This year marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower Pilgrim's arrival in Plymouth. Past generations have dedicated two years to the centennial celebration and study of the Pilgrim story. The enthusiasms and gratitude generated by these historical studies produced epic celebrations, famous orations, poetry, parades and the laying of monuments. Notably, they resulted in generations of schoolchildren studying the Pilgrim influence on America’s legacy of life and liberty under God.
It was not uncommon for elementary school children to recite with ease the story of the Mayflower Pilgrims beginning with their origins in Scrooby, England, through the persecution and relocation to Holland, to the voyage of the Mayflower, to the historic signing of the Mayflower Compact, their arrival in Plymouth, their struggles through the first long winter, and the establishment of the colony.
For the 400th anniversary celebration, the Pilgrim story has largely been subject to revisionism within the mainstream media. Much of the new material, including those produced by the government-sponsored 1619 Project, posit an interpretation of Pilgrim history as the story of theft, genocide, and intolerance. The primary source materials reveal a very different reality. The result of this wave of anti-Pilgrim revisionism is that a generation of children have been taught to look with contempt on the Pilgrims and to regard even the celebration of Thanksgiving Day, as an homage to colonialism and bigotry.
President Teddy Roosevelt pointed out the problem of future generations revising the Pilgrim story to suit modern political temperaments. At the 1907 laying of the Pilgrim Memorial in Provincetown, Roosevelt said:
“We can not as a nation be too profoundly grateful for the fact that the [Pilgrim and Puritan] has stamped his influence so deeply on our national life. We need have but scant patience with the men who now rail at their faults. They were evident, of course, for it is a quality of strong I natures that their failings, like their virtues, should stand out in bold relief; but there is nothing easier than to belittle the great men of the past by dwelling only on the points where they come short of the universally recognized standards of the present. Men must be judged with reference to the age in which they dwell, and the work they have to do...””
Americans hoping to pass on the true story of the founding of America would be well served to rediscover the rich treasure trove of primary source materials, some of which we are including below in this article as an aid to parents, teachers, and students.
PRIMARY SOURCES
I. Of Plymouth Plantation, by Governor William Bradford
This is the definitive account of the Pilgrim story written by Mayflower passenger and Plymouth Governor William Bradford.
II. A Relation or Journal of the Proceedings of the English Plantation Settled at Plymouth, by Edward Winslow and others (London, 1622).
These are the Pilgrims' journals for the first year at Plymouth including the first Thanksgiving story.
III. Good News from New England, by Edward Winslow (London, 1624).
These are the Pilgrims' journals for the second and third year at Plymouth.
IV. Glorious Progress of the Gospel Amongst the Indians, by Edward Winslow (London, 1649).
An account of evangelization between the New England Christians and the local tribes.
V. New England Memorial, Nathaniel Morton
Nathaniel Morton came to Plymouth three years after the original settlement, and lived there for the remainder of his life. His was the first work ever published describing the early history of Plymouth and its founders over the first half-century of their coexistence, 1620 to 1668. In addition to what he himself provides, the author transcribes writings from other reliable sources, one of those being Governor Bradford, of whom it has been said that “no man stands better than he on the rolls of history, civil or ecclesiastical.” Contents include: New England’s Memorial, or a brief relation of the most remarkable passages of the Providence of God manifested to the Planters of New England in America, with special reference to the first colony thereof, called New Plymouth; Gov. Bradford’s History of Plymouth Colony; Introduction to the Ecclesiastical History of the Church of Christ at Plymouth in New England; New England Chronology, by Thomas Prince; Governor Bradford’s Dialogue; and, Visits to Massasoit. The book also includes an extensive appendix with original source material of the Pilgrim history.