Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1620–1686 1689–1691 | |||||||||||
Governor | | ||||||||||
• 1620–1621 | John Carver (first) | ||||||||||
• 1689–1692 | Thomas Hinckley (last) | ||||||||||
Legislature | General Court | ||||||||||
Historical era | British colonization of the Americas Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640) | ||||||||||
1620 | |||||||||||
1621 | |||||||||||
1636–1638 | |||||||||||
• New England Confederation formed | 1643 | ||||||||||
1675–1676 | |||||||||||
• Disestablished, reorganized as the Province of Massachusetts Bay | 1686 1689–1691 | ||||||||||
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Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was the first permanent
Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of
Despite the colony's relatively short existence, Plymouth holds a special role in American history. Most of the citizens of Plymouth were fleeing religious persecution and searching for a place to worship as they saw fit, rather than being entrepreneurs like many of the settlers of Jamestown, Virginia. The social and legal systems of the colony became closely tied to their religious beliefs, as well as to English custom.[1]: 2
History
Origin
Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of
In Leiden, the congregation gained the freedom to worship as they chose, but Dutch society was unfamiliar to them. Scrooby had been an agricultural community, whereas Leiden was a thriving industrial center, and they found the pace of life difficult. The community remained close-knit, but their children began adopting the Dutch language and customs, and some also entered the Dutch Army. They also were still not free from the persecutions of the English Crown. English authorities came to Leiden to arrest William Brewster in 1618 after he published comments highly critical of the King of England and the
The congregation obtained a land patent from the Plymouth Company in June 1619. They had declined the opportunity to settle south of Cape Cod in New Netherland because of their desire to avoid the Dutch influence.[6] This land patent allowed them to settle at the mouth of the Hudson River. They sought to finance their venture through the Merchant Adventurers, a group of businessmen who principally viewed the colony as a means of making a profit. Upon arriving in America, the Pilgrims began working to repay their debts.[4]: 19–20, 169 [a]
Using the financing secured from the Merchant Adventurers, the Colonists bought provisions and obtained passage on the Mayflower and the Speedwell. They had intended to leave early in 1620, but they were delayed several months due to difficulties in dealing with the Merchant Adventurers, including several changes in plans for the voyage and financing. The congregation and the other colonists finally boarded the Speedwell in July 1620 in the Dutch port of Delfshaven.[4]: 20–23
Mayflower voyage
Speedwell was re-rigged with larger masts before leaving Holland and setting out to meet Mayflower in
Among the Strangers were
The departure of the Mayflower and Speedwell was beset by delays. Further disagreements with the Merchant Adventurers held up the departure in Southampton. A total of 120 passengers finally departed on August 5 – 90 on the Mayflower and 30 on the Speedwell.
The Mayflower departed Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620, with 102 passengers and about 30 crew members in the small, 106 feet (32 m) long ship.[11] The seas were not severe during the first month in the Atlantic but, by the second month, the ship was being hit by strong north-Atlantic winter gales, causing it to be badly shaken with water leaks from structural damage. There were many obstacles throughout the trip, including multiple cases of seasickness and the bending and cracking of a main beam of the ship. One death occurred, that of William Button.[9]
After two months at sea, they sighted land on November 9, 1620, off the coast of
Prior exploration and settlements
The Pilgrims were not the first Europeans in the area. John Cabot's discovery of Newfoundland in 1497 had laid the foundation for the extensive English claims over the east coast of America.[12] Cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi made one of the earliest maps of New England c. 1540, but he erroneously identified Cape Breton with the Narragansett Bay and completely omitted most of the New England coast.[13] European fishermen had also been plying the waters off the New England coast for much of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Frenchman Samuel de Champlain had explored the area extensively in 1605. He had specifically explored Plymouth Harbor, which he called "Port St. Louis", and he made an extensive and detailed map of it and the surrounding lands. He showed the Patuxet village (where the town of Plymouth was later built) as a thriving settlement.[1]: 55–56 However, an epidemic wiped out up to 90 percent of the Indians along the Massachusetts coast in 1617–1619, including the Patuxets, before the arrival of the Mayflower. The epidemic has traditionally been thought to be smallpox,[14] but a recent analysis has concluded that it may have been a lesser-known disease called leptospirosis.[15] The absence of any serious Indian opposition to the Pilgrims' settlement may have been a pivotal event to their success and to English colonization in America.
Popham Colony, also known as Fort St. George, was organized by the Plymouth Company (unrelated to Plymouth Colony) and founded in 1607. It was settled on the coast of Maine and was beset by internal political struggles, sickness, and weather problems. It was abandoned in 1608.[16]
Captain
In the Mayflower settlers' first explorations of Cape Cod, they came across evidence that Europeans had previously spent extensive time there. They discovered remains of a European fort and uncovered a grave that contained the remains of both an adult European male and an Indian child.[1]: 46–48
Landings at Provincetown and Plymouth
The Mayflower anchored at Provincetown Harbor on November 11, 1620. The Pilgrims did not have a patent to settle this area, and some passengers began to question their right to land, objecting that there was no legal authority to establish a colony and hence no guarantee of retaining ownership over any land that they had improved. In response to this, a group of colonists drafted and signed the Mayflower Compact while still aboard the ship as it lay at anchor, which became the first governing document for the colony. The intent of the compact was to establish a means of governing the colony, though it did little more than confirm that the colony would be governed like any English town. It did, however, serve the purpose of relieving the property concerns of many of the settlers.[4]: 41 This social contract was written and signed by 41 male passengers. It was modeled on the church covenants that Congregationalists used to form new congregations. It made clear that the colony should be governed by "just and equal laws," and those who signed it promised to keep those laws.[17]: 61
The group remained on board the ship through the next day for prayer and worship, as it was a Sunday. They finally set foot on land at
The Mayflower dropped anchor in Plymouth Harbor on December 16 and spent three days looking for a settlement site. They rejected several sites, including one on Clark's Island and another at the mouth of the Jones River, in favor of the site of a recently abandoned settlement which had been occupied by the Patuxet tribe.[18] The location was chosen largely for its defensive position. The settlement would be centered on two hills: Cole's Hill, where the village would be built, and Fort Hill, where a defensive cannon would be stationed. Also important in choosing the site was the fact that the prior villagers had cleared much of the land, making agriculture relatively easy. Fresh water for the colony was provided by Town Brook and Billington Sea. There are no contemporaneous accounts to verify the legend, but Plymouth Rock is often hailed as the point where the colonists first set foot on their new homeland.[4]: 78–80 [19]
The area where the colonists settled had been identified as "New Plymouth" in maps which
First winter
On December 21, 1620, the first landing party arrived at the site of
During the winter, the Mayflower colonists suffered greatly from lack of shelter, diseases such as scurvy, and general conditions on board ship.[6] Many of the men were too infirm to work; 45 out of 102 pilgrims died and were buried on Cole's Hill. Thus, only seven residences and four common houses were constructed during the first winter out of a planned 19.[4]: 80–84 By the end of January, enough of the settlement had been built to begin unloading provisions from the Mayflower.
