Mayflower Summaries | Page 6 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

January 17, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pilgrims Were English and Loyal to the King

In the 1500s England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and created a new church called the Church of England (sometimes referred to as the Anglican Church).

Although the new church had been founded by Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547 CE) during the Protestant Reformation in opposition to the Catholic Church, it still retained many aspects of Catholicism which some Protestants, derisively known by Anglicans as “Puritans” because they wished to purify the Church, objected to. (Joshua Mark, 2021)

King James I, the same who commissioned the famous King James Translation of the Bible, was the head of the Anglican Church, interpreted this criticism as treason, and authorized officials to fine, arrest, imprison and even execute dissenters. (Joshua Mark, 2021) Everyone in England had to belong to the Anglican Church. There was a group of people called Separatists that wanted to separate from that church.

Pilgrims Wanted to Remain English, Even Though They Were Persecuted and Arrested

In 1607 CE, the Anglican Church became aware of the Scrooby congregation and arrested some, placing others under surveillance, and fining those they could. The congregation, under the leadership of John Robinson (l. 1576-1628 CE) sold their belongings and relocated to Leiden, the Netherlands, where the government practiced a policy of religious tolerance.

Between 1607-1618 CE, the congregation lived freely in Leiden. Bradford and Edward Winslow both wrote glowingly of their experience. In Leiden, God had allowed them, in Bradford’s estimation, “to come as near the primitive pattern of the first churches as any other church of these later times.” God had blessed them with “much peace and liberty,” Winslow echoed. (Joshua Mark, 2021)

However, after several years of living the Netherlands they cherished the freedom of conscience they enjoyed in Leiden, but the Pilgrims had two major complaints:

they found it a hard place to maintain their English identity (their children wanted to speak Dutch instead of English and they missed other things about English life) and
it was an even harder place to make a living.

In America, they hoped to live by themselves, enjoy the same degree of religious liberty and earn a “better and easier” living. (Robert Tracy McKenzie)

Their leaders, William Bradford, Reverend John Robinson and several others worked out a plan to move the entire Pilgrim church group to America. That way they could still be English. (NPS, Cape Cod National Seashore)

The Leiden congregation were looking into some means of creating their own colony in Virginia when, in 1618 CE, one of their leading members, William Brewster (l. 1568-1644 CE), published a tract criticizing the Anglican Church and orders were given by the English officials for his arrest.

Brewster was hidden by his friends, but the congregation stepped up their efforts to relocate and contracted with Thomas Weston (l. 1584 – c. 1647 CE), who was a merchant adventurer who matched potential colonists with investors.

After deciding to leave, they settled on the New World as their destination due to its remoteness. Bradford went to the Virginia Company and asked them for permission to establish a new colony in Virginia.

Seeking the right to worship as they wished, the Pilgrims had signed a contract with the Virginia Company to settle on land near the Hudson River, which was then part of northern Virginia. The Virginia Company was a trading company chartered by King James I with the goal of colonizing parts of the eastern coast of the New World. London stockholders financed the Pilgrim’s voyage with the understanding they would be repaid in profits from the new settlement.

The Colonists were British Until the Declaration of Independence and Subsequent Revolutionary War

While the Mayflower Compact (signed in 1620) established a government for the Plymouth Colony, they still considered themselves loyal subjects of King James I and made that very clear in the text.

The first words of the Mayflower Compact confirm the Pilgrims’ loyalty to the king: “In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc.”

They concluded the Mayflower Compact with: “In witness whereof we have hereunto 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, 1620.”

The Mayflower Compact stated principles of a self-governed body not completely separate from England. The colonists had no intention of declaring (and did not declare) their independence from England when they signed the Mayflower Compact.

As noted in the opening line of the Compact, both Pilgrims and “Strangers” refer to themselves as “loyal subjects” of King James, regardless his actions to persecute and exile the Pilgrims. They also identify him as their king not by virtue of their consent, but “by the grace of God.” This puts the Mayflower Compact closer to an affirmation of the divine right of kings than the right of self-rule.

The rest of the Mayflower Compact bound the signers into a “Civil Body Politic” for the purpose of passing “just and equal Laws … for the general good of the Colony.”

In the 1600s and 1700s, Europeans came to North America looking for religious freedom, economic opportunities, and political liberty.

