Pilgrim Fathers
Who were the Pilgrim Fathers?
Why did the Pilgrims come to America?
How many Pilgrims died the first winter?
Did the Pilgrims celebrate the first Thanksgiving?
Pilgrim Fathers, in American colonial history, settlers of Plymouth, Massachusetts, the first permanent colony in New England (1620). Of the 102 colonists, 35 were members of the English Separatist movement (a radical faction of Puritanism). Unlike other Puritans, who sought to reform the Church of England from within, the Separatists believed that the established church had departed too far from biblical teachings and that true Christians should form independent congregations. Facing persecution for their beliefs, members of the group fled to the Netherlands before eventually establishing a new community in North America.
The Mayflower
Although they enjoyed greater religious freedom in the Netherlands, the Separatists faced economic difficulties and worried about preserving their religious and cultural identity. Seeking a more abundant life, the Separatists negotiated with a London stock company to finance a voyage to America. Approximately two-thirds of those making the trip aboard the Mayflower were non-Separatists, some of whom were hired to protect the company’s interests; these included John Alden and Myles Standish.
Rough seas and storms prevented the Mayflower from reaching its intended destination in the area of the Hudson River, and the ship was steered instead toward Cape Cod. Because of the change of course, the passengers were no longer within the jurisdiction of the charter granted to them in England by the Virginia Company. In this legally uncertain situation, friction arose between the Pilgrims and the rest of the travelers, with some of the latter threatening to leave the group and settle on their own.
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To quell the conflict and preserve unity, Pilgrim leaders, among them William Bradford and William Brewster, drafted the Mayflower Compact before going ashore. The brief document (about 200 words) bound its signers into a body politic for the purpose of forming a government and pledged them to abide by any laws and regulations that would later be established “for the general good of the colony.” The compact was the first framework of government written and enacted in the territory that is now the United States of America and was signed by nearly all of the Mayflower’s adult male passengers (41 of a total of 102 passengers). Its authority was immediately exercised when John Carver, who had helped organize the expedition, was chosen as governor of the new colony.
Settlement at Plymouth
The settlers reached the shores of Cape Cod in November 1620, and an exploring party arrived in the Plymouth area on December 21 (now celebrated as Forefathers’ Day). According to tradition, the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock on December 26. They settled at the site of the Wampanoag village of Patuxet, whose population had been nearly wiped out by an epidemic of novel diseases from Europe that swept coastal New England between 1616 and 1619. The Pilgrims built their first fort and watchtower on what would later be known as Burial Hill. Half their number died that first winter. Their graves were later concealed and planted over with grain so that the Native Americans could not judge the extent of the colony’s depletion.
Despite their initial fears, the surviving Plymouth colonists were aided by the Wampanoag people, whose leader Massasoit (Ousamequin) entered into an alliance with them in 1621. The Wampanoag provided the newcomers with knowledge and assistance that helped them adapt to their new surroundings, including the traditional Three Sisters agricultural system of growing corn, beans, and squash together. In return the treaty with the Pilgrims offered Massasoit a potential source of support against the Narraganset, who, unlike the decimated Wampanoag, had largely escaped the devastating epidemic a few years prior. The relationship brought a period of cooperation, including a harvest celebration in 1621 that is often hailed as the first Thanksgiving. However, the expansion of English settlement increasingly encroached on Native lands and contributed to growing tensions.
As the settlement became more established, the colonists supported themselves principally through farming and hunting, and Plymouth’s coastal location provided access to fisheries and maritime commerce. Having accrued considerable debts to come to America, the Pilgrims earned additional income by trading corn for furs with Indigenous communities as far north as Maine. Highly prized by hatters, the furs were shipped back to England and sold at auctions.
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Origin of the name “Pilgrim Fathers”
These first settlers, initially referred to as the Old Comers and later as the Forefathers, did not become known as the Pilgrim Fathers until two centuries after their arrival. A responsive chord was struck with the discovery of a manuscript of Gov. William Bradford referring to the “saints” who had left Holland as “pilgrimes.” Indeed, Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–47 is a unique source of intimate detail and description of both the sea voyage and the hardships and challenges faced by the settlers. At a commemorative bicentennial celebration in 1820, orator Daniel Webster used the phrase Pilgrim Fathers, and the term came into common usage thereafter.