The men of the settlement organized themselves into military orders in mid-February, after several tense encounters with local Indians, and Myles Standish was designated as the commanding officer. By the end of the month, five cannons had been defensively positioned on Fort Hill.
On March 16, 1621, the first formal contact occurred with the Indians.
Massasoit and Squanto were apprehensive about the Pilgrims, as several men of his tribe had been killed by English sailors. He also knew that the Pilgrims had taken some corn stores in their landings at Provincetown.[4]: 94–96 Squanto himself had been abducted in 1614 by English explorer Thomas Hunt and had spent five years in Europe, first as a slave for a group of Spanish monks, then as a freeman in England. He had returned to New England in 1619, acting as a guide to explorer Capt. Robert Gorges, but Massasoit and his men had massacred the crew of the ship and had taken Squanto.[4]: 52–53 [17]: 50–51
Samoset returned to Plymouth on March 22 with a delegation from Massasoit that included Squanto; Massasoit joined them shortly after, and he and Governor Carver established a formal treaty of peace after exchanging gifts. This treaty ensured that each people would not bring harm to the other, that Massasoit would send his allies to make peaceful negotiations with Plymouth, and that they would come to each other's aid in a time of war.[4]: 97–99
The Mayflower set sail for England on April 5, 1621, after being anchored for almost four months in Plymouth Harbor.[4]: 100–101 Nearly half of the original 102 passengers had died during the first winter.[5]: 83–85 As William Bradford wrote, "of these one hundred persons who came over in this first ship together, the greatest half died in the general mortality, and most of them in two or three months' time".[21] Several of the graves on Cole's Hill were uncovered in 1855; their bodies were disinterred and moved to a site near Plymouth Rock.[5]: 83
First Thanksgiving
In November 1621, the pilgrims celebrated a feast of thanksgiving which became known in the 19th century as "The First Thanksgiving". The feast was probably held in early October 1621 and was celebrated by the 53 surviving Pilgrims, along with Massasoit and 90 of his men. Three contemporaneous accounts of the event survive: Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, Mourt's Relation probably written by Edward Winslow, and New England's Memorial by Plymouth Colony Secretary (and Bradford's nephew) Capt. Nathaniel Morton.[22] The celebration lasted three days and featured a feast which included numerous types of waterfowl, wild turkeys, and fish procured by the colonists, and five deer brought by the Wampanoags.[23]
Early relations with the Native Americans
After the departure of Massasoit and his men, Squanto remained in Plymouth to teach the Pilgrims how to survive in New England, such as using dead fish to fertilize the soil. For the first few years of colonial life, the fur trade was the dominant source of income beyond subsistence farming, buying furs from Natives, and selling to Europeans.[24] Governor Carver suddenly died shortly after the Mayflower returned to England. William Bradford was elected to replace him and went on to lead the colony through much of its formative years.[4]: 102–103
As promised by Massasoit, numerous Natives arrived at Plymouth throughout the middle of 1621 with pledges of peace. On July 2, a party of Pilgrims led by Edward Winslow (who later became the chief diplomat of the colony) set out to continue negotiations with the chief. The delegation also included Squanto, who acted as a translator. After traveling for several days, they arrived at Massasoit's village of Sowams near Narragansett Bay. After meals and an exchange of gifts, Massasoit agreed to an exclusive trading pact with the Plymouth colonists. Squanto remained behind and traveled throughout the area to establish trading relations with several tribes.[4]: 104–109
In late July, a boy named John Billington became lost for some time in the woods around the colony. It was reported that he was found by the Nausets, the same tribe on Cape Cod from whom the Pilgrims had unwittingly stolen corn seed the prior year upon their first explorations. The colonists organized a party to return Billington to Plymouth, and they agreed to reimburse the Nausets for the corn which they had taken in return for the boy. This negotiation did much to secure further peace with the tribes in the area.[4]: 110–113
During their dealings with the Nausets over the release of John Billington, the Pilgrims learned of troubles that Massasoit was experiencing. Massasoit, Squanto, and several other Wampanoags had been captured by
In May 1622, a vessel named the Sparrow arrived carrying seven men from the Merchant Adventurers whose purpose was to seek out a site for a new settlement in the area. Two ships followed shortly after carrying 60 settlers, all men. They spent July and August in Plymouth before moving north to settle in
Word quickly spread among the indigenous tribes of Standish's attack; many Natives abandoned their villages and fled the area. As noted by Philbrick: "Standish's raid had irreparably damaged the human ecology of the region ... It was some time before a new equilibrium came to the region."[4]: 154–155 Edward Winslow reports in his 1624 memoirs Good News from New England that "they forsook their houses, running to and fro like men distracted, living in swamps and other desert places, and so brought manifold diseases amongst themselves, whereof very many are dead".[26] The Pilgrims lost the trade in furs which they had enjoyed with the local tribes, and which was their main source of income for paying off their debts to the Merchant Adventurers. Rather than strengthening their position, Standish's raid had disastrous consequences for the colony, as attested by William Bradford in a letter to the Merchant Adventurers: "we had much damaged our trade, for there where we had most skins the Indians are run away from their habitations".[4]: 154–155 The only positive effect of Standish's raid seemed to be the increased power of the Massasoit-led Wampanoag tribe, the Pilgrims' closest ally in the region.[4]: 154–155
Growth of Plymouth
Date | Pop. |
---|---|
December 1620 | 99 |
April 1621 | 50 |
November 1621 | 85 |
July 1623 | 180 |
May 1627 | 156 |
January 1630 | almost 300 |
1640 | 1,020 |
1643 | approx. 2,000 |
1650 | 1,566 |
1660 | 1,980 |
1670 | 5,333 |
1680 | 6,400 |
1690 | 7,424 |
1691 | approx. 7,000 |
A second ship arrived in November 1621 named the
In July 1623, two more ships arrived: the
In September 1623, another ship arrived carrying settlers destined to refound the failed colony at Weymouth, and they stayed temporarily in Plymouth. In March 1624, a ship arrived bearing a few additional settlers and the first cattle. A 1627 division of cattle lists 156 colonists divided into twelve lots of thirteen colonists each.
