Taken mostly from The Pilgrims and Their Times,
edited by Elizabeth Myers Brown,
and published by Highlights for Children in 1974;
also a little taken from See, I Told You So
by Rush Limbaugh,
published by Pocket Books in 1994.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving

Persecution and Flight

King James of England was determined to get rid of Christians who did not go to the Church of England, which he controlled. Many Christians were equally determined to worship God in the way they believed was right, according to the Bible. They thought the church was corrupt, and pushed for reform. They wanted the church to be pure, and that is why they were called Puritans.

Some Puritans believed that the government church could never be reformed enough, so they wanted to separate and form their own church. They were called Separatists. King James declared all separate churches illegal, and people could even be put to death for attending them.

But there were Christians who met secretly to worship as they believed they should. One such group met in the home of William Brewster, a university-educated man who had been at court, who now occupied a bishop’s manor and oversaw the bishop’s lands, and who was postmaster and ran a respected inn. Also in the group was a seventeen-year-old boy named William Bradford. Bradford lived with his uncle because his parents had died, but his uncle was furious that William was involved with Separatists. So William went to live with Brewster, and wrote his uncle that he had to do what he did, even if it cost him his life.

It was clear to Brewster that if he and his friends continued to meet in secret they faced increasing chances of being arrested and punished. The group’s Puritan minister, Mr. Clyfton, who had been put out of the Church of England for his reforming ideas, suggested that the group go to Holland, where religious liberty was allowed. Many thought that going to Holland was no better than dying, so they returned to the government church. Some of the group, however, decided to leave England, so they sold their possessions at great sacrifice, and bought passage on a ship to Holland.

The Separatists met the boat at an out-of-the-way cove. But the government would not allow people to leave England, if they were considered traitors. When the Separatists were all aboard, the king’s men arrived and arrested them. The captain of the ship, who had taken their passage money, had betrayed them to the king. The Separatists were searched and their money taken from them. Their leaders were jailed. Brewster spent some months in jail, was fined, and lost his positions and the manor house. The Separatists were scorned and ridiculed and had no place to go.

The next year the Separatists finally made it to Holland. They had religious liberty, but otherwise things were hard. Most had to work at whatever jobs they could find. Most of Brewster’s money was gone, and he was not used to physical labor. But he recovered from adversity and began giving English lessons to the sons of German and Danish noblemen. With his earnings he set up a printing shop, published Puritan books which were banned in England, and smuggled the books into England and Scotland. King James was furious, gave orders to arrest the troublemakers, and Brewster went into hiding.

The Separatists were not happy in Holland. They were farmers in the city (land was very expensive), and their children were losing their English and Puritan heritage. Of the three hundred Separatists in Holland, forty-one decided to go to the American frontier.

The Monday before Thanksgiving

The Voyage and the Compact

The few who decided, after twelve years in Holland, to go to the New World considered themselves "Pilgrims" as in Hebrews 11:13-14 (see also I Peter 2: 11):

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

The problem is that the Pilgrims did not have and could not get enough money to get to the New World. So they made an agreement with a group of forty-one men in England who called themselves the "Adventurers" and who agreed to provide the money for the venture. In return, the Pilgrims would work for the Adventurers four days in every week, and divide everything they had at the end of seven years and give half to the venture capitalists.

"The embarkation of the Pilgrims at Delft Haven, Holland" by Weir

There were not enough Pilgrims to make up a colony, so the Adventurers advertised for others to join the venture. These others who joined were called "Strangers." The Pilgrims went prayerfully to England and joined the Strangers on the Mayflower, and on September 6, 1620, the ship set sail. The Mayflower had one hundred and two people crowded into space meant for about seventy-five. Many of them had to lie on the bare floor to sleep. There were no sanitary provisions, and little privacy. They ate most of their food without cooking. Nearly all of them became seasick.

"The Mayflower and the Speedwell in Dartmouth Harbor" by Wilcox

At first the weather was fair, but before long they were suffering in terrible storms. Much of the time the travelers could not go out on deck because of the storms, so they were crowded into the little cabin below deck with not much more than standing room. The air was foul.

"The Mayflower at Sea" by Margeson

There was an English colony in America at Jamestown (in what would become Virginia), and this was the area to which the Pilgrims intended to go. They sighted land far north of that, however, and rough waters kept them from going south. So, on November 11, inside the bay of Cape God, the Pilgrims fell upon their knees and thanked God for their safe delivery to "firm and stable earth."