They created 13 colonies on the East Coast of the continent. Each colony had its own government, but the British king controlled these governments.

They believed that Great Britain did not treat the colonists as equal citizens. (US Citizenship and Immigration Services)

Over 150-years Later, There Was a Push for New Governance and Citizenship

Over one-hundred and fifty years after the Pilgrims landed and signed the Mayflower Compact in the New World, the subsequent colonists stated in 1776,

“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another …”

“… and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,”

“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

“Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.”

“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.”

They concluded their Declaration stating,

“We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States”

“that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.”

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

The Declaration of Independence (1776) was designed for multiple audiences: the King, the colonists, and the world. It was also designed to multitask. Its goals were to rally the troops, win foreign allies and to announce the creation of a new country.

The introductory sentence states the Declaration’s main purpose, to explain the colonists’ right to revolution. In other words, “to declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” Congress had to prove the legitimacy of its cause. It had just defied the most powerful nation on Earth. It needed to motivate foreign allies to join the fight.

The most important and dramatic statement comes near the end: “That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.” It declares a complete break with Britain and its King and claims the powers of an independent country. (National Archives)

By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. The Declaration summarized the colonists’ motivations for seeking independence.

By declaring themselves an independent nation, the American colonists were able to confirm an official alliance with the Government of France and obtain French assistance in the war against Great Britain. (National Archives)

However, King George III did not want to lose this valuable land, and so the colonies took to arms to defend their new country and rights in what is now known as the Revolutionary War.

Unfortunately, it took five long years of war before the British surrendered in October 19, 1781, and the United States of America could begin the business of becoming a nation. Later, when the colonists won independence, these colonies became the 13 original states.

Click the following link to a general summary about Pilgrims Were English and Loyal to the King:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Pilgrims-Were-Loyal-to-the-King.pdf

January 10, 2022 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Abandoning the “Common Course and Condition”

“Socialism, social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work in isolation but live in cooperation with one another.”

“Furthermore, everything that people produce is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members.” (Encyclopedia Britannica)

The initial socialist approach to the Pilgrim’s early economy was not a structure that they initially chose or sought; rather, it was part of the conditions they accepted in negotiations with the Merchant Adventurers before they left.

Frankly, the Pilgrim leaders had expressed their desire to own their own lands and homes and even work two days each week for their own gain. But the Adventurers would not hear of it. The contract was a “take it or leave it” proposition. The Pilgrims reluctantly took it. (Patton)

It was not an experiment seeking the appropriate economic structure.

Bradford Notes That Socialist Living (“this comone course and condition”) wasn’t Working …

Bradford here expresses his belief that Socialism is not a Godly order or economic system.

“The experience that was had in this comone course and condition, tried sundrie years, and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanitie of that conceite of Platos & other ancients, applauded by some of later times …”

“… that ye taking away of propertie, and bringing in comunitie into a comone wealth, would make them happy and florishing; as if they were wiser then God.”

“For this comunitie (so farr as it was) was found to breed much confusion & discontent, and retard much imploymet that would have been to their benefite and comforte.”

Challenges with the Common Course and Condition

“For ye yong-men that were most able and fitte for labour & service did repine that they should spend their time & streingth to worke for other mens wives and children, with out any recompence. The strong, or man of parts, had no more in devission of victails & cloaths, then he that was weake and not able to doe a quarter ye other could; this was thought injuestice.”

“The aged and graver men to be ranked and equalised in labours, and victails, cloaths, &c., with ye meaner & yonger sorte, thought it some indignite & disrespect unto them.”

“And for mens wives to be commanded to doe servise for other men, as dresing their meate, washing their cloaths, &c., they deemd it a kind of slaverie, neither could many husbands well brooke it. Upon ye poynte all being to have alike, and all to doe alike, they thought them selves in ye like condition, and one as good as another; and so, if it did not cut of those relations that God hath set amongest men, yet it did at least much diminish and take of ye mutuall respects that should be preserved amongst them.”

“And would have bene worse if they had been men of another condition. Let none objecte this is men’s corruption, and nothing to ye course it selfe.”

“I answer, seeing all men have this corruption in them, God in his wisdome saw another course fiter for them.”

