Editing John Winthrop (section)

===Indian policy===
Winthrop's attitude toward the local Indian populations was generally one of civility and diplomacy. He described an early meeting with one local chief:

<blockquote>[[Chickatabot]] came with his [chiefs] and squaws, and presented the governor with a hogshead of Indian corn. After they had all dined, and had each a small cup of sack and beer, and the men tobacco, he sent away all his men and women (though the governor would have stayed them in regard of the rain and thunder.) Himself and one squaw and one [chief] stayed all night; and being in English clothes, the governor set him at his own table, where he behaved himself as soberly ... as an Englishman. The next day after dinner he returned home, the governor giving him cheese, and [[pea]]se, and a mug, and other small things.<ref>Moore, pp. 246–247</ref></blockquote>

The colonists generally sought to acquire title to the lands that they occupied in the early years,<ref>Moseley, p. 52</ref> although they also practiced a policy that historian [[Alfred A. Cave|Alfred Cave]] calls ''[[vacuum domicilium]] (empty of inhabitants)'': if land is not under some sort of active use, does not have fixed habitation, structures, or fences, it was considered to be free for the taking.<ref>Alfred A. Cave. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1184402 Canaanites in a Promised Land: The American Indian and the Providential Theory of Empire], ''American Indian Quarterly,'' vok. 12, No. 4 (Autumn, 1988), pp. 277–297. {{JSTOR|1184402}}</ref><ref>Paul Corcoran. [https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/44958/1/hdl_44958.pdf John Locke on the Possession of Land: Native Title vs. the ‘Principle ’ of Vacuum domicilium], Proceedings, Australasian Political Studies Association Annual Conference, 2007</ref> This also meant that lands, which were only used seasonally by the Indians (e.g., for fishing or hunting) and were empty otherwise, could be claimed. According to Alfred Cave, Winthrop asserted that the rights of "more advanced" peoples superseded the rights of the Indians.<ref>Cave, pp. 35–36</ref>

However, cultural differences and trade issues between the colonists and the Indians meant that clashes were inevitable, and the [[Pequot War]] was the first major conflict in which the colony engaged. Winthrop sat on the council which decided to send an expedition under John Endecott to raid Indian villages on [[Block Island]] in the war's first major action.<ref>Bremer (2003), p. 267</ref> Winthrop's communication with Williams encouraged Williams to convince the [[Narragansett people|Narragansetts]] to side with the colonists against the Pequots, who were their traditional enemies.<ref>Bremer (2003), p. 269</ref>  The war ended in 1637 with the destruction of the Pequots as a tribe, whose survivors were scattered into other tribes or shipped to the [[West Indies]].<ref>Bremer (2003), p. 271</ref>