History: The Pilgrims Journey Documentary

a new life in the new world in Europe Kings dictate what their subjects believe because not everyone accepts royal rule The Pilgrim Fathers preach their own way of living radical in their liberal beliefs in their social attitudes

pilgrims

want to determine how they live themselves and how they are prepared to risk a

journey

into the unknown they want equal rights for all, regardless of their religion, they draw up a contract that becomes the model for a nation the fear of danger and death of the Native Americans mark their arrival to the new world, but the same people whose fear helps them survive radical sectarians are forced to sit with the American Indians this is the story of the creation of the United States of America for many Americans the origins of their country begin with the Mayflower but the Pilgrim Fathers have come to symbolize many American virtues.

In July 1620, full of joy, the separatists set sail from their temporary home in Holland and are looking for a new home in the new world, somewhere where they can live according to their beliefs, a place where your children and grandchildren can be raised and educated according to your faith and philosophy. a man becomes a prominent leader William Bradford recounts his adventures in his book Plymouth Plantation describes the first 30 years of life in the settlement, a life that would be significantly shaved as governor of the colony Bradford was extending the English horizon to the New Around the world, its success was not a foregone conclusion.

Bradford was an orphan and had to fight for the place in

history

that he enjoys today, but his prospects for success were probably greater living within this small group of Puritans where individual camps are more than the hierarchy of agreement. of all members and important issues are paramount to Puritans, they want to live in peace with each other to serve the Covenant. God launched free discussion and even decision making, what they called the decision and consent of the majority, which was their means of trying. understand the mind of Christ in any given situation and once a vote or common consent was reached then that was the will of God a decision that was reached by a vote and seen as the will of God an insult to every monarch divinely ordained yes, come on William Bradford was born in 1590 in the north of England at the end of the Elizabethan era.

He was orphaned as a child. He finds solace in a Puritan parish that spends every free minute studying the Bible translated by John Calvin, the famous Protestant reformer, but the Reformation in England does not. Going far enough for the Puritans after more than 50 years of religious upheaval that has shaken the state and society, they continue to try to change the church from within. The Puritans in early 17th century England were not happy people because they were past most of the century. The last half of Queen Elizabeth's reign tried desperately to get Queen Elizabeth to legislate changes to the Anglican Church in the Church of England to further reform the church and bring it more into line with her idea of ​​the kind of church she should lack. of the vestiges of the Roman Catholic faith much of the ceremony the vestments the incense in all those things those traps that they felt needed to go and that were incompatible with the Scriptures she was very reluctant to make any changes with which they came to nothing part of her and so, when James the First comes to the throne in 16 3, they hope that since he was raised in a Reformed Protestant Church, he would be more sympathetic to the Puritan point of view, they thought that they went to see him and he was very insensitive, so In fact, he basically told them that if they persist in trying to get the church to change, I will hire them to leave the land and the bullying of the land is what really happens to William Bradford and the people close to him.

Not just Bradford and his people, there were other people who were harassed as well. Some of them evidently died in prison. Some of them went to Holland. Some of them disappeared in the country. Open opposition to the Anglican State Church borders on high treason. the monarchy responds with persecution, torture, and execution to try to force religious conformity. Bradford perishes in a chaos that loses all hope of changing the church. Emigration seems the only option left to the separatists. The liberal Holland that has freed itself from Spanish rule seems to be the ideal place to realize its ideals in 1608 the parishioners of Bradford traveled to their new homeland the charismatic Reverend John Robinson leads the group to the Dutch city of Leiden Leyden is the right place to a new beginning the city is flourishing there are thousands of small businesses and everyone who wants to work and obeys the laws is welcome religious refugees from all corners of the world flocked to Holland where there was a surprisingly tolerant climate for the times when there is work Commerce and profit are what count here work shapes people's lives from dawn to dusk Reverend Robinson and his people settle in the narrow alleys around Peters CAC Robinson home visitor Report Grune is the meeting place of the parish this is where you present your ideas you Robinson said in his justification of the separation that there are actually three forms of government in a covenant in the church, first they are a monarchy with reference to God and Christ which was even a threat to King James and were an aristocracy with reference to the elders who governed the daily affairs of a congregation and were a democracy in regards to the entire people and decisions had to ultimately be made by all the people of God, that is, what they call the popularizing trend that was a threat to the church and the crown, is also a primitive form of democracy, but the separatists have not given up hope of being one. capable of changing the Anglican Church, they print pamphlets and send them secretly to England.