Pilgrims Seek a Better and More Abundant Result

The leaders of Plymouth colony decided to scrap their socialistic agreement with the Adventurers and the philosophy of “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” Individuals were now able to own their own homes, property, and keep the fruit of their own efforts. What happened? (Patton)

“All this whille no supply was heard of, neither knew they when they might expecte any. So they begane to thinke how they might raise as much corne as they could, and obtaine a beter crope then they had done, that they might not still thus languish in miserie.”

“At length, after much debate of things, the Govr (with ye advise of ye cheefest amongest them) gave way that they should set corne every man for his owne perticuler, and in that regard trust to them selves; in all other things to goe on in ye generall way as before.”

“And so assigned to every family a parcell of land, according to the proportion of their number for that end, only for present use (but made no devission for inheritance), and ranged all boys & youth under some familie.”

“This had very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corne was planted then other waise would have bene by any means ye Govr or any other could use, and saved him a great deall of trouble, and gave farr better contente.”

“The women now wente willingly into ye feild, and tooke their litle-ons with them to set corne, which before would aledg weaknes, and inabilitie; whom to have compelled would have bene thought great tiranie and oppression.”

In 1621, the Pilgrims planted only 26-acres. Sixty acres were planted in 1622. But in 1623, spurred on by individual enterprise, 184-acres were planted. Somehow those who alleged weakness and inability became healthy and strong. It’s amazing what incentive will do to improve the situation. (Patton)

The Pilgrim experience dating from 1623 was and is yet a prototype for the US. The Pilgrims learned the hard way that:

Socialism does not work; it diminishes individual initiative and enterprise;
Socialism is not a Godly economic system; and
Famine and drought can be used by God to humble a people and set them on a proper course. (Patton)

The Pilgrims responded. The real question today is: Can Americans learn these vital insights from the Pilgrims? (Patton)

Click the following link to a general summary about Abandoning the “Common Course and Condition”:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Common-Course-and-Condition.pdf

January 3, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Allerton Negotiates a New Agreement with the Merchant Adventurers

[With the death of Governor John Carver in April 1621, “Shortly after William Bradford was chosen Gover in his stead, and being not yet recoverd of his ilnes, in which he had been near ye point of death; Isaak Allerton was chosen to be an Asistante unto him, who, by renewed election every year, continued sundry years together”.]

[The Pilgrims were not, in the beginning, experienced businessmen. In 1625, at the death of their “right hand” man in England, Robert Cushman, they found they needed Allerton’s negotiating abilities and sent him post-haste as their agent to England.]

[This mission (the first of several) was particularly significant. It produced a change in the financial arrangements between the merchant Adventurers and the Pilgrims whereby the former sold their entire interest to the latter, know as Purchasers, for 1,800 English ponds. Allerton negotiated the agreement in 1626. (Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania)]

Bradford tells what happened, “This year [1626] they sent Mr. Allerton into England, and gave him order to make a composition with ye adventurers, upon as good termes as he could (unto which some way had ben made ye year before by Captaine Standish);”

“but yet injoyned him not to conclud absolutly till they knew ye termes, and had well considered of them; but to drive it to as good an issew as he could, and referr ye conclusion to them.”

“Also they gave him a commission under their hands & seals to take up some money, provided it exeeded not such a sume specified, for which they engaged them selves, and gave him order how to layout ye same for ye use of ye plantation.”

“And finding they rane a great hazard to goe so long viages in a smale open boat, espetialy ye winter season, they begane to thinke how they might gett a small pinass; as for ye reason afforesaid, so also because others had raised ye prise with ye lndeans above ye halfe of what they had formerly given, so as in such a boat they could not carry a quantity sufficient to answer their ends.”

“And thus passed ye affairs of this year.”

“At ye usuall season of ye coming of ships [1627] Mr. Allerton returned, and brought some usfull goods with him, according to ye order given him. For upon his commission he tooke up 200li. which he now gott at 30. per cent.”

“The which goods they gott safly home, and well conditioned, which was much to the comfort & contente of ye plantation.”

“He declared unto them, allso, how, with much adoe and no small trouble, he had made a composition with ye adventurers, by the help of sundrie of their faithfull freinds ther, who had allso tooke much pains ther about.”

