all right so this lecture is on the settlement of the plymouth colony uh this is of course a very famous narrative that a lot of people are familiar with uh this lecture is gonna be pretty short this is not a long one uh for a couple reasons first off uh there's just not a lot to tell about this story some people do know quite a bit about the first thanksgiving and the mayflower and all that it's definitely very prominent in american ideology and history and a little bit of myth and legend and on that note we're going to go into the details of what actually happened with the first thanksgiving uh and kind of go over more of the the specific details of it to dispel some of the myths or or incomplete conceptions of what first thanksgiving actually was uh so of course we're gonna go over who the pilgrims were where they came from their history uh as well as the their contact with the wampanoag who were the native americans that lived in this area so like i said this is going to be a pretty short pretty quick lecture here today so moving on to our first slide so the pilgrims the first off the word pilgrim is actually a term used to refer to an individual who is making a journey usually of a religious nature so the pilgrims as they have been come to be known by a lot of americans were actually members of the puritan faith the puritan religion they would not have called themselves pilgrims uh that's more of a term that afterwards people kind of placed on them so puritans were a separatist group they had recently separated from the anglican church they felt that the anglican church was just too similar to the catholic church and in some regard they were right because as we discussed in our uh protestant reformation lecture uh henry viii did not know a lot about religion he was uh just wanting to get a divorce so uh they were they were correct in their ideas that the the anglican church was very similar to the catholic church but the puritans did not like this uh they felt that the anglican church needed to be fixed up it needed to be cleansed or purified hence the name puritan now the puritans were not really accepted in england even though england is a protestant kingdom under the queen and eventually when james takes over the throne it's still strictly anglican that is the church that is sanctioned by the crown as the anglican church not just any protestant group but just the anglican nation so other protestant faiths are not really accepted at this time and especially the puritans because they're a little bit more extreme in their ideas as well as their religious devotion in fact the puritans were inspired by calvinism and again as we talked about in our protestant reformation lecture they the puritans were specifically really focused on the idea that true believers needed to gather themselves together uh they needed to create a holy almost utopian community of the believers they had been rejected in england so they were hoping to find somewhere else that they could create this religious utopia uh they also strictly believed in that idea of predestination basically that god had already chosen who would be saved and you could know if it was you through personal spiritual revelation uh but you didn't go around bragging that you were one of the saved it was just something that you knew you personally yourself but you could also tell who was saved based on if they lived a good pious wholesome life uh but a person could lose their their status as being saved if they participated in sin and in wickedness and then and what makes the puritans unique from a lot of other groups is they also had a very strong worth at work ethic they also had really high literacy rates of they believed that people needed to read the bible for themselves so you had to learn how to read so you could read the bible men women children everyone was encouraged to learn how to read so puritans had surprisingly high literacy rates in this time when not a lot of people are learning how to read now they also had very strict ideas on leisure activities uh you know playing games relaxing that was viewed as very idle behavior and idleness is a sin so it was you know all work uh no play uh kind of attitude even for children now before the pilgrims made their venture to the new world a good portion of them had actually been living in holland in the netherlands uh they had moved there in 1607 around 1608 as well uh but by 1617 they had some problems rising up in their community uh some of them were financial issues many of them had spent a large portion of their life savings to move to holland uh and so they had a really hard time once they got there bringing up funds and and being able to just afford to live uh they also did not have success in conversion uh not a lot of the the dutch people wanted to convert to the puritan faith um there was a rise in you know the protestant faith in the netherlands uh but not a lot of people wanted to be puritans because they were very strict people and that does not appeal to a large group of people uh also the culture and language of the dutch was very difficult for these english puritans to adjust to they were born and raised in england and they were very proud of their english culture and heritage and so it was it was really hard for them to kind of assimilate into this new language and culture the netherlands were also a growing center for trade and for commerce they were increasing uh with their their economic status and so this increase in wealth was also creating a community that was much more secular a less religious community and of course the pilgrims are intensely religious and intensely pious so they were very worried that the secular surroundings would negatively affect the children and youth uh they didn't want them to be influenced by the world they're the worldly things they wanted their children to maintain their religion as well as maintaining their english culture and they felt like they just couldn't do that in holland with the way things were working out so the decision to leave was not an easy one especially since at this point most english colonies were failing jamestown was just starting to get on its feet around this time and it has it had been you know going for almost 10 years so the the decision to try something in the new world was still a little bit