King James is outraged and causes the Dutch ambassador, under pressure, the Leiden authorities to imprison the perpetrators, but they are soon released because they have not violated Dutch law. Undeterred, separatists continue to publish their beliefs, believing they serve a higher cause. I want to show England and the world the right path. You know, they were very sure of themselves, they were very cocky, they were the chosen people and they had the right answer and if you didn't agree. You were wrong with them, look at Winthrop's same speech as an assistant in 1630, where he says that we are going to be a city on a hill, in the eyes of the world they are upon us and we have had to abandon England because it is very corrupt and we are going to form our own experiment here and just by example we will be so cool and wonderful that everyone else will want to be like us, so, you know, I'm not convinced that we would be.

These people would be very agreeable to us today. The members of the Leiden parish continue to see themselves as Englishmen in exile, but the liberal Dutch attitudes that first attracted them to Holland are now beginning to repel them. Their children must not under any circumstances become In Dutch free thinkers the idea of ​​finding a new home slowly begins to take shape among some members of the parish Bradford, who was now married, is one of them Robinson feels that moving away from life in Leiden could be a dangerous move, preaches torrents of dissent and hopes to present The Puritans, as a more open-minded people, in looking at the Genesis story Robinson decided that the story of the fall and expulsion from paradise meant that every theological dogma, every doctrinal statement, was itself inherently defective and that this meant that people had to be relatively patient and tolerant of other people's ideas because they could not be sure that their own understanding was not defective and would mistakenly reject it if they disagreed with someone, so his own ideas could not be perfect and someone else's ideas could not be imperfect. in the places I imperfectly thought they were, this led to mutual tolerance, which is very unusual at the time the situation in Holland worsened, so the Dutch are again on the brink of war with the Catholic Habsburgs , finally the separatists decide to vote if they found a colony. in North America after the parish wanted to risk a dangerous

journey

into the unknown William Bradford is among them, the inexperienced Pilgrim Fathers rushed to buy a ship, the Speedwell will travel first to Southampton, where they believe their fellow believers are waiting to join them.

Their plan is to then set sail for the new world on two ships off the south coast of England, but they are unprepared for the tough journey across the Atlantic. Everything seems to be going wrong. First, a storm forces them to return, and then the Speedwell sprouts a leak. Your journey does not end. They don't seem to have God's blessing, many families decide to give up but William Bradford is determined to make the trip. Treacherous autumn storms arrive when 102 passengers finally set sail on a chartered freighter the Mayflower. The Puritans are not the only passengers on board.

There are also adventurers. Seeking their fortune in Virginia, the

pilgrims

call themselves saints and the rest of the passengers strangers, but They realize that everyone must get along if the new beginning is to succeed. John Robinson urgently calls on his followers to exercise tolerance and respect for others. For him it is clear that a new colony will only be successful if there is harmony among the colonists. The Mayflower sailed too late to safely cross the Atlantic. Travelers pay a high price for their lack of planning. Fears of storms hitting the ship. The captain has no choice but to lower sail and leave the Mayflower at the mercy of the elements.

The physical and psychological strain on passengers is tremendous. They come back from the dead every day in the dark and smelly third class. Added to this is the knowledge that, if they survive, they will have no idea what the future holds for them. It was a big leap into the unknown for all of them. For passengers. For sailors. For everyone involved. About halfway to the Mayflower there was a very severe storm. Great waves crashed on the deck. The water was seeping down. and during one of those storms the main beam, the beam that helps support the main mast of the ship, tilted and then cracked, it sank allowing a lot of water to flow on board, it must have been a very scary thing.

I should have thought they were sinking and even sailors who are used to life at sea and the dangers of being in the ocean were worried about what was happening, they were lucky enough to be able to shore that beam back into place using a iron screw that was probably brought in for the construction of the house to put that beam in place and then held it up with a couple of posts working with the ship's carpenter and were making a decision whether to continue to the new world or return at that point. They knew that if they returned that would probably be the end of Plymouth's adventure at the end of their chance to start a colony in general their diet was slowly degrading their health the lack of vitamin C was not helpful the greater the amount of salt in their Diet and inactivity lent themselves to making them more tired and weaker as the voyage progressed, many of the sailors having probably not been to the other side of the world before, they didn't really know what to expect. we often relate to going to outer space it is a strange world completely unknown that all these people were traveling towards you during a voyage a child is born his parents call Oceanus the sailors despise the pious earth rats when they often curse the seasick pilgrims one A One crew member even wishes out loud that the passengers could be thrown overboard wrapped in white shrouds, as if they were the dead; when this bitter crew member dies a few days later, the Pilgrim Fathers see it as a divine message.

