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Show Indian nations were recognized in fact as independent powers, to be dealt with as other powers were dealt with: by the arts of war and peace in order to obtain food, shelter, and land. Increasingly in theory, however, whites made a distinction between the rights of the European rulers to 'dominion' over the lands claimed by them in America, and to the 'possessory rights' of the Indians to the lands actually occupied by them. As European power waxed and Indian power wanted, Europeans were able to delimit the areas and the privileges held by the native occupants of the soil and to maintain and expand the rights and privileges of the European sovereigns and their agents (Washburn, Indian in America [1975], p. 81). The acquisition of land is an interesting aspect of English relations with the Indians. We have tended to remember the charters granted by the kings of England that refer to a territory along the coast running from the Atlantic to the South Sea (Pacific) but have forgotten that it became customary to pay for the land when actually acquired from a particular group of Indians. The amount paid is not the question in this regard. What is of interest is that Englishmen did not feel that a grant from the King fulfilled all requirements. In a sense, the King of England was sending the group granted the charter on a "fishing expedition," just as Queen Elizabeth did when Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake were encouraged in their voyages to seek prizes along the Spanish Main. It was up to the representatives of the early English companies to seek out their strips of land and to make their arrangements with whatever Indians they encountered. There was little concern for the fact that all of the two Americas, except Brazil, had already been granted to the Spanish kings by the Pope in 1493. That the European rulers did not tend to respect the proclamations of the various Popes, except to the extent that they served the |