Chapter 1 : Research Starters: Plymouth Colony Chapter One: "They Were Strangers and Pilgrims on the Earth" Chapter Two: The Trip Across the Ocean Chapter Three: The Mayflower Compact Chapter Four: The Compact Helps Plymouth Survive and Grow Chapter Five: "And the Seed is Sown" Glossary Timeline Further Information Bibliography Index. The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony At the time of its famous voyage, the Mayflower was roughly 12 years old and had been in the business of shipping wine. Seen here is the replica Mayflower II. Not all the English Separatists set out for the New World. The first group to leave England actually headed for the Dutch Netherlands in They became uneasy in their new land as their children started speaking Dutch and abandoning English traditions. Even worse to the Separatists, the tolerance shown to them by the Dutch was shown to many different faiths. They became disgusted with the attention paid to worldly goods, and the presence of many "unholy" faiths. The great Separatist experiment in the Netherlands came to a quick end, as they began to look elsewhere for a purer place to build their society. Some headed for English islands in the Caribbean. Those who would be forever known to future Americans as the Pilgrims set their sights on the New World in late Crossing the Atlantic The Mayflower Compact, signed aboard the ship on its way from England to the New World, acknowledged their loyalty to the King and pledged their obedience to such just and equal laws as would be necessary to the general good of the colony to be established after landing. This document represents the first example of a written constitution in North America. Over a hundred travelers embarked on the voyage of the Mayflower in September Less than one third were Separatists. The rest were immigrants, adventurers, and speculators. When the weather was good, the passengers could enjoy hot food cooked on deck. When there was high wind or storms, they lived on salted beef, a dried biscuit called "hard tack," other dried vegetables, and beer. The nearest thing to resemble a bathroom was a bucket. Their voyage took about two months, and the passengers enjoyed a happier experience than most trans-atlantic trips. One death was suffered and one child was born. The child was named Oceanus after the watery depths beneath them. Are We There Yet? One of the greatest twists of fate in human history occurred on that epochal voyage. The Pilgrims were originally bound for Virginia to live north of Jamestown under the same charter granted to citizens of Jamestown. Fate charted a different course. Lost at sea, they happened upon a piece of land that would become known as Cape Cod. After surveying the land, they set up camp not too far from Plymouth Rock. They feared venturing further south because winter was fast approaching. The travellers aboard the Mayflower landed upon the shores of Plymouth in This rock still sits on those shores to commemorate the historic event. The Pilgrims had an important question to answer before they set ashore. Since they were not landing within the jurisdiction of the Virginia Company, they had no charter to govern them. Who would rule their society? In the landmark Mayflower Compact of, the Pilgrims decided that they would rule themselves, based on majority rule of the townsmen. This independent attitude set up a tradition of self-rule that would later lead to town meetings and elected legislatures in New England. Like the Virginia House of Burgesses established the previous year, Plymouth colony began to lay the foundation for democracy in the American colonies. Page 1
Chapter 2 : WebQuest: Early English Settlements: Plymouth Plymouth Colony was founded in November, when the Mayflower carried a group of Pilgrims to the New World. Landing first at the tip of Cape Cod, the Mayflower sailed on to establish the second English settlement in the New World. Mayflower set sail from England in July, but it had to turn back twice because Speedwell, the ship it was traveling with, leaked. After deciding to leave the leaky Speedwell behind, Mayflower finally got underway on September 6, In the s, the ocean was full of dangers. Ships could be attacked and taken over by pirates. Many ships in the s were damaged or shipwrecked by storms. Passengers sometimes fell overboard and drowned or got sick and died. Although Mayflower did not sink, a few of these things actually did happen! The storm cracked one of the massive wooden beams supporting the frame of the ship. In another storm, a young passenger, John Howland, was swept off the deck of the ship and into the ocean! Although many people were seasick on the voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, only one person died. He was a sailor who had been very mean to the passengers and taunted them about their seasickness. The colonists believed he died because God was punishing him for being cruel. One baby was born during the journey. Elizabeth Hopkins gave birth to her first son, appropriately named Oceanus, on Mayflower. It must have been very challenging to give birth on a moving ship, with so many people and so much seasickness around. After more than two months 66 days at sea, the Pilgrims finally arrived at Cape Cod on November 11, A few weeks later, they sailed up the coast to Plymouth and started to build their town where a group of Wampanoag People had lived before a sickness had killed most of them. The Pilgrims lived on the ship for a few more months, rowing ashore to build houses during the day, and returning to the ship at night. Many people began to get sick from the cold and the wet; after all, it was December! Finally, in March, there were enough houses that everyone could live on land. After a long, hard voyage, and an even harder winter, Mayflower left Plymouth to return to England on April 5, Back to Top The Ship and Its People Traveling on the ocean years ago was a very different experience than it is today. There were no computers, televisions, air conditioners, fancy meals or swimming pools. In the s, most ships were merchant ships. They were made for carrying cargo, like barrels of food or cloth, large pieces of wood, and