1620] The Pilgrim Compact 65 After God according to the dictates of their consciences. encountering great hardships, they settled at Amsterdam in Holland (1608); later, they removed to Leyden. There they remained several years, leading such laborious lives that many of their friends "preferred the prisons of England to such liberty as this was." At length they determined to make another pilgrimage. The reasons which led them to form this resolve should be read in the words of William Bradford, the heroic chronicler of their glorious enterprise. In brief, they desired to better their worldly condition and to provide for the well-being of their posterity as they could not do at Leyden. They also feared lest their children should lose their English speech and habits. The venture seemed to be full of perils, but they felt that it was worth trying, and they reflected that all important undertakings "must be both enterprized and overcome with answerable courages." The Virginia Company was now controlled by the English Puritans, who were easily persuaded to grant the Pilgrims permission to settle within the limits of Virginia. The emigrants also endeavored to secure from James a guarantee that they should not be molested on account of their religion. This was refused, as it was suspected that their design was "to make a free popular state there"; the king seems to have hinted, however, that "he would connive at them and not molest them, provided they carried themselves peaceably." American History Leaf lets, No. 29, P. 7. Atlantic. 54. The Pilgrim Compact, 1620.-The events of the Voyage Pilgrims' voyage across the Atlantic and the hardships of across the the first years of their life at Plymouth are so well known Dexter's that it is unnecessary to describe them. After enduring Pilgrims, privations unknown to emigrants of our time, the Pilgrims anchored off Cape Cod (November, 1620), far to the north of their destination, and found themselves obliged to settle Bradford's in that region. Plymouth Being outside of the limits of the Virginia Plantation; Company, they were compelled to make new provision for American the government of their colony, and drew up a compact History Leafwhich is here reproduced from Bradford's manuscript. The lets, No. 29. Any name of god Amen. the whose names are underwriten, faith Haueing undertaken, for y glorie of god, and aduancemento of j hristian, and honour of our king & countrid, a voyage to plant & first Colonie my Northernd parts of Virginia. Jed by these presents solemnly & mutualy my presence of God, and one of another, Couenant, & Combine our felues togeather into a e Civill body politick; for y Loter ordering, & preferuation & furtherance of y ends aforsaid; and by vertue hear of. to Enaite', Constitute, and frame shuch just & equall Lawes, ordinances, Acts, constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meele & conuenient for y generall good of Colonie: unto we promifo all due submission and obedience. In witnes wher of we have hereunder subscribed our names at cap= codd $.11. of November, my year of ŷ raigne of our soueraigns Loed king James of England, france, & greland & eighteenth and of scolland & fifhe fourth. An: Dom. 1620. which The Pilgrim Compact. Facsimile of Bradford's Manuscript (Reprinted in American History Leaflets, No. 29, p. 26) 1620] The Pilgrims and Communism 67 document was signed by nearly all the men of the Pilgrim The Pilgrim band, who thus agreed to be bound by what was determined Compact, for the public good. 1620. Dexter's ch. xv. Winsor's America, III, 267-276; 55. Settlement at Plymouth, 1620.- After careful explo- Pilgrims, ration, while the Mayflower remained in what is now Provincetown harbor, the Pilgrims resolved, December 21, to Plymouth settle on the shores of a haven which had been visited by settled, 1620. Pring and Champlain. In 1614 Captain John Smith had also sailed along the New England coasts and had printed a map on which English names were assigned to many important points; among others, he called the Port St. Louis of Champlain, Plymouth. On December 16, old style, or December 26 according to our mode of reckoning time, the Mayflower anchored in Plymouth harbor, and nine days later the work of building houses for the colonists was begun. Fiske's New England, 8287; Higginson's Explorers, 311 337. and the Indians. Dexter's ch. xviii; Fiske's New The Pilgrims were attracted to this spot because the land The Pilgrims was already cleared of the trees and there seemed to be no Indians in the neighborhood. It turned out that the natives who had formerly lived on the shores of Plymouth harbor Pilgrims, had died of disease a few years before. Only one of the tribe was living; he soon appeared at Plymouth, was care- England, fully and generously supported by the Pilgrims, and in return 199-205. taught them how to win a scanty subsistence from the barren soil and icy waters around them. The Pilgrims also entered into a treaty with Massasoit, the most powerful chieftain of southeastern New England, and this agreement both parties faithfully observed for more than half a century. Other Englishmen in the neighborhood were not so wise in their dealings with the natives, and the Pilgrims found themselves obliged to interfere in order to prevent a general massacre. This work was splendidly done by Miles Standish, a man of cool and courageous bearing. 56. The Pilgrims and Communism. — The terrible mortality of the first winter and the hardships of the succeeding years were due in part to the poverty of the Pilgrims, to their having begun their settlement in midwinter, and to of the Pil grim colony. Dexter's Slow growth the barrenness of the soil. It was owing in large measure, also, to the system of common labor, which has never had a fairer trial than it had at the hands of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. At length, to avoid starvation, one acre of land was Pilgrims, 237-246. Government under the compact. given to each head of a family, to be cultivated for his own use and held by him until the end of the seven years, when a general division should be made. Later on (1626), the principal men joined together and bought out the English part ners for eighteen hundred pounds sterling, to be paid in nine installments; they found the means to pay this great sum by prosecuting a profitable fur trade with the natives on the Kennebec River and elsewhere. 57. Form of Government. In the beginning the government of Plymouth was a pure democracy, as far as the signers of the compact were concerned. For many years Bradford was annually chosen governor; but when business increased with the growth of the colony, other men were elected to assist him in the discharge of his duties. Important matters were transacted at meetings of all the signers of the com 1629] The Massachusetts Bay Company 69 pact and such others as they admitted to a share in the government. tions. The colony grew slowly through the settlement of other Representatowns in the neighborhood. Before long it became in- tive instituconvenient for the voters or freemen to go to Plymouth to attend the legislative meeting, or General Court, as it was called. This led to the establishment of a representative system (1638), modeled on that of Massachusetts Bay (§ 61); but all the freemen continued to take part in the annual election of officers. As time went on, the franchise was gradually narrowed, until at length it became practically a religious qualification. The Massa- Charter,1629. Winsor's 58. The Massachusetts Bay Company, 1629. — Massachusetts Bay had its origin in the desire of the English Nonconformists to found a settlement where they might work out their own ideas in church and state, and where, should occasion arise, they might find a refuge in time of need. Some of them obtained a grant of land from the Council for New England (§ 51) extending from three miles south of the Charles River to three miles north of the Merrimac and every part thereof, and westward between the parallels of points three miles south and north of the sources of these rivers to the South Sea (1628). The next year the king by royal charter confirmed this grant of Boston, I, 99. land to the original grantees and others who meantime had become associated with them (1629). In the same charter the king gave them extensive powers of jurisdiction, amounting in fact to self-government. There was no requirement that the seat of government should be in England, as had been the case in all previous grants. The company was able legally to transfer the government of the colony to those of its members who proposed to emigrate ; by so doing the charter of a colonizing company became the constitution of an almost independent state. The decisive Boston, I, step was taken at Cambridge (August, 1629) when many leading Puritans signed an agreement binding themselves to temporaries, emigrate to Massachusetts. The Cam bridge Agree ment, 1629. Winsor's 99-102; Hart's Con I, No. 106. |