tentative because there there was only one success story um now uh the the puritans did decide uh first they were gonna go back to england uh and then once they got to england they they pooled their funds to rent a small ship to get back uh to england and then once they got there they were hoping that they could find someone that could help fund a voyage to the new world so in england they find a group of 70 investors who are basically again this is one of those joint stock companies that we talked about in the jamestown lecture uh so 70 investors come together and establish the plymouth colony uh basically hoping to get in on the wealth that they had seen starting to come out of virginia starting to come out of jamestown so with this agreement the investors offered to pay for the transport and the initial cost of settlement in return for the exportation of crops and goods from the colonies so basically we will pay for your passage over there if you agree that everything that comes out of the colony of course you know enough to sustain yourselves and keep you guys alive but all the other pro products that come go directly to us and we sell them and make money off of it uh so they uh they agree to this and in september of 1620 the ship called the mayflower set sail now the mayflower was a very tiny and leaky uh three-masted ship it was not the greatest vessel to be taking on the high seas you can see that the ship that is pictured there is a recreation of the original mayflower and although it looks pretty large there was a hundred people men women and children who were on this vessel sailing to the new world and that recreation of the mayflower is actually available for you to visit up in massachusetts so um it's definitely very very cool to check out i have not been there but it's on my list of places to check out uh now of course some of these settlers were where puritans were people that wanted to settle and start a new life but there were also of course a good portion of sailors people that knew how to operate the vessel and the ship but the puritans refer to them as strangers in their record because these people were were not converts they were not you know members of the community so in all of their records they call the non-puritans strangers so also in order to motivate the colonists to take part in this they each had one share in the company enterprise in exchange for seven years of work uh so this is kind of like an indenture only the person that you're working for lives back in england usually with an indenture you're working for someone that is right there uh so there they they get a share of it hopefully to eventually make profits too so this is this is actually a pretty good adventure for them when they really have nothing else so so it's actually a pretty good investment for them to make now the voyage across the atlantic was not easy of course it's a very small vessel very cramped conditions this made illness very prevalent also a massive storm blew the ship off course um in fact during this storm a man by the name of jonathan howland was actually thrown overboard but he was able to grab on to the ropes that were dragging behind the ship in the water and was able to be pulled back up and saved what's really interesting about this fellow mr howland is that descendants of his include franklin delano roosevelt fdr george bush senior and junior as well as some artists like ralph waldo emerson and henry wadsworth longfellow and even some actors like humphrey bogart and alec baldwin uh also he is my ancestor so um i'm very glad that he was able to grab onto those ropes but definitely you know some interesting things look into your family history see what you can find there's some cool stuff there uh so the ship was destined for the region of modern day new york but because of this storm they landed in cape cod the voyage lasted about two months and supplies was running low so instead of trying to make their way to the correct location they decided to go ashore and just make the colony where they had landed a man by the name of william bradford was made governor of the colony once they reached land now because it was so late in the year it meant that many of the settlers uh stayed on the ship for housing as well as to care for the ill they just didn't have time to build enough houses for everybody so they were also outside of the jurisdiction of virginia they were so far north that they couldn't really be included in the legal systems of virginia so the pilgrims actually came together and signed a document called the mayflower compact uh so this compact was not so much a list of rules or laws it was more of a document guaranteeing that the puritans maintain their rights as well as ability to govern that they could you know secure their privileges and and their rights however these rights were not extended to these strangers to the non-puritans who had accompanied them on their journey eventually when the government was established the government and the church would be intricately linked there is no separation of church and state at this time the two were were connected they were very much a part of each other's systems but the mayflower compact is significant because the people came together and decided what rights they should have as opposed to the governing body or the leader of the colony saying okay here's a list of your rights sign it if you agree it's definitely a step in the way of democracy of people saying hey this is what we think this is what we want let's write it down on paper let's sign it and make it happen now the location on which the settlers first landed has gained enormous fame as plymouth rock now today the rock itself of course you can see pictured above is uh has a very almost sacred reverence for it but the the story of plymouth rock is actually quite interesting first off historians don't even know if that rock is the same one that the pilgrims first landed on when they arrived of course there are records there are maps uh but the coastlines change and things are different and maps are not accurate when you don't have satellite or gps so it's very different from what we see with with today's um locations and such uh and in fact the the first mentioning of plymouth rock was never mentioned by the pilgrims uh we don't see it in the