casks of wine, from one place to another to be sold. Before Mayflower sailed to New England, it had been sailing around Europe carrying wine and cloth. This cargo was probably stored in the lower decks of the ship in one large, open storage area. There were no windows on this deck because windows might let in seawater that would ruin the cargo. A little water would leak in anyway, though, so this area was always cold, damp and dark. The storage decks had very low ceilings. The ship had low-ceilinged decks to make it safer and to save space for the decks where the sailors lived. A ship that was too tall might tip over or sink. The crew sailors and officers of the ship lived on the upper decks. In, there were about crewmembers on Mayflower. The Master, in charge of sailing the ship, was Christopher Jones. He probably had his quarters, or living space, at the stern the back of the ship. This was the driest and most comfortable area on the ship. The common sailors, or regular workers, had their quarters at the front of the ship, or bow, in a room called the forecastle. It was in a part of the ship constantly hit by waves, so it was always wet and cold. The sailors would have to get used to the swaying and pitching of the ship because it was at its strongest here. There were also officers on Mayflower. They were responsible for sailing and navigating the ship. They probably lived in the space between the Master and the common sailors. Where did the passengers live on Mayflower? The ship carried men, women and children passengers on its only trip to New England. Back to Top Mayflower Compact The agreement first called the Mayflower Compact in was a legal instrument that bound the Pilgrims together when they arrived in New England. Others in the group, however, had remained part of the Church of England, so not all of the Pilgrims shared the same religion. When the Pilgrims left England, they obtained permission from the King of England to settle on land farther to the south near the mouth of the Hudson River in present-day New York. Because they chose to remain where they landed in New England, they needed a new permission called a patent to settle there. The text of the Page 2
Mayflower Compact: In the name of God, Amen. Having undertaken for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together in a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. Page 3
Chapter 3 : Plymouth Colony blog.quintoapp.com Introduces the reasons for and highlights the details of the trip of the Pilgrims from England to America in the early s, and describes the struggle of the new settlers to adjust to life in America. Most of the work done by both cultures had to do with gathering, growing and preparing food. For both cultures, good or bad harvests could mean the difference between comfort and hardship. Each Wampanoag family generally provided for its members, but there was also a great deal of sharing of food. Sachems leaders supported widows and the poor, and families gave freely to the sick or elderly. Families planted on ground assigned to them, while hunting, fishing and gathering took place on commonly held lands. Since food came from local resources that were shared or assigned, the diet varied little between social levels. In general, everyone in the community ate equally well. Planting began in the spring. With gratefulness for the gifts from Mother Earth, the Wampanoag caught fish called herring as they ran up the rivers and used them to help fertilize the planting lands. Corn seeds were put into soft earth mounds covering the herring. Around the time the corn plants were the height of a human hand, it was time to plant the beans and squashes including pumpkins around the base of the corn. As the corn grew, the beans climbed and wound around the corn stalks. Since the s, we have discovered that beans add nitrogen, an important nutrient the corn uses up, to the soil. Melons, smaller versions of modern watermelons, were part of the Wampanoag gardens and offered a sweet treat. As the squash and melon leaves grew large enough, they helped to keep the weeds down and the ground moist around the mounds during the warmest time of year. For the most part, foods were eaten when they were available. Some foods, however, were preserved by drying or smoking. At harvest time, beans would be picked and eaten fresh, or dried and saved for winter food or for seeds. All corn would be dried on the cob. Some dried kernels would be removed to parch over a fire and then were pounded into nokehig, a fine corn flour used for a traveling food as well as thickening for soups. Seeds were saved from all the best plants for planting the following year. All squashes were sliced and dried for later use, although some would be cooked fresh as well. The melons could not be preserved, so they had to be eaten as soon as they were ripe. Roots, berries and other gathered plant materials, as well as eggs, fish, and shellfish both fresh and dried made up the rest. To the Wampanoag, Mother Earth always gave wonderful and nourishing foods from her garden. For many Wampanoag, it is the same today. Their appreciation for all plant life is given to the Creator, all through the year, as they are nourished again and again by these great gifts. Today, if we are hungry, we can go to the supermarket or a restaurant and get anything we want to eat. We do not have to work outside, in all kinds of weather, digging in the soil, planting, weeding and watering. Life was very different for the English colonists living in Plymouth in the s. They grew crops in large open fields. Women planted and tended vegetables and herbs in small gardens behind their houses. Because many of them had come from cities or towns in England with markets, many of the colonists had never farmed or gardened before coming to Plymouth. They were learning to feed themselves. In the minds of English people, the perfect diet was one of meat or fish, bread or grain-based porridges, and beer. Dairy products and vegetables were eaten but were not considered essential for health. In England, however, only wealthy people could afford to eat in this way. Poorer families ate meals of vegetables, dairy products