The 1626 Allerton Agreement

“The agreement or bargen he had brought a draught of, with a list of ther names ther too annexed, drawne by the best counsel of law they could get, to make it firme. The heads wherof I shall here inserte.”

“To all Christian people, greeting, &c. Wheras at a meeting ye 26. of October last past, diverse & sundrie persons, whose names to ye one part of these presents are subscribed in a schedule hereunto annexed, Adventurers to New-Plimoth in New-England in America, were contented and agreed,”

“in consideration of the sume of one thousand and eight hundred pounds sterling to be paid, (in maner and forme folling,) to sell, and make sale of all & every ye stocks, shares, lands, marchandise, and chatles, what soever, to ye said adventurers, and other ther fellow adventurers to New Plimoth aforesaid, any way accruing, or belonging to ye generalitie of ye said adventurers aforesaid;”

“as well by reason of any sume or sumes of money, or marchandise, at any time heretofore adventured or disbursed by them, or other wise howsoever; for ye better expression and setting forth of which said agreemente,”

“the parties to these presents subscribing, doe for them selves severally, and as much as in them is, grant, bargan, alien, sell, and transfere all & every ye said shares, goods, lands, marchandice, and chatles to them belonging as aforesaid, unto Isaack Alerton, one of ye planters resident at Plimoth afforesaid, assigned, and sent over as agente for ye rest of ye planters ther,”

“and to such other planters at Plimoth aforesaid as ye said Isack, his heirs, or assignes, at his or ther arrivall, shall by writing or otherwise thinke fitte to joyne or partake in ye premisses, their heirs, & assignes, in as large, ample, and beneficiall maner and forme, to all intents and purposes, as ye said subscribing adventurers here could or may doe, or performe.”

“All which stocks, shares, lands, &c. to the said adven: in severallitie alloted, apportioned, or any way belonging, the said adven: doe warrant & defend unto the said Isaack Allerton, his heirs and assignes, against them, their heirs and assignes, by these presents.”

“And therfore ye said Isaack Allerton doth, for him, his heirs & assigns, covenant, promise, & grant too & with ye adven: whose names are here unto subscribed, ther heirs, &c. well & truly to pay, or cause to be payed, unto ye said adven: or 5. of them which were, at yt meeting afforsaid, nominated & deputed,”

“viz. John Pocock, John Beachamp, Robart Keane, Edward Base, and James Sherley, marchants, their heirs, &c. too and for ye use of ye generallitie of them, the sume of 1800li. of lawfull money of England, at ye place appoynted for ye receipts of money on the west side of ye Royall Exchaing in London, by 200li. yearly, and every year, on ye feast of St. Migchell, the first paiment to be made Ano: 1628. &c.”

“Allso ye said Isaack is to indeavor to procure & obtaine from ye planters of N. P. aforesaid, securitie, by severall obligations, or writings obligatory, to make paiment of ye said sume of 1800li. in forme afforsaid, according to ye true meaning of these presents.”

“In testimonie wherof to this part of these presents remaining with ye said Isaack Allerton, ye said subscribing adven: have sett to their names,* &c. And to ye other part remaining with ye said adven: the said Isaack Allerton hath subscribed his name, ye 15. Novbr. Ano: 1626. in ye 2. year of his Majesties raigne.”

[“This agreemente was very well liked of, & approved by all ye plantation, and consented unto; though they knew not well how to raise ye payment, and discharge their other ingagements, and supply the yearly wants of ye plantation, seeing they were forced for their necessities to take up money or goods at so high intrests.”]

[The original company of adventurers or “venture capitalists” was wound up in 1627, leaving a debt of £1,800 that was assumed by the Undertakers. In return a monopoly was granted to Bradford, Allerton, and Standish in their position as original Undertakers.]

[The Plymouth “Undertakers” included 8 Pilgrims (Bradford, Standish, Allerton, Winslow, Howland, Alden, Brewster, and Prence) and four London partners (Sherley, Beauchamp, Andrews and Hatherly.)]