The destination of the Mayflower is the northern coast of America, where the English have some influence, they hope to establish themselves in the Hudson River Valley, the area now known as New York at that time, it was the northern tip of Virginia, the site where Several years before the Jamestown colony was established, the Pilgrims purchased a patent to colonize. this region in England and they are behind the endless storms the father phobian has only a vague idea of ​​how far off course they have gone they suspect that because the journey has taken so long the Mayflower is too far north the passengers are sick and emaciated after the voyage, her provisions have almost disappeared, there is nothing left to do but put her destiny in the hands of God on the morning of November 9, 1620, after 65 days below deck, the long cry of autumn finally echoes from the masthead that The pilgrims can now smell.

The land they watch in awe as the sea's tint fades from deep blue to pale green. America. A quick glance at the coast tells the captain that he mustbe Cape Cod, a place well known to many English fishermen. The captain realizes that they have carried hundreds of people adrift. miles too far north, he returns and begins the journey south along the coast only to return again. It can be fatal at this time of year to try to navigate through the Cape reefs. The ship finally drops anchor at the head of the bay, some said on the Mayflower when it arrived in Provincetown, since we are not in New York, since we are not in the Hudson River Valley or the area, turn the ship around and go to house and others said that since we are not where we were negotiated that we would be, We will do what we want when we get to land and that's when they landed and the cabin and the Mayflower and they wrote the pact so that everything they did was an extension of that basic idea of ​​the freedom pact.

You agreed to do something. I agree. do something, ultimately I hope that everything serves God in that way and therefore becomes part of his modus operandi, gentlemen, we are here, no matter where we are supposed to be, this is where we have landed , we must sign to become one, could you sign? Gentlemen, will you sign to do as a company? I will sign mr. Bradford, will you sign? I will sign. This was the path of the pilgrims to achieve unity, democracy and equal rights for all, they are a new phenomenon in an era in which the rule of the monarch and rights are assigned according to social status.

Here in the new world the settlers set their own terms. Rights and responsibilities are written in a social contract that takes into account the different groups living in the neighborhood. The Puritans wanted to have it all. written, you know, we're talking about the English Constitution, which didn't really emerge in written form until the end of the 17th century. Well, the Puritans wrote rules because they wanted to know what was expected of them. They were very legalistic, everything necessary. that will be written, including the system of government, how elections would be conducted, who would have the right to vote, what would be the conditions of voting rights of individuals, how laws will be formed and what is expected in terms of people who will participate. its laws and the government to the people, that's what made this first document something so critical, it was something so important, it was a very primitive constitution, but, nevertheless, the first constitution in the

history

of the United States, the covenant It is only a seed on the path to full constitutional democracy, but it was the ground from which the seeds could grow so that the people could freely organize themselves in a freely democratic manner and for the majority to govern.

Those principles continue to persist strongly when everyone has signed . Bradford is sent to explore the coast. With an armed group of men, the water is so shallow that the Mayflower has to anchor at a great distance from the coast. They reach land in a small sloop and wade the last few meters through icy waves. It is November 15, 1620. Winter has already arrived. Bradford later writes we kneel and praise God who has letters over a powerful and furious ocean and freed us from all dangers and wants the dunes through which the exploration group walks to remind them of the Dutch coast they find the remains of a shipwreck washed ashore years before it almost seems as if no human had ever been here before.

They fear the silence, but it also calms them, since what they fear most are the Native Americans. They know little about the people who live here, but in Europe they have heard many horror stories. about the indigenous people here in the sand they find traces of human life they discover a large amount of seed reserves of a type of corn that they had never seen before the settlers have very few seeds left and winter has arrived the discovery seems to be a gift from heaven, godly men have no qualms about simply taking what they need is that, when they came from their landing place and went up the coast towards the storage areas, Cape Cod was not a habitable place for the native populations during the winter . months, once fall came, they all moved out of Cape Cod, but since it was a favorable place for summer and this is where they had their gardens, etc., they left there in the storage pits that there are plants with seeds and everything they were going to need and it has been said that the people the newcomers took the seed and left a note that they would pay later, which they never did, of course, and we Indians laughed at that, so they lied from the start. principle.