and, when they could afford them, meat. In New England, supplies of fish and shellfish were plentiful. Without hunting restrictions, deer, wild fowl, rabbits and other small animals were available to anyone who wanted to hunt them. The Pilgrims also brought farm animals with them, including pigs, chickens, goats, and later, sheep and cows. These animals provided meat, eggs and dairy products for the colonists. Families in Plymouth planted enough in their fields to feed themselves. Their main crop was a kind of corn they had never seen before. First, they had to clear the land. They chopped down trees and pulled up grass and weeds. They dug holes in the ground and put two or three herring a type of fish in the hole and covered them with dirt. The herring fertilized the soil to make it good for growing corn. They planted corn seeds in every mound. Indian corn was different from the sweet yellow corn that we eat today. It had various Page 4
colors â reds, blacks, yellows and whites â on the same ear, and was not eaten fresh from the cob. Instead, Indian corn was dried and then pounded into flour and cornmeal for cooking and baking. Indian corn was part of almost every meal in Plymouth Colony. Along with Indian corn, the Pilgrims also grew some beans, pumpkins, wheat, barley, oats and peas in their fields. In the gardens near their houses, women grew many different kinds of herbs and vegetables, like parsley, lettuce, spinach, carrots and turnips. Some foods, like salt, sugar, oil and vinegar, had to be imported from England. Like the Wampanoag, however, the colonists experienced seasonal variations. Not all foods were available at every season of the year. The Pilgrims tried to extend the life of their foods through preservation. Salting, the most common method of preservation, worked well for pork meat from pigs and fish. This method was sometimes combined with smoking for meats. Drying was also common. Vinegar pickles and sugar were also occasionally used to preserve foods. As the years passed, the Pilgrims began to grow more food than they needed to eat. The colonists traded their extra Indian corn with Native People to get furs. The furs were then sent back to England to be sold. The money they made from selling furs was used to buy many of the goods they imported from England. Farming was not just a way to eat, then, but also a way to get goods that they could trade for sugar, spices, oil, vinegar, clothes, shoes, baskets and gunpowder. Their lives depended on a good harvest. Page 5
Chapter 4 : The Colonies The Mayflower The Native Americans helped the Pilgrims survive by showing them how to plant, hunt, and fish. Not everyone in Leiden left in, the year of the Mayflower voyage. In fact, fewer than half left for the journey to America. Some followed later; others never left Holland. It was not a simple matter to board a ship and set sail to establish a new settlement. Colonization required money to pay for the ship, the crew, and provisionsâ provisions which had to be abundant enough to feed and clothe everyone, both during the voyage and, hopefully, for as long as it took the colony to become established. The Calvinist Protestant Separatists, known as Pilgrims, who sailed on the Mayflower are still often confused with the Puritans, who later settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the s. Unlike today when most every event is recorded by film, print, or electronic media, there was very little documentation of the Mayflower voyage. William Plantation contains what may be the only account of the voyage. A small ship named the Speedwell brought the group to Southampton, England, where they joined another group of Separatists and boarded a second ship. From Southampton the group sailed to Plymouth from where they would sail. The voyage began in the two fully-loaded ships; however, the Speedwell sprang a leak and had to return to Plymouth. As many passengers as could be transferred from the Speedwell were put on the already overcrowded Mayflower, but some of the group was left behind. On September 6,, the Mayflower set sail alone. The passengers of the Mayflower did not call themselves "Pilgrims. The voyage of 66 days was most likely a difficult one. The ship was not bigâ only about feet in length and weighing tons. Space was tight, and there was little privacy. There was no place to bathe, nor were there decent sanitary facilities. Passengers probably lived on a diet of biscuits, dried fish, cheese, and raisins. The original destination of the passengers of the Mayflower was intended to be farther south. However, on November 11,, the Mayflower arrived at the shore of what is now Massachusetts. The group spent the first month exploring the Cape Cod area, particularly Provincetown Harbor. While still in Provincetown Harbor, the two factionsâ those from Holland and those from Englandâ became concerned about the lack of a government outside of the territory for which they had been granted a patent. Because they had no legal right to settle in the region, they drew up the Mayflower Compact. This agreement pledged allegiance to the king of England, but also created a separate form of government. Read a detailed account about the pilgrims and the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact essentially stated that each person would be subject to majority rule. For its time, it was indeed a remarkable statement of new ideas and principles. While not a constitution in the literal sense, the Mayflower Compact addressed an issue that would ultimately influence the founders of the United Statesâ a legitimate government must be based on the agreement and will of those being governed. A few months later, the Mayflower set sail for home, made a few more trading runs in Europe, then most likely lay dormant until, at which time the ship was declared to be in ruins. Page 6