Some of the people, however, said that when they got onto the land, they would do as they pleased and obey no laws. Their Virginia patent was no good on Cape Cad, and thus there was no government over them. To avoid chaos, the leaders drew up what was called the Mayflower Compact, and forty-one males on board signed it. The main body of the compact read as follows:

"Signing the Mayflower Compact" by Moran

So, the first freely formed government was brought to life on American soil, by the first permanent settlers in what would become the United States. John Carver was chosen by the Pilgrims and Strangers to be their governor for the first year. That day some men got off the ship to explore and bring back some firewood. According to tradition, the Pilgrims stepped onto a large rock when they landed—a rock now called Plymouth Rock. The next day was Sunday, so (to keep the Sabbath holy) no one went ashore that day, but on Monday many went ashore to refresh themselves, and the women to wash clothes, since most people had been wearing the same clothes day and night for two months. For some time, however, the ship remained their only shelter in this strange land.

"The Landing of the Pilgrims" by Corne (left) and Bacon (right)

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving

The Colony and the Indians

   On November 15, 16 well-armed men under the leadership of Captain Myles Standish went looking for a place to live. They saw five or six Indians with their dog and wanted to speak with them, but the Indians ran away. After nearly a month of exploring, some of them sounded Plymouth harbor and found it fit for shipping. They also discovered a place fit for living, with open fields and little running brooks. On the 15th of December, they moved the ship to that place, and on December 25th they began to erect the first house for common use.

When they completed the common house, they needed it for a hospital. Due to exposure to bad weather, lack of food and clothing, and hard work, more and more people became sick. At one time there were only six or seven people well enough to bring in wood, make fires, carry water, hunt for food, cook, and tend the sick. January and February were especially bad, and during the three winter months about half of the colonists died. In the spring, the sickness and dying began to stop. The Mayflower returned to England, but none of the courageous colonists went back with it.

During this time the colonists had little contact with Indians, who ran away whenever approached. Once Indians stole some tools the colonists had left in the fields. Finally, however, on a day in March, a big and tall Indian strode into the settlement and announced in broken English, "Welcome, Englishmen!" The Indian’s name was Samoset. From this Indian, the colonists learned how marvelously God had provided for them, even before they had arrived in Plymouth.

Before the Pilgrims landed, they learned, the Patuxet Indians had lived where they were living. They were the ones who cleared the land and made it ready for planting—a task which would have taken the Pilgrims years to do. On any other spot in New England, the Pilgrims would probably have starved to death before their colony could be established. The Patuxets had been a fierce and bloodthirsty tribe, and probably would have killed the Pilgrims when they landed. But four years before the Pilgrims arrived, the Patuxets were entirely wiped out by a plague, and left their fields open and ready for the colonists. Now, Samoset told them, there were no warlike tribes of Indians nearby. The colonists feasted Samoset and gave him a knife and a ring.

A day or two later Samoset returned with five more Indians, and they returned the tools they had stolen—for which the Pilgrims were grateful because tools were precious. The Indians sang and danced and spread out furs to trade, but it was Sunday, so the Pilgrims would not trade that day and asked the Indians to come back another day. Samoset said he would return with an Indian named Squanto, who could speak English very well, and would also bring the most important Indian ruler in all of Massachusetts—Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoag Indians.

A few days later came Massasoit with his chief warriors and with Squanto as translator. The Pilgrims and Massasoit agreed to a peace treaty, in which they agreed to help each other in case either was attacked by someone else. It was a treaty that lasted for fifty years. When some of the Indians in Massachusetts would have liked to do away with the colonists, Massasoit always protected them and warned the Pilgrims about any hostile Indians.

The miracle of Indians who spoke English was explained with a history of Squanto. Squanto was a Patuxet Indian who, with some of his friends, had been kidnapped seven years before by an English sea captain and sold as a slave in Spain. When some monks learned that the slaves were American Indians, they gave them their freedom. Somehow Squanto made his way to London, where he worked as a servant. Two years later he sailed back to America, and came to an English settlement in Newfoundland. Here he met Samoset, a sagamore (chief). Squanto and Samoset returned to Squanto’s Patuxet home shortly before the Pilgrims arrived. There was no one to welcome Squanto back home, because the tribe was all dead.

When Squanto came with Massasoit to meet with the Pilgrims, he felt right at home among the Englishmen, and even asked for a drink of English beer. Squanto liked his new English friends and moved in among them. He had arrived just in time to show the Pilgrims how to plant corn, which the Indians called "maize." The crop seeds which the Pilgrims had brought from Europe did not grow well in America, and if they had not learned about how to plant corn and beans and squash, they would have starved to death in their second winter. Squanto taught the colonists to put fish into the soil to make plants grow better, how to plant and cultivate corn, how to trap beaver, how to stalk wild animals, where to get fish, how to catch and cook eels, and where to trade for furs. He was a good guide and interpreter, and he was a clear sign of the providence of God for the Pilgrims.