[This agreement led to the first “dividend” of privately owned land (at 20 acres a person) to each resident family or single man – together with shares in valuable milk goats and cattle – that began the expansion of the settlement beyond the bounds of downtown Plymouth. (Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants)]

Distribution of Lands (1627)

[After two harvests the colony itself had decided that the task of raising food for the settlers would prosper only if it was separated from that of earning profits for London. In 1623 a parcel of land was allotted to each man to till for his family and to maintain those who were exempt from agricultural employment because of other duties. Each family was given one acre per family member.]

[In abandoning the “common course and condition” everyone worked harder and more willingly. The food problem was ended, and after the first abundant harvest under individual cultivation, the Pilgrims did not have to endure the meager rations of the first years. The plots assigned them permanently in 1624 became privately owned in 1627.]

[Three heifers and a bull sent over by the adventurers in response to Bradford’s request throve and multiplied, so there was cattle to be divided among the households when the general stock was terminated. (McIntyre)]

“Then they agreed that every person or share should have 20. acres of land devided unto them, besids ye single acres they had allready; and they appoynted were to begin first on ye one side of ye towne, & how farr to goe; and then on ye other side in like maner; and so to devid it by lotte;”

“and appointed sundrie by name to doe it, and tyed them to certaine ruls to proceed by; as that they should only layout settable or tillable land, at least such of it as should butt on ye water side, (as ye most they were to layout did,) and pass by ye rest as refuse and comune; and what they judged fitte should be so taken.”

“Allso every share or 20. acers was to be laid out 5. acres in breadth by ye water side, and 4. acres in lenght, excepting nooks & corners, which were to be measured as yey would bear to best advantage. But no meadows were to be laid out at all, nor were not of many years after, because they were but streight of meadow grounds;”

“and if they had bene now given out, it would have hindred all addition to them afterwards; but, every season all were appoynted. wher they should mowe, according to ye proportion of catle they had.”

“This distribution gave generally good contente, and settled mens minds. Also they gave ye Gover & 4. or 5. of ye spetiall men amongst them, ye houses they lived in; ye rest were valued & equalised at an indiferent rate, and so every man kept his owne, and he that had a better alowed some thing to him that had a worse, as ye valuation wente.”

Click the following link to a general summary about Allerton Negotiates a New Agreement with the Merchant Adventurers:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Allerton-Negotiates-a-New-Agreement-with-the-Merchant-Adventurers-1626.pdf

December 27, 2021 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Morton and the Maypole at Merrymount

The Pilgrims arrived in 1620 in hopes of making a better life for themselves and their children while being able to worship freely and in peace.

Their perseverance laid the cornerstone of a new Nation.

The Pilgrims were Separatists.

They believed that membership in the Church of England violated the biblical precepts for true Christians, and they had to break away and form independent congregations that adhered more strictly to divine requirements.

At a time when Church and State were one, such an act was treasonous and the Separatists had to flee their mother country. They all shared a fervent and pervasive Protestant faith that touched all areas of their lives.

The Separatists’ faith experience was part of the larger English Reformation of the 16th century. This movement sought to “purify” the Church of England of its corrupt human doctrine and practices; the people in the movement were known as “Puritans.”

Separatists were those who no longer accepted the Church of England as a true church, refused to work within the structure to affect changes, and “separated” themselves to form a true church based solely on Biblical precedent.

They rejected Christmas, Easter and the various Saint’s Days because they had no scriptural justification, and in their worship services, they rejected hymns, the recitations of the Lord’s Prayer and creeds for the same reason.

The Separatists believed that the worship of God must progress from the individual directly to God, and that “set” forms, like the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer, interfered with that progression by directing one’s thoughts down to the book and inward to one’s self.

The only exceptions were the Psalms and the Lord’s Supper, both of which had scriptural basis, and possibly the covenant by which individuals joined the congregation.

As Pastor Robinson expressed it, even two or three “gathered in the name of Christ by a covenant [and] made to walk in all the ways of God known unto them is a church.”

Sabbath services were held twice on Sunday; in addition, sermons were often given on Thursdays, and as occasion demanded, Days of Thanksgiving or Days of Fasting and Humiliation were proclaimed.

These latter were movable weekday holidays called in response to God’s Providence. Both were observed in a manner similar to the weekly Sabbath, with morning and afternoon services.

Then, Thomas Morton Arrived

Thomas Morton, a trader and lawyer, emigrated from England to the Plymouth Colony in the company of a Captain Wollaston in 1624.