Chapter 5 : Growing Food Plimoth Plantation The original document does not survive. It first appeared in Mourt's Relation, a pamphlet about the first year of settlement at blog.quintoapp.com Plymouth's town historian, Nathaniel Morton, reprinted the agreement in his book, New England's Memorial. This is Rich Kleinfeldt. Today, we tell about the first permanent English settlements in North America. England was the first country to compete with Spain for claims in the New World, although it was too weak to do this openly at first. But Queen Elizabeth of England supported such explorations as early as the s. Sir Humphrey Gilbert led the first English settlement efforts. He did not establish any lasting settlement. He died as he was returning to England. Raleigh sent a number of ships to explore the east coast of North America. In, about one-hundred men settled on Roanoke Island, off the coast of the present day state of North Carolina. These settlers returned to England a year later. Another group went to Roanoke the next year. This group included a number of women and children. But the supply ships Raleigh sent to the colony failed to arrive. When help got there in, none of the settlers could be found. History experts still are not sure what happened. Some research suggests that at least some of the settlers became part of the Indian tribe that lived in the area. One reason for the delay in getting supplies to Roanoke was the attack of the Spanish Navy against England in King Phillip of Spain had decided to invade England. But the small English ships combined with a fierce storm defeated the huge Spanish fleet. As a result, Spain was no longer able to block English exploration. England discovered that supporting colonies so far away was extremely costly. So Queen Elizabeth took no more action to do this. It was not until after her death in that England began serious efforts to start colonies in America. In, the new English King, James the First, gave two business groups permission to establish colonies in Virginia, the area claimed by England. Companies were organized to carry out the move. The London Company sent one hundred settlers to Virginia in The group landed there in May, and founded Jamestown. It was the first permanent English colony in the new world. The colony seemed about to fail from the start. The settlers did not plant their crops in time so they soon had no food. Their leaders lacked the farming and building skills needed to survive on the land. More than half the settlers died during the first winter. The businessmen controlling the colony from London knew nothing about living in such a wild place. They wanted the settlers to search for gold, and explore local rivers in hopes of finding a way to the East. One settler knew this was wrong. His name was Captain John Smith. He helped the colonists build houses and grow food by learning from the local Indians. Still, the Jamestown settlers continued to die each year from disease, lack of food and Indian attacks. The London Company sent six thousand settlers to Virginia between and More than four thousand died during that time. History experts say that all the settlers surely would have died without the help of the local Powhatan Indians. The Indians gave the settlers food. They taught them how to live in the forest. And the Powhatan Indians showed the settlers how to plant new crops and how to clear the land for building. Then, however, the settlers took whatever else they wanted by force. In, the local Indians attacked the settlers for interfering with Indian land. Three hundred forty settlers died. The settlers recognized that they would have to grow their own food and survive on their own without help from England or anyone else. The Jamestown colony was clearly established by It was even beginning to earn money by growing and selling a new crop, tobacco. The other early English settlements in North America were much to the north of Virginia, in the present state of Massachusetts. The people who settled there left England for different reasons than those who settled in Jamestown. The Virginia settlers were looking for ways to earn money for English businesses. The settlers in Massachusetts were seeking religious freedom. His daughter, Queen Elizabeth, established the Protestant religion in England. It was called the Church of England, or the Anglican Church. Not all Protestants liked this. Some wanted to leave the Anglican Church and form religious groups of their own. In, members of one such group in the town of Scrooby did separate from the Anglican Church. About one hundred twenty-five people left England for Holland. They found problems there too, so Page 7
they decided to move again These people were called pilgrims, because that is the name given to people who travel for religious purposes. About thirty-five pilgrims were among the passengers on a ship called the Mayflower in It left England to go to Virginia. But the Mayflower never reached Virginia. Instead, it landed to the north, on Cape Cod Bay. The group decided to stay there instead of trying to find Jamestown. The pilgrims and the others on the Mayflower saw a need for rules that would help them live together peacefully. They believed they were not under English control since they did not land in Virginia. So they wrote a plan of government, called the Mayflower Compact. It was the first such plan ever developed in the New World. They elected a man called William Bradford as the first governor of their Plymouth Colony. As happened in Jamestown, about half the settlers in Plymouth died the first winter. The survivors were surprised to find an Indian who spoke English. His name was Squanto. He had been kidnapped by an English sea captain and had lived in England before returning to his people. The Pilgrims believed Squanto was sent to them from God. He made it possible for them to communicate with the native people. He showed them the best places to fish, what kind of crops to plant and how to grow them. He provided them with all kinds of information they needed to survive. The settlers invited the Indians to a feast in the month of November to celebrate their successes and to thank Squanto for his help. Americans remember that celebration every year when they observe the Thanksgiving holiday. Other English settlers began arriving in the area now called New England. One large group was called the Puritans. Like the pilgrims, the Puritans did not agree with the Anglican Church. But they did not want to separate from it. The Puritans wanted to change it to make it more holy. Their desire for this change made them unwelcome in England. The first ship carrying Puritans left England for America in By the end of that summer, one thousand Puritans had landed in the northeastern part of the new country. The Puritans began leaving England in large groups. Between and, 20, sailed for New England. They risked their lives on the dangerous trip. They wanted to live among people who believed as they did, people who honored the rules of the Bible. Puritans believed that the Bible was the word of God. The Puritans and other Europeans, however, found a very different people in the New World. That will be our story next week. Page 8