Military history
Myles Standish
Myles Standish was the military leader of Plymouth Colony from the beginning. He was officially designated as the captain of the colony's militia in February 1621, shortly after the arrival of the Mayflower in December 1620. He organized and led the first party from the Mayflower to set foot in New England, an exploratory expedition of Cape Cod upon arrival in Provincetown Harbor. He also led the third expedition, during which Standish fired the first recorded shot by the Pilgrim settlers in an event known as the First Encounter. Standish had training in military engineering from the
Pequot War and United Colonies of New England
The first major war in New England was the Pequot War of 1637. The war's roots go back to 1632, when a dispute arose between Dutch fur traders and Plymouth officials over control of the
In April 1637, a raid on a Pequot village by
When it appeared that the war would resume, four of the New England colonies (Massachusetts Bay,
King Philip's War
Metacomet was the younger son of Massasoit and the heir of Massasoit's position as sachem of the Pokanokets and supreme leader of the Wampanoags. He was known to the colonists as Philip, and he became sachem upon the sudden death of his older brother Wamsutta in 1662, who was also known as Alexander.[4]: 205
Indian leaders such as Philip resented the colonists' increasing land acquisitions, and they looked for a means to slow or reverse it.
The proximate cause of the conflict was the death of a Praying Indian named John Sassamon in 1675. Sassamon had been an advisor and friend to Philip; however, Sassamon's conversion to Christianity had driven the two apart.[34] Accused in the murder of Sassamon were some of Philip's most senior lieutenants. A jury of twelve Englishmen and six Praying Indians found the Native Americans guilty of murder and sentenced them to death.[4]: 221–223 To this day, some debate exists whether King Philip's men actually committed the murder.[34]
Philip had already begun war preparations at his home base near Mount Hope where he started raiding English farms and pillaging their property. In response, Governor Josiah Winslow called out the militia, and they organized and began to move on Philip's position.[4]: 229–237 Philip's men attacked unarmed women and children in order to receive a ransom. One such attack resulted in the capture of Mary Rowlandson.[4]: 288–289
The war continued through the rest of 1675 and into the next year. The colonists were constantly frustrated by the Native Americans' refusal to meet them in pitched battle. They employed a form of guerrilla warfare that confounded the English. Captain Benjamin Church continuously campaigned to enlist the help of friendly Native Americans to help learn how to fight on an even footing with Philip's warrior bands, but he was constantly rebuffed by the Plymouth leadership who mistrusted all Native Americans, thinking them potential enemies. Eventually, Governor Winslow and Plymouth military commander Major William Bradford (son of the late Governor William Bradford) relented and gave Church permission to organize a combined force of English and Native Americans. After securing the alliance of the Sakonnets, he led his combined force in pursuit of Philip, who had thus far avoided any major battles in the war that bears his name. Throughout July 1676, Church's band captured hundreds of Native American warriors, often without much of a fight, though Philip eluded him. Church was given permission to grant amnesty to any captured Native Americans who would agree to join the colonial side, and his force grew immensely.[4]: 311–323 Philip was killed by a Pocasset Indian, and the war soon ended as an overwhelming colonial victory.[4]: 331–337
Eight percent of the colonial adult male population is estimated to have died during the war, a rather large percentage by most standards. The impact on the Native Americans was far higher, however. So many were killed, fled, or shipped off as slaves that the entire indigenous population of New England fell by 60 to 80 percent.[4]: 332, 345–346
Final years
In 1686, the entire New England region was reorganized under a single government known as the
The return of self-rule for Plymouth Colony was short-lived, however. A delegation of New Englanders led by Increase Mather went to England to negotiate a return of the colonial charters that had been nullified during the Dominion years. The situation was particularly problematic for Plymouth Colony, as it had existed without a formal charter since its founding. Plymouth did not get its wish for a formal charter; instead, a new charter was issued combining Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and other territories. The official date of the proclamation was October 17, 1691, ending the existence of Plymouth Colony, though it was not put into force until the arrival of the charter of the Province of Massachusetts Bay on May 14, 1692, carried by the new royal governor Sir William Phips. The last official meeting of the Plymouth General Court occurred on June 8, 1692.[35][3]: 17–18 [17]: 64–65
Life
Religion
The Pilgrims themselves were separatist Puritans, Protestant Christians who separated from the
Each town in the colony was considered a single church congregation; in later years, some of the larger towns split into two or three congregations. Church attendance was mandatory for all residents of the colony, while church membership was restricted to those who had converted to the faith. In Plymouth Colony, it seems that a simple profession of faith was all that was required for acceptance as a member. This was a more liberal doctrine than the congregations of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where it was common to conduct detailed interviews with those seeking formal membership. There was no central governing body for the churches. Each individual congregation was left to determine its own standards of membership, hire its own ministers, and conduct its own business.[3]: 8
The church was the most important social institution in the colony. The Bible was the primary religious document of the society, and it also served as the primary legal document.[39] Church membership was socially vital. Education was carried out for religious purposes, motivated by a determination to teach the next generation how to read the Bible. The laws of the colony specifically asked parents to provide for the education of their children, "at least to be able duly to read the Scriptures" and to understand "the main Grounds and Principles of Christian Religion".[3]: 104–106, 140 It was expected that the male head of the household would be responsible for the religious well-being of all its members, children and servants alike.[3]: 104–106, 140
Most churches used two acts to sanction its members: censure and being "put out". Censure was a formal reprimand for behavior that did not conform with accepted religious and social norms, while being "put out" meant to be removed from church membership. Many social breaches were dealt with through church discipline rather than through civil punishment, from fornication to public drunkenness. Church sanctions seldom held official recognition outside church membership and seldom resulted in civil or criminal proceedings. Nevertheless, such sanctions were a powerful tool of social stability.[3]: 8–9
The Pilgrims practiced infant baptism. The public baptism ceremony was usually performed within six months of birth.[3]: 142 Marriage was considered a civil ceremony, rather than a religious one. The Pilgrims saw this arrangement as biblical, there being no evidence from Scripture that a minister should preside over a wedding.[4]: 104
Besides the theology espoused by their religious leaders, the people of Plymouth Colony had a strong belief in the supernatural. Richard Greenham was a Puritan theologian whose works were known to the Plymouth residents, and he counseled extensively against turning to magic or wizardry to solve problems. Massachusetts Bay Colony experienced an outbreak of witchcraft scares in the 17th century, but there is no evidence that Plymouth was engulfed in anything similar. Witchcraft was listed as a capital crime in the 1636 codification of the laws by the Plymouth General Court, but there were no actual convictions of witches in Plymouth Colony. The court records only show two formal accusations of witchcraft. The first was of Goodwife Holmes in 1661, but it never went to trial. The second was of Mary Ingram in 1677 which resulted in trial and acquittal.[1]: 92–98, endnotes
Marriage and family life
Edward Winslow and Susanna White both lost their spouses during the harsh winter of 1620–1621, and the two became the first couple to be married in Plymouth. Governor Bradford presided over the civil ceremony.[4]: 104