historical record until 1741 which mentions a large rock uh in particular as the rock that the pilgrims landed on uh there there are records of large rocks being on the beach and prior to this but in 1741 is the first mention of this specific rock is the plymouth rock and now in 1774 uh there was actually an attempt to move the supposed plymouth rock to the town square but in the process the stone broke in half half of the rock was left behind while the other half was brought to the town square it stayed there until 1834 when it was moved to a pilgrim museum and then in 1880 the rock was taken back to what they believed was its original location again they didn't know for sure they looked at the records they just kind of guessed where they thought the rock belonged and that's also when they carved the year 1620 onto the rock uh to of course commemorate the day that the pilgrims arrived uh and then tourists who would come and visit the rock would actually chip off portions of it and bits of it as souvenirs in fact the rock used to be much much larger of course it split in half but it used to be even the half of it was much much larger than the one you see today it wasn't until 1920 which was the 300 year anniversary of the plymouth landing that a large roman style granite canopy was built over the rock to protect it the rock is on the united states register of historic places and is actually owned and operated by the national park service and you can go visit you can go see it in fact that picture you see is the one that uh i took when i was there uh and most of the year there's actually a park ranger to uh talk about it to tell any historical you know information and answer any of your questions uh but it's definitely interesting that we hold this rock with such reverence and such sacredness when it's very possible that it's just some old dumb rock that has nothing to do with the puritans but we like our artifacts we like our rocks so getting back into our narrative here uh the pilgrims once they first arrived they set out exploration parties to get a better view of the land as well as to try and establish connections with the native americans unfortunately they had a very hard time finding anyone uh there really was no one there and um in fact there was one sighting that the explorers had but in this encounter the native americans shot at them with arrows it was not to kill it was just warning shots you know back off you're getting too close uh and then they ran away uh so there there just wasn't much information on what was going on with the native american populations there and after that initial you know warning shots they did not see any of the natives for quite some time after looking around and settling they found some land which which had been cleared and it actually appeared to be an abandoned village but of course they didn't find anybody there so they decided that since the land was already cleared they would settle and build their community on that spot but unfortunately as was mentioned before they arrived very late in the year uh and it was far too late for them to plant any crops but they did have some supplies which they had brought over with them uh but it was not a lot of supplies um many of the people were sick and ill from just the voyage crossing and so there also was poor nutrition uh if you're familiar with the um the illness of scurvy it's a very common illness that people get on ships it's caused by a lack of vitamin c and it causes really bad intestinal issues i won't go into details but it's pretty nasty um and so the by this time they build the first home but the first home basically becomes a hospital because everyone is so ill and so sick and this of course the first winter is very rough it's cold it's snowy in fact some historians think it might have actually been colder than your average winter so they're relying on very minimal supplies and a very small portion of the population is even healthy enough uh to take care of each other in fact at one point there were only six or seven people who were healthy enough to take care of everyone else during this first winter half of the colonists died of the original 100 only 47 survived the winter but they were very fortunate because um like i said they discovered a place that had already been cleared so it made it easier for them to build that first house but also because they were in an abandoned village they also found a place where the native americans had buried corn uh specifically to store up for the winter uh so that this corn this find of corn was actually what helped the colonists survive the winter and why why those 47 were able to make it so it was very surprising for the colonists on march 16th in 1621 to see a native american man walking up to the colonists speaking english and asking if he could come inside and join them for a beer uh so it was definitely a very strange event for them but this was the initial contact of the wampanoag people so the three names that you see listed here samoset tisquantum or squanto and massasoit uh are definitely the three men who made the greatest impact on the pilgrims behalf uh and and we'll get into their narrative here really quick but before we do um i would like to talk about the wampanoag people just a little bit of their background who they were uh so the wampanoag are a branch of the algonquians if you remember from our native american history lecture uh the the algonquian live of course in northern america but more of the regions of massachusetts pennsylvania but they're a pretty large cultural group but not a unified nation or anything like that the wampanoag lived in the southeastern regions of massachusetts as well as modern-day rhode island uh the population at the time of colonization around the time that the pilgrims come is about three thousand uh so they're not a huge group but but they're good size uh this estimate is kind of um not a hundred percent accurate however uh because just before the pilgrims arrived they actually had been affected by illness uh smallpox hit the community and so that uh definitely diminished the population size one of the main enemies of the wampanoag was the narragansetts who also were uh algonquian people uh neither people wampanoag or or narragansett were really large or a confederacy like the powhatans the