Chapter 6 : What Were Some Of The Challenges Faced By The Pilgrims And The Crew During The Journe Plymouth Colony After arriving in America, the Pilgrims searched the coast of New England for a good place to build a settlement. They eventually found a location called Plymouth. Though theologically very similar to the Puritans who later founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Pilgrims believed that the Church of England could not be reformed. Rather than attempting to purify the church, the Pilgrims desired a total separation. Settlement, Founding, and Growth One hundred and twenty-five Pilgrims, some of whom founded Plymouth, first departed England in English authorities had forced the Pilgrims to halt Separatist worship at Scrooby Manor their residence in Nottinghamshire, England. Thus, seeking freedom of worship, they left for Holland, first passing through Amsterdam and then settling in Leyden. The Pilgrims did indeed enjoy freedom of worship in Leyden but found Holland an imperfect refuge. Most being farmers, the Pilgrims had difficulty prospering in urban Holland. More importantly, the Pilgrims feared their children were growing up in a morally degenerate atmosphere and were adopting Dutch customs and language. Virginia offered such an opportunity. By the Virginia Company was in deep financial difficulty. The two parties came to agreement in July, with the Pilgrims and merchants being equal partners. The Pilgrims sold most of their possessions in Leyden and purchased a shipâ the Speedwellâ to take them to Southampton, England. Weston hired another shipâ the Mayflowerâ to join the Speedwell on the voyage to America. They met the Mayflower, which carried about seventy non-separatists hired by Weston to journey to America as laborers. After a great deal of trouble with the Speedwell, the ship had to be abandoned, and only the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, for America on 16 September The travelers sighted Cape Cod in November and quickly realized they were not arriving in Virginia. Prevented from turning south by the rocky coast and failing winds, the voyagers agreed to settle in the north. Exploring parties were sent into Plymouth harbor in the first weeks of December, and the Mayflower finally dropped anchor there on 26 December The weary, sickly passengers gradually came ashore to build what would become Plymouth Colony. The winter was not particularly harsh, but the voyage left the passengers malnourished and susceptible to disease. Half of the passengers died during the first winter, but the surviving colonists, greatly aided by a plundered supply of Indian corn, were still able to establish a stable settlement. The â contagion brought by English fishermen and traders had greatly weakened the local Indian populace, so the Pilgrims initially faced little threat from native peoples. Plymouth town was, in fact, conveniently built on cleared area that had once been an Indian cornfield. The colonists built two rows of plank houses with enclosed gardens on "Leyden Street. Migration from England allowed the colony to grow, albeit slowly. By it reached By settlers had founded nine additional towns. Compared to its neighbor Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth Colony grew very modestly, reaching a population of only about 7, by Government and Politics Since the Pilgrims did not settle in Virginia, their patent was worthless, and they established Plymouth without any legal underpinning. They agreed to establish a civil government based upon congregational church compact government, in which freemen elected the governor and his assistants, just as congregational church members chose their own ministers. As the colonists spread out and founded new towns, the system needed modification. Having meetings of all freemen most adult men in Plymouth town to elect officials became impractical. Starting in, assemblies of freemen in individual towns chose deputies for a "General Court. The General Court became a powerful legislature, with sole authority to levy taxes, declare war, and define voter qualifications. Economy and Society Plymouth was intended for family settlement and commerce, not staple production or resource extraction like many other colonies. The Pilgrims, bound together by their faith and social covenant, envisioned building a self-sustaining agricultural community that would be a refuge for Separatist dissenters. Thus life in Plymouth revolved around family and religion. Those who did not, or those who openly challenged Separatist religious doctrine, were severely punished or driven from the colony entirely. Land was divided fairly evenly, with each colonist initially receiving acres of land, with 1, acres reserved for common use. Apart from home plots, acreage was Page 9