Shortly after making the treaty with Indians, Governor Carver died and William Bradford was elected governor. Bradford served as Governor of Plymouth Colony for every year of the next thirty-six except five, until he died at the age of sixty-seven.

Working out relationships with the Indians was not always easy. When the Indians kept coming to the settlement in large groups to eat and drink, the Pilgrims needed to stop them, because food was scarce. The representatives of the Pilgrims paid Massasoit a visit and presented him with a bright-red riding coat and fancy copper chain with a locket for a necklace. Through Squanto, Massasoit was told that "anyone wearing this locket will always be welcome at Plymouth as a friend of the Chief, but the rest must stay away unless they bring furs to trade." Massasoit accepted, but apologized that he could not offer the hungry representatives food, because the Indians had no food. That was why they had visited the colony so often.

One time Massasoit became angry with the Pilgrims, and had nothing to do with them for a long time. When the Pilgrims heard that Massasoit was ill and apparently dying, they brought some medicine to him. Massasoit recovered and vowed to never be angry with the Englishmen again.

Squanto, though a great blessing to the colonists, became a troublemaker. To get presents from the Pilgrims, he threatened to stir up the Indian tribes against them. To get presents from the Indians, he threatened to have the Pilgrims make war on them. He also frightened the Indians by claiming that he kept plague buried in the ground and could send it among whoever he wanted. In 1622, Squanto fell sick with a fever and died, after asking Bradford to pray for him.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving

The Work and the Reward

The Pilgrims were financed by the Adventurers, who thought that most of the money earned in the new land would be from fishing. The Colonists were not very good at commercial fishing, though they did catch fish for their own use. Instead, they carried on a profitable fur trade with the Indians, and established trading posts. They traded knives and beads and corn and wampum (shell money) for furs, mostly beaver and some otter. The Pilgrims also had plenty of wood, which was needed in deforested England, and sent it to the Adventurers. In return, the Colonists needed supplies from England: leather, cloth, tar, rope, knives and scissors, hatchets, farming tools, shot and powder, drugs, and spices.

A year after Plymouth Colony was begun, a ship named the Fortune came from the Adventurers to the Colony. Many hoped that the loved ones they had left behind would be on the ship, but there were few. Instead thirty-five husky men arrived with few supplies, so that they had to be fed from the Pilgrims’ storeroom for the winter--forcing everyone to go on half rations. The Adventurers expressed strong disappointment that the Mayflower had been sent back empty in the spring, and demanded a paying load for the Fortune or the Company would withdraw all support. The Pilgrims loaded the ship with lumber and furs, but they were also forced to sign a new contract, which bound them to work full-time for the Company for the next seven years, or else lose Company support. At first, all work was shared, for each person was working for the good of the "Plantation." All helped build the common buildings, though each head of household was responsible for building his own home. These houses were built together in two rows, and those not members of a family were assigned to live with a family. All worked together, planting and harvesting on common ground. After two years, however, there was much discontent with this system. Those who did not do as much work were given the same food and support as those who worked hard.

Seeing the harm of this early form of communism, Governor Bradford criticized the mistaken idea "that by taking away property, and by bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing—as if they were wiser than God." So the governor assigned each family a plot of land on which to work. "This had very good success," wrote Bradford, "for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been." Soon the Pilgrims had more food than they could eat themselves, and used it for trading with the Indians in order to reduce their debt to the Adventurers. The success and prosperity of the Plymouth Plantation attracted more Europeans and began what became known as the "Great Puritan Migration."

One of those attracted to the New World by the success of Plymouth Colony was Thomas Hooker, who established his own community in Connecticut—the first full-fledged constitutional community and perhaps the most free society the world had ever known. Hooker’s community was governed by the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, which established strict limits on the powers of government. So revolutionary and successful was this idea that Massachusetts was inspired to adopt its Body of Liberties, which included ninety-eight separate protections of individual rights, including: "no taxation without representation," "due process of law," "trial by a jury of peers," and prohibitions against "cruel and unusual punishment." These are the ideas which led directly to the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

A family’s plot of land, assigned by Bradford, was determined by lot each year, so that a family might have a different plot of land every year. But those who had improved their plots did not want to draw for another which might not have been so well cared for. So each family was given an acre of land to work until the end of the seven years was up. In order for the Colonists to free themselves from the Adventurers, a new agreement was made near the end of 1626, six years after the Colony had begun. In return for the Colonist’s promise to pay 1800 pounds over the next nine years, the Adventurers would give up all rights to land, shares, and goods. Payments were to be made at the rate of two hundred pounds per year. Seven or eight of the important men in the colony agreed to undertake this obligation for all. They were called "Undertakers."