powhatans were massive compared to the wampanoag but of course they did engage in occasional conflict over resources over land uh small-scale warfare nothing nothing large nothing as massive as what we were seeing with the politics now um as was previously mentioned uh not only had word of europeans reached north america by this point uh but the wampanoag had actually had direct contact with both the french and the english they had been involved in trades with the french and they actually had really good relationships with the french and we'll talk a little bit about that uh because the french are actually pretty peaceful towards native american people but it is it's actually believed that through these trade relations is how the smallpox was accidentally transmitted to the wampanoag they had also been interacting with english fishermen some of their interactions with the english were a little bit more negative but their hesitancy to come talk to the pilgrims was a result of some negative interactions that's why they they waited a minute they they sat they watched and they observed before they came forward to contact the pilgrims so uh getting into our um story of what happens here samoset is the name of the native american man who had approached the colonists uh in march of 1621 he was what was called the sagamore or basically a sub-chief of a group called the abunaki uh avenaki are relation to the wampanoag and so again there's a lot of names a lot of titles here so try to try to bear with me here uh so samoset had actually learned english from fishermen and he had had pretty good relations with these englishmen and actually a lot of them knew him by name he was a pretty popular pretty well-liked individual and in fact it was him who told samoset told the pilgrims what had happened on the village that they were at the name of the village that the pilgrims were living in was patuxet p-a-t-u-x-e-t and he explained that they had been wiped out by smallpox and that's why the village was empty uh so samoset stays overnight he talks he eats and has a good time with the pilgrims and then he decides to go back to his village to report and several days later he returns with some other native americans they trade items they give them uh the native americans give food to the pilgrims uh and then of course he goes back to his village and on his third return he brings a patuxent man named squanto so tis quantum is his official name but the english called him squanto because the english have a hard time pronouncing names um but squanto was the last survivor of the patuxet people uh again that's the abandoned village that the settlers were living in uh the patuxent were another subcategory of the wampanoag uh so squanto spoke english actually far better than samoset he was he was much better at his communication skills uh which obviously surprised the english you know these two native american guys they're speaking english why is this happening uh well the the reason why is is because of squanto's background uh squanto had learned english because he had been captured by some english explorers and sold into slavery in spain in 1614. he lived life as a slave in spain for several years before he made his way to england uh historians aren't quite sure how he uh was able to get out of slavery whether it was because he escaped or whether it was because he earned or was given his freedom we're not 100 sure on that but in spain he lived under the protection of a man by the name of master john lane who was a merchant and a shipbuilder eventually lane helped squanto return to his village in new england but while squanto was gone his village and his tribe had all died from the smallpox which squanto was able to avoid because he was not home he was in europe at the time so squanto along with samoset really worked as effective liaisons between the wampanoag and the uh the puritan people so after squanto returns and he finds that his his village is all dead he decided to join with the wampanoag who were again the head tribe if you will and he was able to initiate the first talks between the pilgrims and the wampanoag chief by the name of massasoit so because he had a strong knowledge of the english language and their culture massasoit decided to make squanto the main ambassador to the english as well as adviser to the chief so he played a very important role as we will see with these exchanges here uh so massasoit was the sachem or great chief of the wampanoag uh samoset as he as was mentioned earlier he was a sub chief uh was actually sent by massasoit to speak with the settlers so it wasn't just you know samosa was like hey i'm going to go talk to these guys massasoit and his people had been observing they had been reporting and so massive so it decides okay i think it's time we should initiate communications massasoit was described as being a very wise leader as well as a man of his word he really wanted to learn about these new arrivals he didn't want to just attack them he he wanted to gain knowledge and and primarily he wanted peace for a couple reasons he was just in general he was a more peaceful individual but also he knew that he would be outnumbered and outgunned metaphorically speaking because of course word is going on at what's going down in jamestown so so people are aware that you know these english aren't going to leave we've got to try and establish good relations with them so he's a very intelligent leader a very intelligent um just individual in general uh so in accordance with massasoit's directions uh squanto taught the settlers how to plant and fertilize corn as well as other crops uh so the land that they were living on was not as fertile as the colonists were used to in england so their planting techniques just weren't working so they had to kind of modify their knowledge of farming he also taught them how and where to fish and just other very important survival skills these people you have to remember they were religious farmers not trained explorers not frontiersmen uh so squanto was really an essential individual in in helping them learn how to survive learn how to adapt to this strange new environment uh he also helped them establish a fur trading post to trade furs and other goods with native americans in the area as well as the occasional english explorer who came