In Plymouth Colony, "courtships were usually initiated by the young people themselves, but as a relationship progressed toward something more permanent, the parents became more directly involved," according to John Putnam Demos.[40]: 272 Parents were concerned with the moral and religious qualities of the proposed spouse, as well as the financial means of each party's family.[40]: 272–277 The first step toward marriage was generally a betrothal or pre-contract, a ceremony carried out before two witnesses in which the couple pledged to wed in due time.[40]: 272 The couple's intentions were published several weeks or months after the betrothal was contracted.[40]: 272 "A betrothed couple was considered to have a special status, not married but no longer unmarried either."[40]: 272 Sexual contact was prohibited between a betrothed couple, but the penalty for it was one-fourth of what it was for single persons, and records indicate a relatively high number of babies born less than nine months after a wedding ceremony.[40]: 273–74
Women in Plymouth Colony had more extensive legal and social rights compared to 17th-century European norms. They were considered equal to men before God from the perspective of the Church. Women were, however, expected to take traditionally feminine roles, such as child-rearing and maintaining the household.[3]: 82–99 Plymouth women enjoyed extensive property and legal rights and could be signatories on contracts. A wife in Plymouth could not be "written out" of her husband's will and was guaranteed a full third of the family's property upon his death. In some cases, especially in second marriages, women were given exclusive right to retain control of their property separately from their husbands.[3]: 82–99 [3]: 66 Women were also known to occasionally sit on juries in Plymouth, a remarkable circumstance in seventeenth century legal practice. Historians James and Patricia Scott Deetz cite a 1678 inquest into the death of Anne Batson's child, where the jury was composed of five women and seven men.[1]: 99–100
Family size in the colony was large by modern American standards,[41][3]: 192 [b] though childbirth was often spaced out, with an average of two years between children. Most families averaged five to six children living under the same roof, though it was not uncommon for one family to have grown children moving out before the mother had finished giving birth. Maternal mortality rates were fairly high; one birth in thirty ended in the death of the mother, resulting in one in five women dying in childbirth.[3]: 64–69 However, "the rate of infant mortality in Plymouth seems to have been relatively low."[40]: 270–71
Childhood, adolescence, and education
Children generally remained in the direct care of their mothers until about the age of 8, after which it was not uncommon for the child to be placed in the foster care of another family.[3]: 141 Some children were placed into households to learn a trade, others to be taught to read and write. It was assumed that children's own parents would love them too much and would not properly discipline them. By placing children in the care of another family, there was little danger of them being spoiled.[3]: 71–75
Adolescence was not a recognized phase of life in Plymouth colony, and there was no rite of passage which marked transition from youth to adulthood. Several important transitions occurred at various ages, but none marked a single "coming of age" event. Children were expected to begin learning their adult roles in life quite early by taking on some of the family work or by being placed in foster homes to learn a trade.[3]: 141 Orphaned children were given the right to choose their own guardians at age 14. At 16, males became eligible for military duty and were also considered adults for legal purposes, such as standing trial for crimes. Age 21 was the youngest at which a male could become a freeman, though for practical purposes this occurred some time in a man's mid-twenties. Twenty-one was the assumed age of inheritance, as well, although the law respected the rights of the deceased to name an earlier age in his will.[3]: 147–149
Actual schools were rare in Plymouth colony. The first true school was not founded until 40 years after the foundation of the colony. The General Court first authorized colony-wide funding for formal public schooling in 1673, but only the town of Plymouth made use of these funds at that time. By 1683, though, five additional towns had received this funding.[3]: 142–143
Education of the young was never considered to be the primary domain of schools, even after they had become more common. Most education was carried out by a child's parents or foster parents. Formal apprenticeships were not the norm in Plymouth; it was expected that a foster family would teach the children whatever trades they themselves practiced. The church also played a central role in a child's education.[3]: 144 As noted above, the primary purpose of teaching children to read was so that they could read the Bible for themselves.[3]: 104
Government and laws
Organization
Plymouth Colony did not have a royal charter authorizing it to form a government, yet some means of governance was needed. The Mayflower Compact was the colony's first governing document, signed by the 41 Puritan men aboard the Mayflower upon their arrival in Provincetown Harbor on November 21, 1620. Formal laws were not codified until 1636. The colony's laws were based on a hybrid of English common law and religious law as laid out in the Bible.[39] The colonial authorities were deeply influenced by Calvinist theology, and were convinced that democracy was the form of government mandated by God.[42]
The colony offered nearly all adult males potential citizenship. Full citizens, or freemen, were accorded full rights and privileges in areas such as voting and holding office. To be considered a freeman, adult males had to be sponsored by an existing freeman and accepted by the General Court. Later restrictions established a one-year waiting period between nominating and granting of freeman status, and also placed religious restrictions on the colony's citizens, specifically preventing Quakers from becoming freemen.[39] Freeman status was also restricted by age; the official minimum age was 21, although in practice most men were elevated to freeman status between the ages of 25 and 40, averaging somewhere in their early thirties.[3]: 148 The colony established a disabled veterans' fund in 1636 to support veterans who returned from service with disabilities.[18] In 1641, the Body of Liberties developed protections for people who were unable to perform public service.[18] In 1660, the colonial government restricted voting with a specified property qualification, and they restricted it further in 1671 to only freemen who were "orthodox in the fundamentals of religion".[43]
Governors of Plymouth Colony[44] | ||
---|---|---|
Dates | Governor | |
1620 | John Carver
| |
1621–1632 | William Bradford
| |
1633 | Edward Winslow | |
1634 | Thomas Prence | |
1635 | William Bradford | |
1636 | Edward Winslow | |
1637 | William Bradford | |
1638 | Thomas Prence | |
1639–1643 | William Bradford | |
1644 | Edward Winslow | |
1645–1656 | William Bradford | |
1657–1672 | Thomas Prence | |
1673–1679 | Josiah Winslow | |
1680–1692 | Thomas Hinckley |
The colony's most powerful executive was its Governor, who was originally elected by the freemen but was later appointed by the General Court in an annual election. The General Court also elected seven Assistants to form a cabinet to assist the governor. The Governor and Assistants then appointed Constables who served as the chief administrators for the towns, and Messengers who were the main civil servants of the colony. They were responsible for publishing announcements, performing land surveys, carrying out executions, and a host of other duties.[39]
The General Court was the chief legislative and judicial body of the colony. It was elected by the freemen from among their own number and met regularly in Plymouth, the capital town of the colony. As part of its judicial duties, it would periodically call a Grand Enquest, which was a grand jury of sorts elected from the freemen, who would hear complaints and swear out indictments for credible accusations. The General Court, and later lesser town and county courts, would preside over trials of accused criminals and over civil matters, but the ultimate decisions were made by a jury of freemen.[39]
The General Court as the legislative and judicial bodies, and the Governor as the chief executive of the colony constituted a political system of division of power. It followed a recommendation in John Calvin's political theory to set up several institutions which complement and control each other in a system of checks and balances in order to minimize the misuse of political power.[45] In 1625, the settlers had repaid their debts and thus gained complete possession of the colony.[46] The colony was a de facto republic, since neither an English company nor the King and Parliament exerted any influence—a representative democracy governed on the principles of the Mayflower Compact ("self-rule").