The Pilgrim Fathers continued to search for a suitable area to establish their colony. They need arable land that is easy to defend and ships must be able to anchor off the coast. The men wander the marshes while searching. Life is very hard. Humidity penetrates everything. The bitter winter nights are freezing. Some never recover from the ordeal. Fire to keep warm is out of the question. So great is their fear that the Native Americans might see them. Suspicious noises and eerie shadows surround them. You light the fire as if by miracle. No. one is injured, but now they have proof that people live here who do not welcome their arrival, when they cannot find a place to settle, they cross to the other side of the enormous bay, there Matt has a name in English for this area, Plymouth the adventurer.

John Smith founded a colony in southern Virginia years before is a familiar name in a mysterious land a sign that they should settle here they have searched for over a month now it is December 12th the heart of winter as brought about by William Bradford in his The book is very close to when they got here, even though they had John Smith's maps of New England and probably also Virginia, the maps weren't much help in deciding where to settle, they had to find out if it was fresh water that they had. what to find where they were good Anchorage, they had to find where there was arable land, none of those things are indicated on the map and the maps were not entirely accurate even then, unless you know what it looks like today, so they had to make trips of up and down along the coast until they found a place to settle and finally they settled in the port which on Smith's map was called Plymouth because Plymouth had been called that, the bean had been named after Prince Charles and in an attempt to ingratiate himself Smith had given him the prints on the map and told them to name them and Charles did, but they make a gruesome discovery on the coast of Plymouth.

Human remains scattered all over the beach. They have no way of knowing what happened here. Was it a battle or a disease that claimed their lives? people, it would be possible to settle here, but Bradford and his exploratory group are not convinced that death seems to surround them. The men are exhausted. His initial euphoria fades. They are too weak to continue their search. There was just this empty, barren land. He said we've been through all this in England and Holland and we come to this godforsaken place that's nothing but a sand pit and here we are after all that and this is it.

There are much more painful laughs awaiting William Bradford when he returns to the Mayflower. he learns that his wife Dorothy fell overboard and drowned. He is frost. Oh, my Lord Bradford is devastated by the loss of his wife and the uncertain future in this wasteland, but he holds on to his faith. He believes that when destiny is at work, one is guided. By God this test must have a deeper meaning after an arduous journey after the persecutions in England there are those who theorize that Dorothy could have jumped overboard that she could have committed suicide there are those who theorize that based on Bradford keeping absolute silence about anything but she died on December 21, 1620 the first group of colonists finally disembarks on the frozen beach of Plymouth the Mayflower is a hotbed of fever men women and children have died on board so they arrive they have no opportunity to plant there are no fresh vegetables there is nothing they can turn to many of the inhabitants of Plymouth died there their level of nutrition decreases they suffer from vitamin deficiencies scurvy is a problem vitamin D deficiency is a problem and of course they also get fevers so as a result It is a 50% attrition rate. 50% of these individuals that arrive alive died in that first winter.

Christmas arrives, the settlers work hard and build their first houses. The celebration has little meaning for Puritans like many others. William Bradford is desperately ill with fever and dysentery. some seem to hear strange screams in the dark are they native americans or is it satan and his minions coming to punish them there is almost no one left qualified enough to care for the sick everyone is sick the settlers die every day in addition to everything they live in fear constant of the indigenous people who live here, none of the satyrs have seen an American Indian up close, but surely some of their Ania are an obvious threat to the colony.

What kind of people are they? Little is known in Europe about the Native Americans other than the propaganda spread by the Spanish and Portuguese to morally justify their horrific campaign of repression and extermination in Central and South America they speak of depraved cannibals who will force-feed Christian culture and civilization at the tip of sword savages worse than savages slaves not even human now it is March and winter does not seem to want to end with the constant cold and humidity exhausted the least strength of the colonists every day is a fight for survival the colonists know they are being watched this no It is time to show no sign of weakness an attack now would mean the end of the colony for those left behind because they remain in the struggle and confusion of life ashes to ashes dust to dust amen during the day even the guard of 6 tons of exhausted men leaning against the trees like decoys that the dead of the day have buried at night to prevent those watching from counting how many capable men are left to fight despite everything, no one thinks of returning one of the great American traits is perseverance, you know you have until the end.