All things were split up fairly, with each person to have twenty acres. The Plymouth Colony became more and more prosperous, especially as new colonies began to develop nearby with their demand for corn and cattle. The Adventurers took some advantage of the Colonists. They kept sending over more people and things, even fishing vessels, and charging the accounts of the colony. Interest rates were as high as 50 percent per year. This meant that the colonists kept owing more money. Nevertheless, letters exchanged between the Colonists and the Adventurers were filled with loving phrases. Finally, after twenty years, the Undertakers made a final arrangement with the Adventurers, and agreed to settle their accounts with the payment of 1200 pounds. When it was finally settled in 1648, a number of the Undertakers sold their homes and property in order to make final payment.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving

Central to the founding of Plymouth Plantation was the desire to worship God as the Puritans believed that they should. William Brewster, the middle-aged educated man, willingly bore the hardships of life in Plymouth, "living many times without bread or corn many months together, having many times nothing but fish and often wanting that also." He worked in the fields like everyone else. But he also served as spiritual leader of the colony.

When the Puritans first came to Plymouth, they expected that all the rest of the congregation would soon join them—including their beloved pastor, John Robinson. But it was not easy to find the money to transport them. Months turned to years, and Robinson remained in Holland until he died there in 1625.

During those years some unsuccessful attempts to find a suitable minister were made. Brewster led the services in the Pilgrim church, preaching twice each Sunday, "and that both powerfully and profitably, to the great contentment of the hearers and their comfortable edification." The Colonists wanted to make Brewster their ordained minister, but Robinson told them that they could not, because a minister must be, he said, a university graduate, and Brewster had not completed his studies at Cambridge. Brewster continued, however, to faithfully serve as an elder in the church until his death in 1643 when he was eighty years old.

When the Pilgrims had been in the New World for almost a year, and had harvested a fairly good crop, they felt it right to thank God for the bounty He had blessed them with. So in the fall of 1621, probably in the middle of October, the Pilgrims celebrated their first American harvest festival.

Edward Winslow wrote about that first Thanksgiving to a friend in England:

"The First Thanksgiving" by Jennie Brownscombe

The Pilgrims continued to give thanks to God annually at harvest time. Of course, they gave thanks to God at other times as well. For example, during the summer of 1623, there had been no rain and the crops were withering. After a day of prayer, God sent the rains and Governor Bradford declared a day of Thanksgiving.

In establishing Thanksgiving as a national holiday, our first President, George Washington, during his first year as President in 1789, issued the following proclamation:

Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, named the last Thursday in November as the day of national thanksgiving to God. This tradition was made into law in 1941, when Congress passed a resolution designating the fourth Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday.

We have much to thank God for, but on this national holiday, we should especially give thanks to Him for the way He founded our nation. In particular, we should remember the lessons He taught us through the Pilgrims:

That we should be willing to suffer persecution and hard living conditions before we give up our faith in God.
That all people should be free to worship God as they believe they should.
That a government is necessary to keep good order and restrain excess freedom.
That God is working for our good, preparing a place for us and helping us, even when we are suffering, and that God can use things which are bad for our good.
That race should not keep us from helping and accepting help from other people.
That even troublemakers should be forgiven and prayed for.
That the notion of communism or socialism is harmful, and that private property is central to the prosperity and success of all.
That limits on the power of government and assurances of individual rights are necessary for prosperity and success
That debt should be avoided if at all possible, for it only leads to greater debt.
That honorable men pay their debts, no matter what must be the sacrifice.
That a good man will serve people without regard for public recognition.
That it is good for us to give thanks to God for the good things He has given us.
That it is good for a nation to give thanks to God for His providence, and the best leaders recognize this.

Let us pray this prayer by an unknown author:

O Lord, we thank You for the privilege of living in a land of opportunity and beauty and plenty.
We thank You for a religious heritage and freedom to worship as we may desire.
We thank You for houses of worship that point fingers of stone toward Heaven.
We thank You for friends across the street, throughout the land and around the world.
We thank You for friendly nations on our borders, and the ability to help the less fortunate in our own and other lands.
We thank You for fertile fields swathed in robes of golden grain, for rolling plains blanketed with herds of lowing cattle, for majestic mountains ribbed with sinews of steel.
We thank You, God, for strength to work, for minds to plan, and hearts to appreciate the good things from the inexhaustible storehouse of Heaven