Laws
As a legislative body, the General Court could make proclamations of law as needed. These laws were not formally compiled anywhere in the early years of the colony; they were first organized and published in the 1636 Book of Laws. The book was reissued in 1658, 1672, and 1685.[39] These laws included the levying of "rates" or taxes and the distribution of colony lands.[3]: 7 The General Court established townships as a means of providing local government over settlements, but reserved for itself the right to control specific distribution of land to individuals within those towns. When new land was granted to a freeman, it was directed that only the person to whom the land was granted was allowed to settle it.[3]: 10 It was forbidden for individual settlers to purchase land from Native Americans without formal permission from the General Court.[3]: 14 The government recognized the precarious peace that existed with the Wampanoag, and wished to avoid antagonizing them by buying up all of their land.[4]: 214–215
The laws also set out crimes and their associated punishment. There were several crimes that carried the
Several laws dealt with indentured servitude, a legal status whereby a person would work off debts or be given training in exchange for a period of unrecompensed service. The law required that all indentured servants had to be registered by the Governor or one of the Assistants, and that no period of indenture could be less than six months. Further laws forbade a master from shortening the length of time of service required for his servant, and also confirmed that any indentured servants whose period of service began in England would still be required to complete their service while in Plymouth.[48]
Official seal
The seal of the Plymouth Colony was designed in 1629 and is still used by the town of Plymouth. It depicts four figures within a shield bearing
Geography
Boundaries
Without a clear land patent for the area, the settlers settled without a charter to form a government and, as a result, it was often unclear in the early years what land was under the colony's jurisdiction. In 1644, "The Old Colony Line"—which had been surveyed in 1639—was formally accepted as the boundary between Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth.[50]
The situation was more complicated along the border with Rhode Island.
Counties and towns
For most of its history, the town was the primary administrative unit and political division of the colony. Plymouth Colony was not formally divided into counties until June 2, 1685, during the reorganization that led to the formation of the Dominion of New England. Three counties were composed of the following towns.[1]: endnotes [c]
Barnstable County on Cape Cod:[53]
- shire town (county seat) of the county, first settled in 1639 and incorporated 1650.[53]: 131
- Eastham, site of the "First Encounter", first settled 1644 and incorporated as the town of Nauset in 1646, name changed to Eastham in 1651.[53]: 285
- Falmouth, first settled in 1661 and incorporated as Succonesset in 1686.[53]: 302
- Rochester, settled 1638, incorporated 1686.[54][55]
- Sandwich, first settled in 1637 and incorporated in 1639.[53]: 581
- Yarmouth, Originally named Mattacheese by the native Americans, it was named for a seaport at the mouth of the Yar river in England and incorporated in 1639.[53]: 722
Bristol County along the shores of Buzzards Bay and Narragansett Bay; part of this county was later ceded to Rhode Island:[53]: 67
- Taunton, the shire town of the county, incorporated 1639 and grew due to the early discovery of bog-iron.[53]: 633
- Bristol, incorporated 1680 and including the former locations of Sowams and Montaup (Mount Hope), which were Massasoit's and King Philip's capitals, respectively. Ceded to Rhode Island in 1746 and is now part of Bristol County, Rhode Island.[52]
- Dartmouth, incorporated 1664. Dartmouth was the site of a significant massacre by the Indian forces during King Philip's War. It was also the location of a surrender of a group of some 160 of Philip's forces who were later sold into slavery.[53]: 263
- Freetown, Originally known as "Assonet" to the natives, and "Freemen's Land" by its first settlers. Settlement records are lost however it was incorporated under its current name in July 1683.[53]: 320
- Little Compton, incorporated as Sakonnet in 1682, ceded to Rhode Island in 1746 and is now part of Newport County, Rhode Island.[56]
- Rehoboth, first settled 1644 and incorporated 1645. Nearby to, but distinct from the Rehoboth settlement of Roger Williams, which is now the town of Pawtucket, Rhode Island.[53]: 561
- Swansea, founded as the township of Wannamoiset in 1667, incorporated as town of Swansea in 1668. It was here that the first English casualty occurred in King Philip's War.[53]: 631 [d]
Plymouth County, located along the western shores of Cape Cod Bay:[53]: 542
- Plymouth, the shire town of the county and capital of the colony. This was the original 1620 settlement of the Mayflower Pilgrims, and continued as the largest and most significant settlement in the colony until its dissolution in 1691.[57]
- Bridgewater, purchased from Massasoit by Myles Standish, and originally named Duxburrow New Plantation, it was incorporated as Bridgewater in 1656.[53]: 200
- John Alden, William Brewster, and Governor Thomas Prence.[53]: 280
- Marshfield, settled 1632, incorporated 1640. Home to Governor Edward Winslow. Also home to Josiah Winslow, who was governor of the colony during King Philip's War, and to Peregrine White, the first English child born in New England.[53]: 443
- Middleborough, incorporated 1669 as Middleberry. Named for its location as the halfway point on the journey from Plymouth to Mount Hope, the Wampanoag capital.[53]: 459
- Scituate, settled 1628 and incorporated 1636. The town was the site of a major attack by King Philip's forces in 1676.[53]: 585
Demographics
English
The settlers of Plymouth Colony fit broadly into three categories: Pilgrims, Strangers, and Particulars. The Pilgrims were a Puritan group who closely followed the teachings of
In addition to the Pilgrims, the Mayflower carried "Strangers", the non-Puritan settlers placed on the Mayflower by the Merchant Adventurers who provided various skills needed to establish a colony. This also included later settlers who came for other reasons throughout the history of the colony and who did not adhere to the Pilgrim religious ideals.[61][4]: 21–23 A third group known as the "Particulars" consisted of later settlers who paid their own "particular" way to America, and thus were not obligated to pay the colony's debts.[3]: 6
The presence of outsiders such as the Strangers and the Particulars was a considerable annoyance to the Pilgrims. As early as 1623, a conflict broke out between the Pilgrims and the Strangers over the celebration of Christmas, a day of no particular significance to the Pilgrims. Furthermore, a group of Strangers founded the nearby settlement of
