Settlers and Puritans

The Pilgrims were Puritans. The Separatists and Puritans were different though. Despite the fact that they were both groups who settled in the northwestern part of the New World, there are many differences between the Puritans and Separatists. The main difference is that the Puritans wanted to develop the Anglican Church and the Separatists wanted to form a new and different church.

King Henry VIII caused the beginning of these two different yet similar churches. He turned to Anglicanism when the Catholic authorities did not allow him to divorce one of his wives. The Anglican Church is better well known as the Church of England. Some people believed that it was too close to Catholicism for comfort; these were called the Puritans because they wanted to “purify the church”. They worked to change the Anglican Church so it suited what they thought the Anglican Church should be. Others tried to separate from the Church of England to start their own churches; these were called Separatists and were usually arrested in addition to being jailed for attempting to break away from the main church: the Anglican Church. The Separatists are the pilgrims that most people know to have started the first Thanksgiving.

A very important figure in the evolution of the Separatists was William Bradford. When he was in his teens he joined a Puritan congregation in Scrooby, England, which was near his hometown of Austerfield. His congregation separated from the Anglican Church soon after Bradford joined. In 1608, Separatists from the Scrooby assemblage moved to Leiden, Holland where persecution due to religion was against the law. Because of the foreign atmosphere, the Scrooby Separatists decided to move to the New World where they could practice their beliefs as English people and yet escape persecution. After several years of raising money for the trip, the Pilgrims were ready to make the trip. A London merchant, Thomas Weston, who helped with the money problem, surprised the Separatists by getting 60 non-Separatists to be “settlers”. The Separatists called them the “Strangers” and the Separatists called themselves the “Saints”. Separatists and the Strangers left on the Mayflower in 1620.

The Separatists were going to settle where New York City currently stands, but instead they stayed in Cape Cod, where they landed. On Christmas Day, they started building the new town. They did not care about building on the holiday because they did not believe in celebrating Christmas. In spite of the sturdy shelters built, the pilgrims had nothing to eat save dried peas, stale biscuits and salted meat. This resulted in the deaths of many Separatists and Strangers. By spring the next year, only half of the villagers were still alive.

Then one day, a lone Indian walked into the town. His name was Samoset and was visiting the nearby tribe of Indians. He stayed over with the villagers and the next day brought Chief Massasoit with 60 warriors one of whom was Squanto. Squanto was the only survivor of his tribe because all of his tribe had been killed by smallpox. A British slave trader had kidnapped him while raiding the coast. While all this was happening, Squanto learned to speak English. He played an important part in communication between the villagers and the Indians. Bradford said that Squanto was “ a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation.”

Squanto’s aid helped the citizens recover from their loses. Massasoit and the Pilgrims signed a treaty that proclaimed either group of people would support the other in time of need. Squanto also taught the Pilgrims farming techniques so scurvy would not break out again. Corn was new to the citizens and they were instructed on how to plant it. The use of small fish as fertilizer was taught as well.

The Puritans did not find all pleasure sinful, but they did believe that service to God was their number one priority. No matter what one was doing, their thoughts always had to be focused on God. The central belief of the Puritans was the fact that one could not gain salvation, but that one had to be selected by God before birth. If one had been selected, then they would be able to go to heaven when they died. Some performed good works and obeyed moral laws to prove that they deserved salvation. This led to the presumption that upright and successful people were saved. The Puritans did not call themselves Puritans as the Pilgrims did not call themselves the Pilgrims, but the Saints. The Puritans called themselves the “people of God”. They wanted to “purify” the Anglican Church of all records of Catholicism. John Winthrop said, “ We shall be as a city upon a hill.” Winthrop was elected governor 30 times in 35 years and was very lenient. He did not punish people, and solved arguments through reason.

The Puritans gradually became less devout. From Separatist and Puritan churches sprung the Baptist, Congressional, and Unitarian churches as they are today. After the French and Indian War, England decided that the colonies should help pay for the military and other expenses to protect America. Some of this was called The Intolerable Acts. This in turn led to the Revolutionary War. Massachusetts was in the center of everything during this time period

The arrival of the Pilgrims has greatly influenced America. Without Thanksgiving, the day on which we are grateful would not exist and corn would not be a distinguished vegetable. Corn and wheat would just be exchangeable names for grain. The vegetable that we know as corn would probably be known as Indian Wheat or Indian Corn and not differentiated from wheat. We would use these two words interchangeably for the same produce. The Separatists were not entirely responsible for the genocide of the Indians, but as the numbers of the settler population grew the increasing friction between the two races caused the Indians to diminish in number. The U. S. would not be the same if the Pilgrims had not arrived in America.

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