Dang, Martha, I just responded to you without regard to this being a public forum. I know that you know Chief Justice John Marshall wrote a series of opinions based on the “fact” that all Indians were hunter-gatherers, essentially adopting Winthrop’s error — if it was an error and not purposeful to cover up theft — into constitutional law.

I also know that you know when the settlers found ruins of buildings that could not have been produced without a substantial agricultural surplus, they drew the conclusion that Indians could not have built the cities that stood in ruins.

So what was Winthrop thinking? The Pequots had to be hunter-gatherers to justify the treatment of them that he supported. Mistake or butt-covering attempt after the fact?