The apostle Paul kicks against the stings and you have to keep going no matter what and you can't give up or give in, we often do, but the ultimate goal is to endure anything for the sake of the kingdom for the sake of the Covenant or some principle. not in oneself and that's what they did the first warmth of spring in 1621 fills the colonists with hope perhaps the worst is over now they only have one fear left the native Americans will tolerate the newcomers to their homeland carver Bradford and the others eventually settle in an abandoned, sheltered Indian village.

March 16, 1621 is the day of the first meeting. A Wampanoag Indian appears on Watson's Hill, outside the village. He is tall, self-confident and seems to have little fear of foreigners. in general had a very serious misunderstanding of what the native people were, they thought more in terms of wild animals in the forest when they were very unskilled and intelligent people, there seems to be a much better record among the pilgrims than among the Later, immigrations later that they did terrible things to the Native Americans here and saw them not as wild animals but as people who needed to be converted, which was not a negative thing.

We have to accept them as human beings who can eventually also be part of the Covenant. welcome English people the stranger greets you in English no one anticipated that the man asked for bread and beer only Europeans are called Somerset and he learned to speak English from the cod fisherman. It turns out to be an invaluable source of information for the settlers that Massasoit has sent Somerset, the powerful chief, rules all the people in a wide area to meet him. Somerset promises to return to Chief Massasoit and his interpreter, whose English is even better than his.

His intention seemed peaceful. They had a pretty good idea of ​​what they were getting. when they were dealing with these people and they understood very well the meaning of the relationship, but also that it was a symbiotic relationship in which both parties had something to gain by forming an alliance. The Native Americans at that time in Massachusetts were very weak. They had been decimated by European diseases, things that we would call harmless childhood diseases like chickenpox and mumps, but that the Native Americans had not experienced and had no immunity against up to 70 80 90 percent of the inhabitants of a village.

People who know both American Indians and European settlers can be very influential as mediators. The interpreter of Squanto Massasoit is such a man years before he was sold into slavery and taken to England, now he pursues his own goals as an advisor to the head of the squadron. He provided great service to the English, but he also sought his own benefit and To do so, he attempted to undermine Massasoit's society and affirm his own. He wanted to reach a leadership position as sole intermediary five days after Sam Assad's first visit. return to the English town with Squanto and the great meso soit Massasoit and hit and the whopin augs wanted the English to be there they were a good buffer against their enemies they had all thesereally interesting high tech things like grass no you would rather cut down a tree with a stone or steel ax it is a reciprocal relationship that I think both parties understood quite well welcome to our town this is my boss Massasoit please come in , pick us up, please come into my house, comfort yourself, sit down, follow me.

Please, one of the most important adjustments, let's say that they were able to make, was that they were able to achieve a somewhat uneasy peace that lasted for quite some time with the Wampanoag people. Massasoit, who was the chief of the Wampanoag people, forms a treaty that he maintains for the rest of his life, allowing Plymouth to settle without fear of reprisals from the local population, local Native Americans, and, as a result of that, they were able to concentrate more on the settlement lands, clear the land and obtain their crops in survival these are manufacturers who come to my laboratory in regards to our friendship we are very happy to be here here we only want them for you very happy there more there is more here we will honor this treaty of we will keep it sacred to our people I am also very glad to have your first without very glad to have your friendship and we would give you these knives I would still make steel towels however what we do is seal our friendship fight Massasoit is carefully considered his In response to the arrival of the settlers, he has long spent months in the swamps with his priest to make contact with the spirits, waiting for inspiration on what to do best for the good of his people.

Some of Massasoit's advisors demand the expulsion of the English. his superior strength would not be difficult, but Squanto, who knows the English better than most, exerts great influence. He explicitly warns Massasoit about superior European weapons. Squanto hopes to secure and strengthen his position. He induces meso soit to believe that men all over the world. ocean have their deadly diseases stored in barrels and can release them at will to destroy the Whomper, it is not a blatant lie that aims to push Massasoit towards a peace treaty and cements the position of the cleaners, the treaties were basically one of understanding and respect mutual. a bit heavy on the English but the English was doing it and we're not sure exactly what exactly the natives who didn't have a written language understood what had been agreed upon, but whatever it was, it worked, it worked for many years, it always worked and when everyone basically respected and let each side do what they wanted shortly after the treaty was concluded.