initially assigned on a yearly basis. When Pilgrim leaders broke with their London merchant partners in, every man was assigned a permanent, private allotment. Farming proved productive enough to make the colony essentially self-sufficient in food production by The fur trade initially run by government monopoly proved very profitable, and allowed the colony to pay off its debt to the London merchants. Indian Relations The colonists were extremely vulnerable during the first winter, and could have been annihilated had the Indians attacked. The first face-to-face meeting, however, was peaceful. In March an English-speaking Wampanoagâ Samosetâ approached Plymouth, and provided useful information about local geography and peoples. On 22 March Pilgrim leaders met with the Wampanoag chief Massasoit, who was in need of allies, and agreed to a mutual defense treaty. By the late s, however, the New England colonies especially Massachusetts were rapidly expanding, and Indian tribes were increasingly encroached upon. English encroachments in the Connecticut River valley led to the bloody Pequot War in His efforts became intensely focused after he was forced to sign a humiliating treaty with Plymouth in By the summer of, English forces had rounded up and executed the Indian leaders, selling hundreds more into slavery in the West Indies. Hope for self-government was revived in â, when Protestant English parliamentarians drove the Catholic James II from power. The new monarchs had no great interest in consolidating the colonies, and thus left the Dominion for dead. The crown issued a new charter for Massachusetts in, but denied the Puritans exclusive government control. History of Plymouth Plantation, â Edited by Samuel Eliot Morison. Russell and Russell, Deetz, James, and Patricia Scott Deetz. The Times of Their Lives: Life, Love, and Death in Plymouth Colony. Family Life in Plymouth Colony. Oxford University Press, The New England Colonies, â New Brunswick, N. Rutgers University Press, A History of New Plymouth, â New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, The New England Mind: Harvard University Press, Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of Early North America. Upper Saddle River, N. Puritans and Indians, aâ University of Oklahoma Press, Page 10
Chapter 7 : Colonial America for Kids: The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony In what ways did American Indians help the pilgrims survive in Plymouth? The Indians showed the Pilgrims what foods were edible and helped them make it throught their first Winter until they could. Pilgrim Fathers The village of Scrooby, England circa, home to the "Saints" until Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of English Puritans who later came to be known as the Pilgrims. They began to feel the pressures of religious persecution while still in the English village of Scrooby, near East Retford, Nottinghamshire. In, Archbishop Tobias Matthew raided homes and imprisoned several members of the congregation. Scrooby had been an agricultural community, whereas Leiden was a thriving industrial center, and the Separatists found the pace of life difficult. The community remained close-knit, but their children began adopting the Dutch language and customs, and some also entered the Dutch Army. The Puritans also were still not free from the persecutions of the English Crown. English authorities came to Leiden to arrest William Brewster in, after he published comments highly critical of the King of England and the Anglican Church. Brewster escaped arrest, but the events spurred the congregation to move farther from England. They had declined the opportunity to settle south of Cape Cod in New Netherland because of their desire to avoid the Dutch influence. They sought to finance their venture through the Merchant Adventurers, a group of businessmen who principally viewed the colony as a means of making a profit. Upon arriving in America, the Pilgrims began working to repay their debts. They had intended to leave early in, but they were delayed several months due to difficulties in dealing with the Merchant Adventurers, including several changes in plans for the voyage and in financing. The congregation and the other colonists finally boarded the Speedwell in July in the Dutch port of Delfshaven. List of Mayflower passengers Speedwell was re-rigged with larger masts before leaving Holland and setting out to meet Mayflower in Southampton, England, around the end of July The term was also used for many of the indentured servants. Further disagreements with the Merchant Adventurers held up the departure in Southampton. A total of passengers finally departed on August 5â 90 on the Mayflower and 30 on the Speedwell. The leakage was partly caused by being overmasted and being pressed too much with sail. The Speedwell was found to be unseaworthy; some passengers abandoned their attempt to emigrate, while others joined the Mayflower, crowding the already heavily burdened ship. Later, it was speculated that the crew of the Speedwell had intentionally sabotaged the ship to avoid having to make the treacherous trans-atlantic voyage. More importantly, the delays meant that everyone had to spend the entire winter on board the Mayflower off Cape Cod in what could only be described as squalid conditions. The Mayflower departed Plymouth, England on September 6, with passengers and about 30 crew members in the small, foot-long ship. There were many obstacles throughout the trip, including multiple cases of seasickness and the bending and cracking of a main beam of the ship. One death occurred, that of William Button. They attempted to sail south to the designated landing site at the mouth of the Hudson but ran into trouble in the region of Pollack Rip, a shallow area of shoals between Cape Cod and Nantucket Island. With winter approaching and provisions running dangerously low, the passengers decided to return north to Cape Cod Bay and abandon their original landing plans. The resulting map completely omits most of the New England coast. Frenchman Samuel de Champlain had explored the area extensively in He had specifically explored Plymouth Harbor, which he called "Port St. Louis," and made an extensive and detailed map of it and the surrounding lands. The native Patuxet village upon which the town of Plymouth was later built was shown by Champlain as a thriving settlement. The epidemic has traditionally been thought to be smallpox, [21] but a recent analysis has concluded that it may have been a lesser-known disease called leptospirosis. Popham Colony, also known as Fort St. George, was organized by the Plymouth Company unrelated to Plymouth Colony and founded in It was settled on the coast of Maine and was beset by internal political struggles, sickness, and weather problems. It was abandoned in He named many locations using approximations of Native American words. A map published in his work A Description of New England clearly shows the site of the future Pilgrim Page 11