to the region uh as well as fishermen uh and he continued to help uh facilitate a peace treaty which was actually initiated by massasoit so definitely there's there's a lot of peace there's a lot of calm in this initial uh interaction with these two people and that's really what initiates what's called the first thanksgiving as it has of course been come to be known as uh this was a dual celebration it was a celebration number one of the first successful harvest for the settlers since their arrival at the colony um they obviously their first winter had been terrible uh but the second one with the help of squanto and samosa and masasowit was much more successful so they wanted to celebrate that first harvest but also it was a celebration of the peace treaty between masses so it and the wampanoag and the puritans so we're celebrating the the bountiest food that we have from the help of the native americans and we are celebrating that we are establishing peace that we are you know being good neighbors essentially uh now the the celebration was just considered a general day of of celebration a day of thanks uh puritans had a lot of celebrations to give thanks to god um in general uh but a true puritan thanksgiving was actually spent in fasting and all day in church so the puritans themselves would not have called this a thanksgiving uh that's again a modern term that has been applied to this incident uh this was just more of a large celebration in fact the celebration lasted three days and was attended by 90 wampanoag and 57 puritans so there were actually more native americans at the first thanksgiving than there were puritans in fact the first thanksgiving was not considered a holiday an official holiday it was a holiday in massachusetts but it wasn't a national holiday until abraham lincoln made it one in an attempt to try and unify the nation during the civil war also another fun fact there was no turkey at the original thanksgiving in fact venison was the main meat and it was actually provided by the native american people uh so a couple little myths that are being busted there uh but the piece that was facilitated by massasoit and squanto along with samoset's help was essential to the success of the plymouth colony the settlers were also very gracious for the help they needed it they knew that they could not survive without this assistance of course they also helped to fend off attack by the narragansett so you know this this was a mutually beneficial relationship because the english had better weaponry and such they were also able to help prevent attack on the wampanoag squanto lived in the puritan settlement for almost two years and continued to help the pilgrims have diplomatic missions to other native american tribes and he actually did decide to convert to christianity unfortunately in 1622 he became very ill with uh we don't know for sure it was just described as a fever um and he passed away in fact the governor of plymouth william bradford was deeply upset by his death they considered him to be a very good friend and and it his death was definitely bothersome to bradford now chief massasoit was also instrumental in maintaining peace of course he's the main individual involved if he says no more peace than it all ends in fact at one point he actually had become concerned about the motives of the puritans and had started to mistrust them but he actually became very ill and one of the puritans actually came to offer their help and his name was edward winslow and edward winslow was able to nurse him back to health massasoit said that he would never forget the service that he was rendered and even said quote the english are my friends and love me in fact massasoit actually warned the puritans of a plot by other native americans to attack uh and this was just in time for them to defend themselves uh so definitely there's not only let's have peace between us but hey these guys are going to attack you let's let me warn you let me protect you so definitely not just defensive but protection as well also the puritans agreed to purchase lands from native americans instead of simply claiming it for themselves uh that's definitely a unique thing we don't see that a lot in colonial history and that's something that you know some people will purchase land whereas others will take it but the puritans purchased it they wanted to make sure that it was rightfully acquired now because these relations were so good and so just very wonderfully managed by massasoit massasoit was actually able to keep the peace for 40 years up until his death in fact on his deathbed he encouraged his sons to take english names just again as a sign of peace as a sign of unity he was succeeded by his first son juan sada uh who was known to the english as alexander and wamsada tried to maintain his father's peaceful attitude he tried to keep those positive relations going uh but unfortunately that changed uh when he died prematurely and we'll obviously discuss this more in the next lecture but the success of the plymouth colony is of course entirely based on the native americans of course the dedication and the hard work of the puritans and their perseverance during that first winter is definitely an important aspect but they simply could not have done it alone uh you know samosa and really squanto coming forward and offering them help um under massachusetts guidance and instruction and massasoit continuing to maintain peace uh this this was essential it just could not have happened uh any other way without their assistance and it's also it's really unique uh especially in a lot of their colonies there's a lot of violent conflict but for the first 40 years plymouth is totally at peace with the native american people so that's definitely a remarkable thing uh but also what's going to be important here is jamestown success plymouth is a success so we've got two colonies back to back that have worked out and everything has been okay so this means that the ball is really going to start rolling on other settlement attempts uh of course one was a joint stock company and one was a religious haven so a lot of people see that kind of no matter what model you go with it seems to be working well for the english and that's not something that's going to slow down in fact it's just going to pick up pace and keep going