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Explore the history of Plymouth Colony and the Indigenous homeland at Plimoth Patuxet Museums. See the Historic Patuxet Homesite, 17th-Century English Village, Mayflower II and Plimoth Grist Mill.
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- Persecution & Relocation
- The Voyage & Compact
- First Winter & Native Americans
- Thanksgiving & Development
- History of The Manuscript
- Conclusion
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Bradford's work begins with the history of the persecution of the religious separatists by the Anglican Church under King James I of England (r. 1603-1625 CE). Although the church had been founded by Henry VIII of England (r. 1509-1547 CE) during the Protestant Reformationin opposition to the Catholic Church, it still retained many aspects of Catho...
The negotiations between the congregation's representatives, John Carver (l. 1584-1621 CE) and Robert Cushman(l. 1577-1625 CE) and Weston did not go smoothly, and Bradford includes letters between them amply illustrating this. A further challenge came when Weston hired some, and invited others, not of the separatists' faith to help them establish t...
Between 11 November and 21 December 1620 CE, the passengers explored the area searching for the best place to establish the settlement and, while they did, people began dying. Bradford's wife Dorothy fell overboard on 7 December 1620 CE and drowned while others died of scurvy, exposure, and other diseases. Earlier English expeditions to the region ...
Bradford never refers to the harvest feast of the fall of 1621 CE as Thanksgiving but notes how "all summer there was no want" and they finally had a good provision of food including an "abundance of wild turkey" (58). The story which would form the basis of the First Thanksgiving does not come from Of Plymouth Plantation but from an earlier work b...
Of Plymouth Plantation was composed between 1630-1651 CE while Bradford was governor. The book was never intended for publication but, rather, as a journal to inspire others in the community at Plymouth with a history of its origin and the challenges the first settlers faced and overcame. It was left to his son, Major William Bradford, who passed i...
There are many impressive aspects to Bradford's work - artistically, his choice of detail, narrative form, progression, and honesty of expression, and, historically, its significance in chronicling the early years of the colony and the initial cordial relations between the immigrants and Native Americans – but among the most striking is the depicti...
Learn about the religious persecution, voyage, and colony of the Pilgrims from the first-hand account of William Bradford, the second governor of Plymouth. Explore the themes of faith, community, and individualism in this classic work of American literature and history.
- Joshua J. Mark
Plimoth Patuxet is a complex of living history museums in Plymouth, Massachusetts founded in 1947, formerly Plimoth Plantation. It replicates the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by the English colonists who became known as the Pilgrims.
- Journey to the 'New World' The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor. Among the group traveling on the Mayflower in 1620 were close to 40 members of a radical Puritan faction known as the English Separatist Church.
- Surviving the First Year in Plymouth Colony. For the next few months, many of the settlers stayed on the Mayflower while ferrying back and forth to shore to build their new settlement.
- The First Thanksgiving. The first Thanksgiving. In the Fall of 1621, the Pilgrims famously shared a harvest feast with the Pokanokets; the meal is now considered the basis for the Thanksgiving holiday.
- The Mayflower Compact. The signing of the Mayflower Compact. All the adult males aboard the Mayflower had signed the so-called Mayflower Compact, a document that would become the foundation of Plymouth’s government.
These include the Mayflower II, a recreation of the original ship; Plimoth Patuxet (formerly called Plimoth Plantation), a historical recreation of the original 1620 settlement; and the Wampanoag Homesite, which recreates a 17th-century Indian village.: 351–356 Political legacy
