeans were. These diseases originate from areas with high populations in close contact with domestic animals, which is a foreign matter to the natives of North America, but not to the Europeans who brought the disease. When the Plymouth Rock Pilgrims arrived in 1620, few natives remained along the northern coast and those who did welcomed the new arrivals hospitably, in contrast to the welcome of previous efforts in 1606 and 1607 which ended with the natives driving out attempts at settlement. Europeans were not the only ones to attribute the illness to divine intervention, the natives began to believe that their gods had abandoned them, making it easier for them to convert to Christianity. The results of this unplanned attack of germ warfare against the natives were that over nearly 50 years the early European settlers...... middle of paper ...... spirits, Europeans had developed a greater tolerance to drink while it proved to be a troublesome curse for the natives. These three elements, along with the organizations and spirit of manifest destiny of the young American settlers, were essential to the continued westward expansion and continued regrouping of indigenous populations from place to place. While it is difficult to imagine that such atrocities could have been committed in the not-so-distant past, the history of modern America is not unique in terms of brutality toward indigenous populations. Similar examples of conquering nations exist throughout the world, and while this does not justify the actions of white Angelo-Saxon Protestants, it does help to understand their motivations. The information above was taken from Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Lowen. , Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown and Wikipedia.org