Governor Carver dies unexpectedly. The fledgling colony needs a strong successor in these first few months of testing, when simply surviving is the priority. William Bradford is selected after initially hesitating, he accepts that it becomes the greatest challenge of his life the peace treaty allows the colonists to fear and Plymouth prospers the Pilgrim Fathers can settle in the new world the nog teaches them to cultivate the native plants the seed they stole from Cape Cod blooms here the April seed from Europe wobbles the panel also teaches them how to live in harmony with the rhythm of the seasons they show them what nature has in store for them in the spring summer and the fall a Massasoit and the Native Americans with him helped to help the settlers provide them with food and in many cases you know how to show them, for example, show them how to plant Indian corn and it is the wonderful crop, you know the wheat that helps the world eat today and if it hadn't been for the Native Americans, showing that the Pilgrims had to grow up and probably wouldn't have survived more than a year or two.

The good relationship between colonists and Native Americans lasts more than 50 years and is one of the reasons for the success of the English settlement in North America. The first marriage in Plymouth took place in the spring of 1621 in England at that time it was still celebrated by a Anglican clergyman in a Plymouth church it was a civil ceremony, a decision that would have enormous consequences for the colony Edward One of the consequences of the introduction of civil marriage was a clear concept of the separation of the duties of civil society from the of the church in the Pilgrim Colony in Plymouth Colony with a congregation of Covenant members was by no means what everyone expected to be a member of the church, therefore one had to have civil laws, civil magistrates and civil organizations that To provide fair and equal treatment to people who were not members of the church, this meant that there needed to be two spheres of operation: the church and the state. one of them to deal with the believers who were of the covenant in the congregation and another to deal with equal treatment and the application of the laws for all others in the colony who were considered politically suffrage just as it has been said that the right to Voting was never conditioned on being a member of the church in Plymouth Colony, the first autumn in Plymouth the colonists harvest enough food to get them through the winter and next year the Harvest Festival approaches.

Massasoit and 90 of his men are present at this first Thanksgiving on American soil, bringing five deer. as a gift the celebration lasts three days later generations of Native Americans interpret this first Thanksgiving in a very different way it is no reason to celebrate it is worse than a story it is a lie it is based on a myth it is a lie there is nothing in it The story of Thanksgiving that you have heard throughout the United States has heard that it is hallowed or celebrated by the natives today, many American Indians that the first Thanksgiving is a day of national mourning at the same time, I believe that they felt it was very important that they include the natives.

Americans in the area because, although they may not understand the Calvinist theology behind the idea of ​​thanking their God, they also wanted, of course, to reaffirm the friendship that had been established at that time and We often say, "Well, "Would the natives really have been invited into this kind of European Calvinist environment?" The Orphan of England helped shape the success of Plymouth Colony for the rest of his life. He rules with foresight and a firm hand, but it was primarily thanks to the help of the Native Americans that the colony survived. Little did Massasoit know that this handful of settlers would be followed by thousands upon thousands of land-hungry settlers who would bring this giant continent under his control a few years after the deaths of Bradford and Massasoit.

War breaks out in New England between European settlers and Native Americans after the settlers win. the war denied freedom to the american indians and deported men, women and children as slaves today plymouth is a bustling tourist town with many historical attractions the name bradford can be seen everywhere the graves of the early settlers are found here in Burial Hill the oldest cemetery in the colony The Pilgrim Fathers accepted attitudes different from their own, an innovative advance for the time, and founded their colony on the basis of a democratic consensus. The Puritans felt chosen by God while laying the foundations for a society dedicated to freedom and equality. and justice for all, even if reality often seems very different today, religion is a private and personal matter in the United States, perhaps because it has such enormous political significance that they create something new and what is new is that the United States United is this.

Bold experiment that is still carried out to this day the Mayflower has become a symbol it has become part of our social consciousness. There is a Plymouth in every city in every state in the country what they are doing is saying that now it is their the land is no longer yours you have to speak their language you have to obey their laws that was the story of the conquest of America religious dedication to such degree that they are willing to make this journey and locate themselves on a foreign shore and risk their lives for what they believe in, I wish I had lived there just to warn people of what was to come, we are in Bradford's garden and sometimes , when I leave the church at night and lock up, I think I still see him sneaking out the door. town to see if we are doing well with his legacy