Historian John Demos did a demographic study in A Little Commonwealth (1970). He reports that the colony's average household grew from 7.8 children per family for first-generation families to 8.6 children for second-generation families and to 9.3 for third-generation families. Child mortality also decreased over this time, with 7.2 children born to first-generation families living until their 21st birthday. That number increased to 7.9 children by the third generation.[3]: 192–194 Life expectancy was higher for men than for women. Of the men who survived until age 21, the average life expectancy was 69.2 years. Over 55 percent of these men lived past 70; less than 15 percent died before the age of 50. The numbers were much lower for women owing to the difficulties of childbearing. The average life expectancy of women at the age of 21 was 62.4 years. Of these women, fewer than 45 percent lived past 70, and about 30 percent died before the age of 50.[3]: 192–194
During King Philip's War, Plymouth Colony lost eight percent of its adult male population. By the end of the war, one-third of New England's approximately 100 towns had been burned and abandoned, and this had a significant demographic effect on the population of New England.[4]: 332, 345–346
Native Americans
The Native Americans in New England were organized into loose tribal confederations, sometimes referred to as nations. Among these confederations were the
Black and indigenous slaves
Some of the wealthier families in Plymouth Colony enslaved Black people and Native Americans. Colonists considered slaves to be the property of their owners, able to be passed on to heirs, unlike
Economy
The largest source of wealth for Plymouth Colony was the fur trade. The disruption of this trade caused by Myles Standish's raid at Wessagussett created great hardship for the colonists for many years and was directly cited by William Bradford as a contributing factor to the economic difficulties in their early years.[4]: 154–155 The colonists attempted to supplement their income by fishing; the waters in Cape Cod bay were known to be excellent fisheries. However, they lacked any skill in this area, and it did little to relieve their economic hardship.[4]: 136 The colony traded throughout the region, establishing trading posts as far away as Penobscot, Maine. They were also frequent trading partners with the Dutch at New Amsterdam.[4]: 199–200
The economic situation improved with the arrival of cattle in the colony. It is unknown when the first cattle arrived, but the division of land for the grazing of cattle in 1627 represented one of the first moves towards private land ownership in the colony.[1]: 77–78 [e] Cattle became an important source of wealth in the colony; the average cow could sell for £28 in 1638 (£3,400 in 2010, or $5,200 at parity). However, the flood of immigrants during the Great Migration drove down the price of cattle. The same cows sold at £28 in 1638 were valued in 1640 at only £5 (£700.00 in 2010, or $1,060 at parity).[62] Besides cattle, there were also pigs, sheep, and goats raised in the colony.[19]
Agriculture also made up an important part of the Plymouth economy. The colonists adopted Indian agricultural practices and crops. They planted maize, squash, pumpkins, and beans. Besides the crops themselves, the Pilgrims learned productive farming techniques from the Indians, such as proper crop rotation and the use of dead fish to fertilize the soil. In addition to these native crops, the colonists also successfully planted Old World crops such as turnips, carrots, peas, wheat, barley, and oats.[63]
Overall, there was very little cash in Plymouth Colony, so most wealth was accumulated in the form of possessions. Trade goods such as furs, fish, and livestock were subject to fluctuations in price and were unreliable repositories of wealth. Durable goods represented an important source of economic stability for the residents, such as fine wares, clothes, and furnishings.[3]: 52–53 In 1652, the Massachusetts General Court authorized Boston silversmith John Hull to produce local coinage in shilling, sixpence, and threepence denominations to address a coin shortage in the colony.[64] To that point, the colony's economy had been entirely dependent on barter and foreign currency, including English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, and counterfeit coins.[65] In 1661, after the restoration of the monarchy, the English government considered the Boston mint to be treasonous.[66] However, the colony ignored the English demands to cease operations until at least 1682, when Hull's contract expired, and the colony did not move to renew his contract or appoint a new mint master.[67] The coinage was a contributing factor to the revocation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter in 1684.[68]
Legacy
The events surrounding the founding and history of Plymouth Colony have had a lasting effect on the art, traditions, mythology, and politics of the United States of America, despite the colony's short existence of fewer than 72 years.
Art, literature, and film
The earliest artistic depiction of the Pilgrims was actually done before their arrival in America; Dutch painter
Several contemporaneous accounts of life in Plymouth Colony have become both vital primary historical documents and literary classics. Of Plimoth Plantation (1630 and 1651) by William Bradford and Mourt's Relation (1622) by Bradford, Edward Winslow, and others are both accounts written by Mayflower passengers that provide much of the information which we have today regarding the trans-Atlantic voyage and early years of the settlement.
Benjamin Church wrote several accounts of King Philip's War, including Entertaining Passages Relating to Philip's War, which remained popular throughout the 18th century. An edition of the work was illustrated by Paul Revere in 1772. The Sovereignty and Goodness of God provides an account of King Philip's War from the perspective of Mary Rowlandson, an Englishwoman who was captured and held by Philip's tribe during the war.[4]: 75, 288, 357–358 Later works have provided a romantic and partially fictionalized account of life in Plymouth Colony, such as "The Courtship of Miles Standish" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.[4]: 354
There are also numerous films about the Pilgrims, including the several film adaptations of "
Thanksgiving
Each year, the United States celebrates the holiday of Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of November. It is a federal holiday[73] and frequently involves a family gathering with a large feast, traditionally featuring a turkey. Civic recognitions of the holiday typically include parades and football games. The holiday is meant to honor the First Thanksgiving, which was a feast of thanksgiving held in Plymouth in 1621, as first recorded in the book Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, one of the Mayflower pilgrims and the colony's second governor.
