The image of conservatively dressed, musket-wielding men arriving on the Mayflower in Plymouth Rock, Virginia, in 1620 is firmly embedded in people's minds. But who were these traveling pilgrims really?
The Pilgrims were radical separatist Puritans who believed that the church should be separate from the English crown, their views were a more "extreme" version of Puritanism.
The Puritans believed that the Church of England should be "purified," meaning that the trappings and ceremonies of Roman Catholicism should be removed from churches and Christian life in England in general.
Separatists as well as Puritans were also inclined toward Congregationalism, which meant their belief that local churches (a religious organization located in a particular place) should make decisions by a general vote rather than by the decision of elected elders or some hierarchy outside the local church.
Most of the views of the Separatists put them at odds even with the regular Puritans, and they could not conduct religious ceremonies in churches as they saw fit.
Why the Pilgrims traveled to the so-called "New World"
Simply put, they had nowhere to go. Religious freedom was rare - many countries, even if they were Protestant, still lacked what is commonly referred to in the modern world as separation of church and state.
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Local churches were still sponsored or endorsed by the state, and their structure was in many cases determined by civil laws. In England, church attendance was compulsory, and fines were levied on those who did not attend. Because of these restrictions, the Pilgrims around 1607 moved to Leiden, Holland, one of the few places where they could practice their religion freely.
After a while, the Pilgrims found that their children were better at adapting to the local culture than their own, and the adults had difficulty learning a new language and struggled to make a living.
How the Pilgrims got to America
In 1619, two representatives of the Pilgrims, Robert Cushman and John Carver, applied to the London Company for a land patent. The London Company was granted the right to dispose of territory in the so-called "New World" claimed by England, and the men were granted permission, although there were minor legal problems with the charter.
After going through various logistical difficulties, as well as some religious differences intersecting with politics, which was a smaller part of the religious tensions in England and Scotland at the time, the Pilgrims finally achieved their journey on two ships, the Speedwell ("Veronica") and the Mayflower ("Mayflower").
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The ship, the Speedwell, was not sturdy and not suited to the long journey by sea and could only make the journey as far as Devon, in southwest England. There its passengers were able to transfer to the Mayflower and continued their journey.
A small number of volunteers had to stay behind. Among those who returned to shore was Leiden Brownist Thomas Blossom, a maternal ancestor of American President Barack Obama. Blossom and his family did not manage to reach the "New World" until nine years after the event.
During and after traveling by sea
On September 16, 1620, the Mayflower finally set sail from the English port of Plymouth and headed for the shores of America. The voyage was continued by 102 men, most of whom were either Separatist pilgrims or their servants. The rest, who did not belong to their group, were called "strangers" by the Separatists, and most of them set sail for economic opportunity.
The Mayflower initially anchored in Provincetown harbor, near Cape Cod. After exploring various locations, they stopped at a cleared area where an abandoned Native village had previously been located. It was at this spot that the Pilgrims landed, began their settlement, and it was here that the legend of Plymouth Rock was born.
Plymouth Rock is a rock that is said to be part of the land on which the first settlers first set foot, and near this rock is a monument to the first settlers called the Founding Fathers National Monument.
The territory in which the Pilgrims settled was outside of Hudson Bay, which was administered by the London Company, and some of them thought they could do as they pleased.
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Realizing that they were not in the jurisdiction they had originally planned to enter, and unable to travel to Hudson Bay, they drew up the Mayflower Compact (or Mayflower Agreement), a basic cooperative document that the Pilgrims signed with the Virginia Company to grant them internal self-government.
The Mayflower Compact would later be considered the prototype of the
Declaration of Independence, which affirmed the freedom of the North American states from the authority of the metropolis.
That same day the settlers elected John Carver, a deacon of the congregation (one of the three elected leadership positions in the Congregational Church), as governor. He was a wealthy and respected man. He is considered the first settlement governor in the history of English colonization of America who was elected by the people.
The origins of the first Thanksgiving in history
The Pilgrims experienced many hardships in their first year. Harsh winters, disease, inability to grow crops well, and shaky cooperation with the local population all contributed to a near failure of the first year.
By the summer of 1621, 50 of the 102 passengers who set out had died. With the help of local Native American tribes, including the Squanto Indian, who had lived among Europeans before returning to the so-called "New World," the Pilgrims were able to reap a good harvest and celebrate with the neighboring Wampanoag tribe.
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After surviving that first harsh year, they were able to not only survive, but thrive as a community and become an integral part of American history.
Legacy
Beginning in 1621, more ships arrived on the shores of New England. Inspired by the example of the Plymouths, the British began to establish other colonies - Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.
The original Pilgrim settlers set a precedent: the principle of self-government and elected local government by which they lived was adopted as a given by colonists throughout New England.
The War of Independence was still a long way off, but future Americans had acquired something important - traditions. And the United States owes it to the dozens of people who crossed the ocean in search not of wealth or pioneer romance, but of freedom.