settlement named "New Plimouth. They discovered remains of a European fort and uncovered a grave that contained the remains of both an adult European male and a Native American child. The Pilgrims did not have a patent to settle this area; thus, some passengers began to question their right to land, complaining that there was no legal authority to establish a colony. In response to this, a group of colonists drafted and ratified the first governing document of the colony, the Mayflower Compact, while still aboard the ship as it lay off-shore. The intent of the compact was to establish a means of governing the colony, though it did little more than confirm that the colony would be governed like any English town. It did, however, serve the purpose of relieving the concerns of many of the settlers. It was modeled on the church covenants that Congregationalists used to form new congregations. It made clear that the colony should be governed by "just and equal laws," and those who signed it promised to keep these laws. The immigrants finally set foot on land at what became Provincetown on November The first task was to rebuild a shallop, a shallow draft boat that had been built in England and disassembled for transport aboard the Mayflower. It would remain with the Pilgrims while the Mayflower returned to England. On November 15, Captain Myles Standish led a party of sixteen men on an exploratory mission, during which they disturbed a Native American grave and located a buried cache of Indian corn. He was the first English child born to the Pilgrims in the New World. The shallop was finished on November 27, and a second expedition was undertaken using it, under the direction of Mayflower master Christopher Jones. Thirty-four men went, but the expedition was beset by bad weather; the only positive result was that they found a Native burial ground and corn that had been intended for the dead, taking the corn for future planting. A third expedition along Cape Cod left on December 6; it resulted in a skirmish with local Native Americans known as the "First Encounter" near modern-day Eastham, Massachusetts. The colonists decided to look elsewhere, having failed to secure a proper site for their settlement, and fearing that they had angered the local Native Americans by robbing their corn stores and firing upon them. The settlement would be centered on two hills: Also important in choosing the site was that the prior Native villagers had cleared much of the land making agriculture relatively easy. Fresh water for the colony was provided by Town Brook and Billington Sea. There are no contemporaneous accounts to verify the legend, but Plymouth Rock is often hailed as the point where the colonists first set foot on their new homeland. The colonists elected to retain the name for their own settlement, in honor of their final point of departure from England: Bacon On December 21,, the first landing party arrived at the site of Plymouth. Plans to build houses, however, were delayed by bad weather until December As the building progressed, 20 men always remained ashore for security purposes while the rest of the work crews returned each night to the Mayflower. Women, children, and the infirm remained on board the Mayflower, and many had not left the ship for six months. The first structure was a common house of wattle and daub, and it took two weeks to complete in the harsh New England winter. In the following weeks, the rest of the settlement slowly took shape. During the winter, the Mayflower colonists suffered greatly from lack of shelter, diseases such as scurvy, and general conditions onboard ship. Thus, only seven residences and four common houses were constructed during the first winter out of a planned The men of the settlement organized themselves into military orders in mid-february, after several tense encounters with local Indians, and Myles Standish was designated as the commanding officer. By the end of the month, five cannons had been defensively positioned on Fort Hill. On March 16,, the first formal contact occurred with the Indians. Samoset was an Abenaki sagamore who was originally from Pemaquid Point in Maine. He had learned some English from fishermen and trappers in Maine, [35] and he walked boldly into the midst of the settlement and proclaimed, "Welcome, Englishmen! They also learned that one leader of the region was Wampanoag Indian chief Massasoit, [36] and they learned about Squanto Tisquantum who was the sole survivor from Patuxet. Squanto had spent time in Europe and spoke English quite well. He also knew that the Pilgrims had taken some corn stores in their landings at Provincetown. He had returned to New England in, acting as a guide to explorer Capt. Robert Gorges, but Massasoit and his men had massacred the crew of the ship and had taken Squanto. Only four adult women were left alive for the Thanksgiving. Brownscombe The autumn celebration in late that has become known as "The First Thanksgiving " was not Page 12
known as such to the Pilgrims. That event probably occurred in July and consisted of a full day of prayer and worship and probably very little revelry. The original festival was probably held in early October and was celebrated by the 53 surviving Pilgrims, along with Massasoit and 90 of his men. Three contemporaneous accounts of the event survive: For the first few years of colonial life, the fur trade was the dominant source of income, buying furs from Native Americans and selling to Europeans, beyond subsistence farming. William Bradford was elected to replace him and went on to lead the colony through much of its formative years. On July 2, a party of Pilgrims led by Edward Winslow who later became the chief diplomat of the colony set out to continue negotiations with the chief. The delegation also included Squanto, who acted as a translator. After meals and an exchange of gifts, Massasoit agreed to an exclusive trading pact with the English; thus, the French were no longer welcome, though they were also frequent traders in the area. Squanto remained behind and traveled throughout