The annual Thanksgiving holiday is a more recent creation. Throughout the early 19th century, the U.S. government had declared a particular day as a national day of Thanksgiving, but these were one-time declarations meant to celebrate a significant event, such as victory in a battle. The northeastern states began adopting an annual day of Thanksgiving in November shortly after the end of the
Plymouth Rock
One of the enduring symbols of the landing of the Pilgrims is Plymouth Rock, a large granodiorite boulder that was near their landing site at Plymouth. However, none of the contemporaneous accounts of the actual landing makes any mention that the Rock was the specific place of landing. The Pilgrims chose the site for their landing, not for the rock, but for a small brook nearby that was a source of fresh water and fish.[4]: 75, 78–79
The first identification of Plymouth Rock as the actual landing site was in 1741 by 90-year-old Thomas Faunce, whose father had arrived in Plymouth in 1623, three years after the Mayflower arrived. The rock was later covered by a solid-fill pier. In 1774, an attempt was made to excavate it, but it broke in two. The severed piece was placed in the Town Square at the center of Plymouth. In 1880, the intact half of the rock was excavated from the pier, and the broken piece was reattached to it. Over the years, souvenir hunters have removed chunks from the rock, but the remains are now protected as part of the complex of living history museums. These include the Mayflower II, a recreation of the original ship; Plimoth Patuxet (formerly called Plimoth Plantation),[76] a historical recreation of the original 1620 settlement; and the Wampanoag Homesite, which recreates a 17th-century Indian village.[4]: 351–356
Political legacy
The democratic setup of Plymouth Colony had a strong influence on shaping democracy in both England and America. William Bradford's
The Mayflower Society
The General Society of Mayflower Descendants, or The Mayflower Society, is a genealogical organization of individuals who have documented their descent from one or more of the 102 passengers who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620. The Society was founded at Plymouth in 1897 and claims that tens of millions of Americans are descended from these passengers, and it offers research services for people seeking to document their descent.[79]
See also
- English colonial empire
- European colonization of the Americas
- British colonization of the Americas
- Colonial America
- Plantation (settlement or colony)
- List of colonial governors of Massachusetts (includes Plymouth)
- Alexander Standish House
- Burial Hill, site of the first fort at New Plymouth, originally known as Fort Hill
- Cole's Hill, contained the original cemetery at New Plymouth, later moved to Burial Hill
- First Parish Church in Plymouth, the modern descendant of the Scrooby congregation that founded Plymouth Colony
- First Parish Church (Duxbury, Massachusetts), another early congregation founded by the Pilgrims
- Harlow Old Fort House, a private house built in 1677 in Plymouth, partially out of timbers of the original fort built in 1621
- Jabez Howland House
- Jenney Grist Mill
- John and Priscilla Alden Family Sites
- Leyden Street, claimed to be the first street in Plymouth Colony
- Myles Standish Burial Ground contains remains of several important Pilgrims, including Myles Standish
- Plymouth Village Historic District
- Town Brook Historic and Archaeological District
Monuments and other commemorations
- Myles Standish Monument State Reservation
- National Monument to the Forefathers
- Pilgrim Hall Museum
- Pilgrim Monument
- Plimoth Patuxet
- Plymouth Antiquarian Society
- Plymouth Rock
Notes
- ^ The debts were paid off by working 6 days a week for the sponsors. It was not paid off until 1648 because of hardships experienced during the early years of the settlement, as well as corruption and mismanagement by their representatives.
- ^ By the third generation, the average family had 9.3 births, with 7.9 children living until adulthood. Most families had two parents, so this would extrapolate to an average of 10 people under one roof.
- Nantucket County) were part of the Colony of New York prior to the Dominion (including the 1890 Massachusetts Gazetteer used here) and were not formally annexed until the 1691 charter that ended Plymouth Colony as an independent entity. Some towns north of the "Old Colony Line" may have been founded by Plymouth settlers or were temporarily administered as part of Plymouth Colony before the boundary was established with Massachusetts in 1644, such as Hull and Wessagussett.
- ^ Some confusion exists over the correct spelling of Swansea. The modern spelling is used here. Various records have listed the town as Swansea, Swanzey, Swanzea, and Swansey
- ^ There was a division of land in 1623 and a division (allotment) of cattle in 1627. See "Colonial Key Documents in Plymouth Colony Research", Plimoth Plantation™ and the New England Historic Genealogical Society®, n.d. Retrieved 3 Sept. 2018.
References
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- ^ L.C. Page & Company. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
- ^ a b Rothbard, Murray (1975). ""The Founding of Plymouth Colony"". Conceived in Liberty. Vol. 1. Arlington House Publishers.
- ^ Bradford, William. Of Plymouth Plantation. New York: Dover Publications.
- ^ Donovan, Frank (1968). The Mayflower Compact. New York: Grosset & Dunlap.
- ^ a b c Bradford, William. Of Plymouth Plantation.
- ^ Donovan, Frank (1968). The Mayflower Compact. Grosset & Dunlap.
- ^ Eskridge; R., Charles. Modern Lessons From Original Steps Towards the American Bill of Rights.
- ^ Croxton, Derek (1991). "The Cabot Dilemma: John Cabot's 1497 Voyage & the Limits of Historiography". Essays in History. Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia. Archived from the original on March 17, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
- ^ Edney, Matthew H. "The Cartographic Creation of New England". Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine. Archived from the original on April 28, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
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- ^ "Popham Colony: The First English Colony in New England". pophamcolony.org. Archived from the original on February 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-03.
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- ^ ISBN 978-080702204-7.
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- ^ See the editorial footnotes in: Bradford, William (1856). History of Plymouth Plantation. Boston, Massachusetts: Little, Brown, and Company. p. 96.
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- ^ Patricia Scott Deetz; James F. Deetz (2000). "Mayflower Passenger Deaths, 1620–1621". The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
- ^ "Opinion". Archived from the original on July 13, 2009.
- ^ "Primary Sources for "The First Thanksgiving" at Plymouth". Pilgrim Hall Museum. 1998. Archived from the original on November 4, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-12. Note: this reference contains partial transcriptions of Winslow's Mourt's Relations and Bradford's Of Plimoth Plantation, which describe the events of the First Thanksgiving.
