Plymouth Rock is the spot, just a few minutes walk from Plymouth’s Main Street, where the Pilgrims might have come ashore on December 21st 1620. Necessary in order to bind the community together, it was revolutionary by chance.” In order to survive, it depended on the consent of the colonists themselves. The colony was a mutual enterprise, not an imperial expedition organised by the Spanish or English governments. “Plymouth Colony was the first experiment in consensual government in Western history between individuals with one another, and not with a monarch. As Rebecca Fraser has noted, the formation of the what would become Plymouth was “revolutionary”: This now famous social contract set out the rules detailing how the new colony was to be governed. In absence of a royal charter, it was at Provincetown that 41 separatists signed the Mayflower Compact while still onboard the ship as it lay off-shore. Winter was closing in and they were running low on provisions, so they abandoned their intended plans to carry on to the Hudson River. Land was spotted off the coast of Cape Cod on November 9th 1620 and two days later the Mayflower anchored at Provincetown Harbor. Water was everywhere, soaking their hair and in their mouths.” “The men held on to their wives, and the wives sheltered their as were thrown backwards and forwards. “As the ship was tossed on mountainous waves the passengers thought though the wild sea would drag them to their deaths,” wrote Rebecca Fraser in her excellent book, The Mayflower Generation. For the next 66 nights, they were all squashed together on the compact, 106 foot long ship.Īfter 1,500 miles of good weather, the Mayflower encountered violent storms. When the Mayflower finally left Plymouth on September 6th 1620, there were 102 passengers on board – half of whom were separatists – as well as 30 crew and even two dogs (they were the only animals mentioned specifically as passengers, but some have suggested goats, pigs and chickens were carried as well). Some passengers gave up on their attempt to emigrate, while others squeezed onto the Mayflower. But the Speedwell encountered problems and after attempted repairs at Dartmouth and Land’s End, it was finally abandoned at Plymouth. There were more delays and so it wasn’t until August 5th until the Mayflower and Speedwell set off, with 90 and 30 passengers respectively. They went to Southampton where they met the Mayflower and other passengers who had been recruited by the Merchant Adventurers to provide practical help to the new colony and became known to the separatists as “The strangers”. The settlers needed to send goods back to their paymasters back home, but as part of the deal they would inherit land in Plymouth after seven years.Īfter lengthy delays, the Leiden congregation finally left the Dutch port of Delfshaven on board the Speedwell in July 1620. They were backed financially by a group of businessmen in the City of London called Merchant Adventurers who viewed the colony as lucrative investment. The separatists were awarded a patent by the London Virginia Company in 1619, allowing them to settle at the mouth of the Hudson River. ![]() Others from the congregation were to remain in Holland. Some therefore made the decision to transplant their church to a new settlement in America. The group followed a life based on godly preaching and the reading of scripture.īut while Holland could offer the separatist religious freedoms, as immigrants they were restricted as to what jobs they could hold and suffered economic hardship. Many at the time wanted to purify the church, but this group was different in that they actually wanted to separate from the Church of England.įearing religious persecution, the congregation decided to emigrate to Holland in 1609, settling first in Amsterdam before moving on to the town of Leiden. The Plymouth Colony story really begins in 1606 when a group of English dissenters decided to form their own church in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire. ![]() But ask them for their views on the 45th President of the United of America – as I saw one visitor do – and you’ll get some confused looks. The answers provided on 17th century life will be very full and detailed. ![]() Why did they decide to leave England for a new life in the World? What was it like to travel on cramped ships for weeks on end? How did they survive in this new land when they first arrived? ![]() 17th century costumed Plymouth Colony character
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