the area to establish trading relations with several tribes. It was reported that he was found by the Nauset, the same group of Native Americans on Cape Cod from whom the Pilgrims had unwittingly stolen corn seed the prior year upon their first explorations. The English organized a party to return Billington to Plymouth. The Pilgrims agreed to reimburse the Nauset for the corn which they had taken in return for the Billington boy. This negotiation did much to secure further peace with the Native Americans in the area. Massasoit, Squanto, and several other Wampanoags had been captured by Corbitant, sachem of the Narragansett tribe. A party of ten men under the leadership of Myles Standish set out to find and execute Corbitant. While hunting for Corbitant, they learned that Squanto had escaped and Massasoit was back in power. Several Native Americans had been injured by Standish and his men and were offered medical attention in Plymouth. They had failed to capture Corbitant, but the show of force by Standish had garnered respect for the Pilgrims and, as a result, nine of the most powerful sachems in the area signed a treaty in September, including Massasoit and Corbitant, pledging their loyalty to King James. Two ships followed shortly thereafter carrying sixty settlers, all men. They spent July and August in Plymouth before moving north to settle in modern Weymouth, Massachusetts at a settlement which they named Wessagussett. Page 13
Chapter 8 : Who helped the Pilgrims survived in Plymouth The Mayflower Compact is still celebrated as an important milestone on America's road to democracy. Yet it did not guarantee rights for everyone. Women, servants, and children in the Plymouth Colony had no legal protections. Samoset also introduced the colonists to Massasoit, the leader of the Wampanoag. Massasoit and John Carver, who was the first governor of the Plymouth Colony, signed a peace treaty that would keep relations between the Wampanoag and the colonists friendly for many years. That neither he nor any of his, should injure or do hurt to any of their people That if any thing were taken away from any of theirs, he should cause it to be restored; and they should do the like to his That if any did unjustly war against him, they would aid him Another reason the colony survived was able leadership. Bradford provided the strong, steady leadership that kept the tiny community alive. Separate fact from fiction about "Here is a stone which the feet of a few outcasts pressed for an instant; and the stone becomes famous; it is treasured by a great nation; its very dust is shared as a relic. The population began to rise, aided by the arrival of more ships bringing new settlers. Around the time of the harvest feast, a ship named Fortune brought 35 more colonists to Plymouth. Less than two years later, two more ships came to the colony. Little James and Anne brought another 60 people from England. As Plymouth grew, the colony, which originally had only one street, grew outward, with homes being built away from the center in the surrounding countryside. By the middle of the decade, Plymouth Colony had come a long way from its early days of sickness, hunger, and despair. One problem arose in when a group led by Thomas Morton arrived. Morton was an English trader and lawyer who helped found a settlement called Mount Wollaston present-day Quincy, Massachusetts. The settlement was soon renamed Mare Mount, or Merry Mount. Morton and his fellow settlers offended the deeply-religious Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony by holding boisterous Maypole festivities. Morton further upset the Pilgrims by developing a rival fur trade with American Indians. The Pilgrims sent a military force led by Myles Standish to arrest Morton, and he was sent back to England to face charges of trading arms with American Indians. By, the colonists had made enough money from the beaver trade that they were able to close out their contract with London merchants part of the contract prohibited the colonists from working for their own gain and were able to expand trade with the American Indians. Trading posts were constructed to the north and west, including posts in the Connecticut Valley and along the main rivers in present-day Maine. Plymouth was democratically governed during its first few years, although only people called freemen were allowed to vote. A governing body, along with the governor, enacted laws and levied taxes. Few crimes were capital offenses, while lesser offenses were usually dealt with by the paying of fines. Learn more about the life at the Plimoth Plantation and plan a visit. In the s, Plymouth Colony expanded greatly. The general economic situation brightened during that time period with the arrival of the much larger and wealthier Massachusetts Bay Company. The following decade, however, was a time of great trouble. The cattle trade disintegrated due to the slowing of new arrivals to the area, causing cattle prices to drop. In, the first English Civil War began, and some colonists went back to England. Other colonists left Plymouth for other regions, such as Nauset on Cape Cod. Colonial expansion into American Indian territories eventually led to disputes between settlers and the native peoples. This alliance worked to settle land and boundary disputes and to provide for the common defense. Project, sponsored by the University of Virginia. Relations between Plymouth Colony and the Wampanoag worsened after the death of Massasoit in After a few years of relative calm, relations grew worse as the Wampanoag gave up more and more of their land in exchange for English goods that they wanted. War finally broke out between the Wampanoag and the colonists in The entire Wampanoag tribe was nearly wiped out, along with the fur trade. The governor taxed the colonists and brought about other measures that upset them, causing some to be jailed for dissent. The Dominion was overthrown in, and Plymouth reestablished its government. Two years later, Plymouth and the more populous and prosperous Massachusetts Bay Colony joined together to form the royal province of Massachusetts Bay. By this time, Plymouth Colony had upwards of 7, Page 14