Unable to get along with the Pilgrim authorities, Wollaston, Morton and other settlers established their own small colony of Mount Wollaston at the present-day site of Quincy, Massachusetts.

Then most of that community departed with the captain in 1626 in hopes of finding more hospitable surroundings in Virginia. Morton remained behind and renamed the village Mare Mount (Merrymount)

It is in this context of the religious focus of the Pilgrims that conflict arose when Thomas Morton came to New England.

Morton first explains what happens (in New English Canaan) …

“The Inhabitants of Pasonagessit (having translated the name of their habitation from that ancient Salvage name to Ma-re Mount; and being resolved to have the new name confirmed for a memorial to after ages) did devise amongst themselves to have it performed in a solemne manner with Revels, & merriment after the old English custome …”

“… prepared to sett up a Maypole upon the festivall day of Philip and Jacob; & therefore brewed a barrell of excellent beare, & provided a case of bottles to be spent, with other good cheare, for all commers of that day.”

“And because they would have it in a compleat forme, they had prepared a song fitting to the time and present occasion.”

“And upon May-day they brought the Maypole to the place appointed, with drumes, gunnes, pistols, and other fitting instruments, for that purpose; and there erected it with the help of Salvages, that came thether of purpose to see the manner of our Revels.”

“The setting up of this Maypole was a lamentable spectacle to the precise seperatists: that lived at new Plimmouth.”

“They termed it an Idoll; yea they called it the Calfe of Horeb: and stood at defiance with the place, naming it Mount Dagon; threatning to make it a woefull mount and not a merry mount. …” (Morton)

Bradford, on the other hand, explains …

“… Morton, who, it should seeme, had some small adventure (of his owne or other mens) amongst them; but had litle respecte amongst them, and was slighted by ye meanest servants.”

“But this Morton abovesaid, haveing more craft then honestie, (who had been a kind of petiefogger, of Furnefells Inne, in ye other absence watches an oppertunitie, (commons being but hard amongst them,) and gott some strong drinck & other junkats, & made them a feast; and after they were merie, he begane to tell them, he would give them good counsell.”

“[T]hey fell to great licenciousnes, and led a dissolute life, powering out them selves into all profanenes.”

“And Morton became lord of misrule, and maintained (as it were) a schoole of Athisme. And after they had gott some good into their hands, and gott much by trading with ye Indeans, they spent it as vainly, in quaffing & drinking both wine & strong waters in great exsess, and, as some reported, 10li. worth in a morning.”

“They allso set up a May-pole, drinking and dancing aboute it many days togeather, inviting the Indean women, for their consorts, dancing and frisking togither, (like so many fairies, or furies rather,) and worse practises.”

“As if they had anew revived & celebrated the feasts of ye Roman Goddes Flora, or ye beasly practieses of ye madd Bacchinalians.”

“Morton likwise (to shew his poetrie) compose sundry rimes & verses, tending to lasciviousness, and others to ye detraction & scandall of some persons, which he affixed to this idle or idoll May-polle.”

“They chainged allso the name of their place, and in stead of calling it Mounte Wollaston, they call it Meriemounte, as if this joylity would have lasted ever.”

“But this continued not long … So they mutually resolved to proceed, and obtained of ye Govr of Plimoth to send Captaine Standish, & some other aide with him, to take Morton by force.”

“The which accordingly was done; but they found him to stand stifly in his defence, having made fast his dors, armed his consorts, set diverse dishes of powder & bullets ready on ye table; and if they had not been over armed with drinke, more hurt might have been done.”

“They somaned him to yeeld, but he kept his house, and they could get nothing but scofes & scorns from him; but at length, fearing they would doe some violence to ye house, he and some of his crue came out, but not to yeeld, but to shoot …”

“… but they were so steeld with drinke as their peeces were to heavie for them; him selfe with a carbine (over charged & allmost halfe fild with powder & shote, as was after found) had thought to have shot Captaine Standish; but he stept to him, & put by his peece, & tooke him.”

“Neither was ther any hurte done to any of either side, save yt one was so drunke yt he rane his owne nose upon ye pointe of a sword yt one held before him as he entred ye house; but he lost but a litle of his hott blood.”

