Pilgrims & Indians 1620
• Christmastime work
parties built the first
thatched huts of
Plymouth while using
Mayflower as home base
• Cold and wind-whipped
coastline; rocky land with
thin soil
• Welcomed by Samoset,
an English-speaking
native who learned the
language from fishermen
and traders
Squanto & the Indians 1621
• Samoset introduces the
settlers to 60 Indians, including
Chief Massasoit and another
English-speaking Indian they
named Squanto (Tisquantum)
• John Carver, the first Pilgrim
governor, writes a peace treaty
with Massasoit
• Peace between the settlers
and the Algonquians of the
Wampanoag tribe lasted until
Massasoit’s death in 1661
TERMS OF THE TREATY
Following the introductory ceremonies, Carver and Massaoit agreed upon
the terms of a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags.
The treaty of mutual support they negotiated said in part:
1. That he nor any of his should do hurt to any of their people.
2. That if any of his did hurt any of theirs, he should send the offender, that
they might punish him.
3. That if anything were taken away from any of theirs, he should cause it
to be restored; and they should do the like to his.
4. If any did unjustly war against him, they would aid him; if any did war
against them, he should aid them.
5. He should send to his neighbors confederates to certify them of this,
that they might not wrong them, but might be likewise compromised in the
conditions of peace.
6. That when their men came to them, they should leave their bows and
arrows behind them.
7. That King James would esteem Massasoit as his friend and ally.
Captain Miles Standish
• English military officer
hired by Pilgrims as a
military advisor to the
Plymouth Colony
• Commander,
Assistant Governor,
and Treasurer
• Maintained primary
defense of Plymouth
for nearly 15 yrs
A First Year’s Review …
… and Much to Celebrate!
• The first “thanksgiving” … and
yes, there was a big meal!
•
The celebration was unusually
generous and festive
– Pilgrims were frugal; needed
food for the winter and feeding
incoming colonists
• Celebration of survival,
accomplishments and peaceful
relations with the Indians
– Survivors thrived despite the
losses
– Started a beaver trade
– Built 11 houses
– Productive corn harvest
thanks to Squanto
The Feast
• Likely consisted of ducks,
geese, turkeys, clams, eel,
lobster, squash, wild grapes,
dried fruit, corn, and cornbread
• No sugar for sweets
• End of September; end of
harvest
• National day of Thanksgiving
proclaimed by George
Washington in 1789, but not
celebrated officially until
Abraham Lincoln decreed it a
national holiday (and day off!)
in 1863
Videos & Virtuals
• The First Thanksgiving:
Daily Life
http://www.scholastic.com/scholas
tic_thanksgiving/daily_life/
• Plimoth Plantation:
Virtual Field Trip
http://www.scholastic.com/scholas
tic_thanksgiving/webcast.htm
Governor William Bradford
• Mayflower pilgrim
who helped write the
Mayflower Compact
• Published the history
of the Plymouth
colony: Of Plymouth
Plantation
The Incoming: More Arrivals
from England
• New governor William
Bradford tracks the
newest arrivals
• “… there was not so much as
biscuit-cake, neither had they any
bedding … nor pot, or pan.”
• Bad reports from England
– the Puritans are in
trouble!
– Still trying to purify (aka –
take control of!) the Church
of England
– King James I not happy!
King James + Puritans = No Love
The Puritans’ Issues
• King James economic
disaster
• First inflation; then
depression
• Brought big-spending
friends from Scotland
• Special favors to
friends, in which the
Puritans were NOT
The King’s Issues
• Leave my church
alone!
• “I will make them conform
themselves, or else I will
harry [harass] them out of
the land.”
The Puritan Plan
• Gathering at Cambridge
University where most
went to college
– Puritans = better
educated + wealthier
(compared to Pilgrims)
• Make plans to sail to
America
• Puritan leader John
Winthrop
– Wealthy lawyer born
on a manor
Bad News for the Puritans
• In 1625, King James I
dies; Charles I takes
the reigns
• King Charles I
marries Princess
Henrietta Maria of
France, Catholic
daughter of French
King Henry IV
• Puritans furious!
The Puritans Flee England
• Between 1630 –
1640, 20,000 Puritans
sail for New England
(bye, bye, Charles!)
• Continued desire to
practice religion freely
• Charter of the
Company of the
Massachusetts Bay in
New England
End Part 2