- ^ Eric Jay Dolin. Fur, Fortune, and Empire.
- ^ a b c d Deetz, Patricia Scott; James Deetz (2000). "Population of Plymouth Town, County, & Colony, 1620–1690". The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
- ^ Winslow, Edward (1624). Caleb Johnson (ed.). "Chapter 5". Good News From New England. The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
- ISBN 978-0816025275.
- ^ Charles Edward Banks, The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers: who came to Plymouth on the Mayflower in 1620, the Fortune in 1621, and the Anne and the Little James in 1623 (Baltimore, MD.: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2006) pp. 133, 167
- ^ With Axe and Musket at Plymouth. New York: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1936
- ^ "Residents of Plymouth according to the 1627 Division of Cattle". Plimoth Plantation: Living, Breathing History. Plimoth Plantation. Archived from the original on July 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-02.
- JSTOR 361908. Note: login required for access
- ^ Taylor, Norris (1998). "The Massachusetts Bay Colony". Archived from the original on March 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-30.
- ^ a b c "Perspectives: The Pequot War". The Descendants of Henry Doude. Archived from the original on March 15, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
- ^ a b c Aultman, Jennifer L. (2001). "From Thanksgiving to War: Native Americans in Criminal Cases of Plymouth Colony, 1630–1675". The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
- ^ a b c "Timeline of Plymouth Colony 1620–1692". Plimoth Plantation. 2007. Archived from the original on April 26, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
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- ^ Clifton E. Olmstead, History of Religion in the United States, p. 64
- ^ a b Maxwell, Richard Howland (2003). "Pilgrim and Puritan: A Delicate Distinction". Pilgrim Society Note, Series Two. Pilgrim Hall Museum. Archived from the original on July 6, 2003. Retrieved 2003-04-04.
- ^ a b c d e f Fennell, Christopher (1998). "Plymouth Colony Legal Structure". The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
- ^ JSTOR 1920699– via JSTOR.
- ^ Whipps, Heather (September 21, 2006). "Census: U.S. household size shrinking". NBC News. Retrieved 2007-05-11. A study reported by NBC News found that the modern American household consists of 2.6 people.
- ^ Clifton E. Olmstead (1960), History of Religion in America. Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N. J., pp. 64–69. – M. Schmidt, Pilgerväter. In: Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 3rd edition, Tübingen (Germany), Volume V, col. 384
- Macmillan. pp. 258–259.
- ^ "Governors of Plymouth Colony". Pilgrim Hall Museum. 1998. Archived from the original on February 15, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
- ^ Clifton E. Olmstead, History of Religion in the United States, p. 10.
- ^ Clifton E. Olmstead, History of Religion in the United States, p. 67.
- ^ Johnson (1997), p. 53
- ^ a b Galle, Jillian (2000). "Servants and Masters in the Plymouth Colony". The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
- ^ Martucci, David (1997). "The Flag of New England". Archived from the original on April 1, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ Payne, Morse (2006). "The Survey System of the Old Colony". Slade and Associates. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ "The Border is Where? Part II". The Rhode Islander: A depository of opinion, information, and pictures of the Ocean State. blogspot.com. 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ a b "Town of Bristol". EDC Profile. Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. 2007. Archived from the original on July 4, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Nason, Elias; Varney, George (1890). A gazetteer of the state of Massachusetts : with numerous illustrations. Gazetteer of Massachusetts. Boston: B.B. Russell. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
{{cite book}}
:|work=
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- ^ Rochester was later transferred to Plymouth County some time after 1689; at the time of incorporation, however, it was part of Barnstable County. See: Freeman, Frederick (1860). History of Cape Cod. Vol. 1. Boston: Geo C. Rand & Avery & Cornhill. p. 312. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
- ^ "The Little Compton Historical Society Home Page". The Little Compton Historical Society. 2005. Archived from the original on June 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
- ^ Nason, Elias; Varney, George G. "Plymouth Massachusetts, 1890". Cape Cod History. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
- ^ a b David Lindsay, Mayflower Bastard: A Stranger amongst the Pilgrims (St. Martins Press, New York, 2002) pp. x, xvi.
- ^ Donald F. Harris, The Mayflower Descendant (July 1993), vol. 43, no. 2, p. 124
- ^ Morison & Commager, The Growth of the American Republic (4th ed., New York, 1950), vol. 1, p.40
- ^ Cline, Duane A. (2006). "The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony: 1620". Rootsweb. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
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- ^ Johnson (1997), pp. 36–37
- ^ Barth 2014, p. 499
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- ^ Barth 2014, p. 500
- ^ Barth 2014, p. 514
- ^ Barth 2014, p. 520
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- ^ "IMDB search: Miles Standish". IMDB. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
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- ^ "2007 Federal Holidays". U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Retrieved 2007-04-04.
- ^ Wilson, Jerry (2001). "The Thanksgiving Story". Wilstar. Retrieved 2007-04-05.
- ^ "History of Thanksgiving: A Timeline". Twoop. 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-08-06. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
- ^ "Commemorating 400 Years, Reflecting On Our Mission" (Press release). Plimoth Patuxet. 6 July 2020. Archived from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-521-89057-1, pp. 223–224
- ^ Clifton E. Olmstead, History of Religion in the United States, pp. 74–75, 102–105, 114–117.
- ^ "The Mayflower Society Home Page". General Society of Mayflower Descendants. 2006. Archived from the original on 2016-11-20. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
Works cited
- L.C. Page & Company. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
- Barth, Jonathan Edward (2014). "'A Peculiar Stampe of Our Owne': The Massachusetts Mint and the Battle over Sovereignty, 1652–1691". The New England Quarterly. 87 (3): 490–525. S2CID 57571000.
- ISBN 0-7167-3830-9.
- Demos, John (1970). A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony. New York: Oxford University Press.
- JSTOR 1920699– via JSTOR.
- ISBN 0-06-016836-6.
- ISBN 0-670-03760-5.
- ISBN 0-7894-8903-1.
External links
- Colonial America: Plymouth Colony 1620—A short history of Plymouth Colony hosted at U-S-History.com, includes a map of all of the New England colonies.
- The Plymouth Colony Archive Project—A collection of primary sources documents and secondary source analysis related to Plymouth Colony.
- Pilgrim ships from 1602 to 1638—Pilgrim ships searchable by ship name, sailing date and passengers.
- History of the Town of Plymouth 1620...—Free Google eBook; PDF format