“Morton they brought away to Plimoth, wher he was kepte, till a ship went from ye Ile of Shols for England, with which he was sent to ye Counsell of New England; and letters written to give them information of his course & cariage; and also one was sent at their comone charge to informe their Hors more perticulerly, & to prosecute against him.”

“But he foold of ye messenger, after he was gone from hence, and though he wente for England, yet nothing was done to him, not so much as rebukte for ought was heard; but returned ye nexte year.”

“Some of ye worst of ye company were disperst, and some of ye more modest kepte ye house till he should be heard from. But I have been too long about so unworthy a person, and bad a cause.”

This event is also recounted in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Maypole of Merrymount.’ It was first published in The Token and Atlantic Souvenir in 1836.

Click the following link to a general summary about Morton and the Maypole at Merrymount:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Morton-and-the-Maypole-at-Merrymount.pdf

December 20, 2021 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Europeans to America Prior to the Pilgrims

The first Europeans to arrive in North America were likely the Norse, traveling west from Greenland, where Erik the Red had founded a settlement around the year 985. In 1001 his son Leif is thought to have explored the northeast coast of what is now Canada and spent at least one winter there.

While Norse sagas suggest that Viking sailors explored the Atlantic coast of North America down as far as the Bahamas, such claims remain unproven. In 1963, however, the ruins of some Norse houses dating from that era were discovered at L’Anse-aux-Meadows in northern Newfoundland, thus supporting at least some of the claims the Norse sagas make.

Christopher Columbus left Spain in August, 1492, sailed directly westward, and in October came upon an outlying island of the West Indies. Although Columbus saw some of the other islands, he never touched the continent of North America.

In 1497, just five years after Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean looking for a western route to Asia, a Venetian sailor named John Cabot arrived in Newfoundland on a mission for the British king.

Cabot’s journey was later to provide the basis for British claims to North America. It also opened the way to the rich fishing grounds off George’s Banks, to which European fishermen, particularly the Portuguese, were soon making regular visits.

Columbus (who was looking for a new route to India, China, Japan and the ‘Spice Islands’ of Indonesia to bring back cargoes of silk and spices (ginger turmeric and cinnamon)) never saw the mainland United States, but the first explorations of the continental United States were launched from the Spanish possessions that he helped establish.

The first of these took place in 1513 when a group of men under Juan Ponce de Leon landed on the Florida coast near the present city of St. Augustine.

With the conquest of Mexico in 1522, the Spanish further solidified their position in the Western Hemisphere. The ensuing discoveries added to Europe’s knowledge of what was now named America – after the Italian Amerigo Vespucci, who wrote a widely popular account of his voyages to a “New World.”

By 1529 reliable maps of the Atlantic coastline from Labrador to Tierra del Fuego had been drawn up, although it would take more than another century before hope of discovering a “Northwest Passage” to Asia would be completely abandoned.

Among the most significant early Spanish explorations was that of Hernando De Soto, a veteran conquistador who had accompanied Francisco Pizzaro during the conquest of Peru. Leaving Havana in 1539, De Soto’s expedition landed in Florida and ranged through the southeastern United States as far as the Mississippi River in search of riches.

Another Spaniard, Francisco Coronado, set out from Mexico in 1540 in search of the mythical Seven Cities of Cibola. Coronado’s travels took him to the Grand Canyon and Kansas, but failed to reveal the gold or treasure his men sought.

However, Coronado’s party did leave the peoples of the region a remarkable, if unintended gift: enough horses escaped from his party to transform life on the Great Plains. Within a few generations, the Plains Indians had become masters of horsemanship, greatly expanding the range and scope of their activities.

After the Spaniards came the French explorers and adventurers. Three things these adventurers sought in the New World – precious metals, the fountain of perpetual youth, and a passage to the East Indies.

They had no idea how far westward the continent extended, and wherever they came upon a deep bay or a wide river, they hoped that by following it up they should come out on the other side. (Johnson)

While the Spanish were pushing up from the south, the northern portion of the present-day United States was slowly being revealed through the journeys of men such as Giovanni da Verrazano. A Florentine who sailed for the French, Verrazano made landfall in North Carolina in 1524, then sailed north along the Atlantic coast past what is now New York harbor.

