The Great Dying

As we discussed in class, one of the big issues that comes along with the topic of "The Great Dying" is the question of was this mass spread of disease that killed up to 90% of Native Americans considered a genocide. Let us first start with the definition of genocide. A genocide, is " the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation". Now when I first saw this I automatically believed that, yes, this should be considered a genocide. The Europeans came onto this land that was inhibited by an already existing population, gave them diseases, and wiped out almost all of their people. However, I then noticed the word "deliberate" and I was not so sure of my answer anymore. I honestly do not believe that the Europeans deliberately tried to give their diseases to the Native Americans. I can not imagine that they sat around and discussed the ways they could kill off a whole population of people. So, if I am going strictly based off the definition of genocide, I would say "The Great Dying" was not a genocide. Yet, the Europeans are not saints in this situation. They knew they had a great advantage over the natives of the land. They were immune to these diseases, such as smallpox, which the native people were not. They had superior weapons and animals and they believed in manifest destiny. The Governor Bradford of Plymouth colony, believed "such conditions represented the "good hand of God" at work, "sweeping away great multitudes of the natives… that he might make room for us" (623-624). So though this mass killing might not have been an intentional genocide, it was certainly not a tragedy that they tried to stop.