A decade later, the Frenchman Jacques Cartier set sail with the hope – like the other Europeans before him – of finding a sea passage to Asia. Cartier’s expeditions along the St. Lawrence River laid the foundations for the French claims to North America, which were to last until 1763.

Following the collapse of their first Quebec colony in the 1540s, French Huguenots attempted to settle the northern coast of Florida two decades later. The Spanish, viewing the French as a threat to their trade route along the Gulf Stream, destroyed the colony in 1565.

Ironically, the leader of the Spanish forces, Pedro Menendez, would soon establish a town not far away – St. Augustine. It was the first permanent European settlement in what would become the United States.

The great wealth which poured into Spain from the colonies in Mexico, the Caribbean and Peru provoked great interest on the part of the other European powers. With time, emerging maritime nations such as England, drawn in part by Francis Drake’s successful raids on Spanish treasure ships, began to take interest in the New World.

The English were slowest of all to think of profiting by Columbus’s discovery, and nearly a century rolled by after that event before ships from England crossed the Atlantic for discovery and conquest.

But when they did turn their attention to the New World, while they still hoped to find there a passage to India, and to gather mineral treasures, they went with the idea of planting colonies, which the Spaniards and the French had not dreamed of. And this, which is the only sure conquest, finally gave them possession of the largest and fairest part of the new continent. (Johnson)

About 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, with a small fleet and a few colonists, landed in the harbor of St. John’s, Newfoundland, and claimed the whole island as British territory. But on the return voyage all the vessels were lost except one, and Sir Humphrey himself perished.

Sir Humphrey’s half-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, made the earliest practical and determined effort to plant an English colony on this continent. In 1584 he obtained from Queen Elizabeth a charter “for the discovery and planting of new lands in America.”

This gave him “free liberty and license from time to time, and at all times forever hereafter, to discover, search, find out, and view such remote, heathen, and barbarous lands, countries and territories, not actually possessed by any Christian prince, nor inhabited by Christian people, as to him, his heirs and assigns, and to every or any of them, shall seem good; and the same to have, hold, occupy, and enjoy for ever.” (Johnson)

This expedition was only for discovery and exploration, and in a few weeks the ships returned to England, taking with them two Indians.

They gave such glowing accounts of the country – which henceforth was called Virginia – that plans were laid at once for sending out a colony. All was ready by the next spring, and a fleet of seven vessels sailed in April, 1585, “with one hundred householders and many things necessary to begin a new state.” (Johnson)

In 1585 Raleigh established the first British colony in North America, on Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina. the first act was to restore to their friends the two Indians who had been taken to England.

The colony was later abandoned. Sir Walter Raleigh fitted out another colony, which sailed in the spring of 1587; the second effort also proved a failure.

The failure that attended all these efforts of the hopeful and energetic Raleigh was probably due, if not wholly, to the fact that he did not himself accompany and command any of his expeditions.

And, the main reason that he did not go with the ships was, that he was a great favorite with Queen Elizabeth, and she was not willing to let him risk himself in such adventures. (Johnson)

It would be 20 years before the British would try again. This time – at Jamestown in 1607 – the colony would succeed, and North America would enter a new era. (Alonzo L Hamby)

Then, on September 6 (September 16), the Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England, and headed for America. The voyage itself across the Atlantic Ocean took 66 days, from their departure on September 6 (September 16), until Cape Cod was sighted on November 9 (November 19), 1620.

As the Mayflower approached land, the crew spotted Cape Cod just as the sun rose on November 9 (November 19). The Pilgrims decided to head south, to the mouth of the Hudson River in New York, where they intended to make their plantation. However, as the Mayflower headed south, it encountered some very rough seas, and nearly shipwrecked.

The Pilgrims then decided, rather than risk another attempt to go south, they would just stay and explore Cape Cod. They turned back north, rounded the tip, and anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor. The Pilgrims would spend the next month and a half exploring Cape Cod, trying to decide where they would build their plantation. (Mayflower History, Caleb Johnson)

In contrast to the colonization policies of other countries and other periods, the emigration from England was not directly sponsored by the government but by private groups of individuals whose chief motive was profit. (Alonzo L Hamby)

Click the following link to a general summary about Europeans to America Prior to the Pilgrims:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Europeans-to-America-Prior-to-the-Pilgrims.pdf