The English ColoniesThe Pilgrims’ Experience

• Early in the 1500s much of Europe was divided over religion.

• The king of England, Henry VIII, broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and set up another Christian church called the Church of England.

• The members of the church of England were called Protestants because they had protested against practices of the Catholic church.

• Protestants beliefs and practices were different from those of other Christian religions

Background

King Henry VIII

Catherine of Aragon Anne Boleyn

Jane Seymour Anne of Cleves

Catherine Howard Catherine Parr

Puritans & Pilgrims

•Puritans—Protestant group that wanted to reform the Church of England

Puritans & Pilgrims

•Separatists—Protestant group that cut all ties with the Church of England & developed their own churches

•Pilgrims: a group of Separatists

Puritans & Pilgrims

• 1608: Pilgrims escape to the Netherlands to freely practice religion

• Some felt they still were too Catholic, so they set up their own churches.

• Moved to the Netherlands in early 1600’s for peace.

• Life was difficult in a foreign land.

• William Bradford is a leader of a separatist group who decided to go to a settlement of their own.

Puritans & Pilgrims

•Immigrants—people who leave their original country to live in another country

•Pilgrims unhappy in Netherlands

•Formed a joint stock company & returned to England

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ScZh2-QLOE

The Founding of Plymouth

• September 16, 1620: more than 100 men, women, children leave England aboard Mayflower

• William Bradford: Pilgrim leader

William Bradford statue

William Bradford

• Born in 1590, William Bradford was one of the founders of Plymouth colony in 1620 and a signer of the Mayflower Compact. He served as the colony's governor for more than thirty years, and wrote "Of Plymouth Plantation," one of the first histories of European settlement in the New World, before his death in 1657.

Pilgrims

Traveler for religious purposes Went to Virginia Company for permission to start a new settlement in Virginia

Began preparing for a difficult journey

Mayflower ship

The Mayflower

• 1620: King James I allowed Pilgrims to settle in Virginia.

• Merchants from London agreed to pay for voyage in exchange for lumber and furs.

• Sept. 1620, about 100 Pilgrims crowded into the small ship for a rough and difficult voyage.

The Mayflower

• Hold below the deck held barrels of salted beef and bread

• Also pigs, chickens and goats

• 66 day voyage

• One passenger died, one gave birth

The Mayflower

• Blown off course, instead of landing in Virginia, they landed at Cape Cod

• This area named New England (rocky harbor called Plymouth)

The Wampanoag

• Like Jamestown settlers, there were already people here

• Helped the Pilgrims

• Samoset: learned English from traders, useful information for colonists

• Squanto: captured by English, found home with Wampanoag and helped the Pilgrims

• Colonists would not have survived the hard years without them

The Founding of Plymouth

• Mayflower Compact written because colonists landed too far away from Virginia to be ruled by its government. Original Mayflower

Compact

The Founding of Plymouth

•Mayflower Compact—documents creating a new political society signed by the PilgrimsSigning the Mayflower

Compact

Mayflower Compact

• Pilgrims supposed to settle in Virginia, not New England

• Before setting foot on land, the Pilgrims wrote a compact, or agreement

• The compact would serve as form of government for their colony

Mayflower Compact

• In the Mayflower Compact, the Pilgrims agreed to make and obey the colony’s “just and equal laws”

• 41 men signed the compact

• Important Step! Helped plant the idea of self-government among the colonists of North America

The Founding of Plymouth

•Pilgrims land in present-day Massachusetts in late 1620

Pilgrims & American Indians

• No Indian interaction for long time

• March 1621: Indian walks into Pilgrim community speaking English

• Introduces Pilgrims to Squanto

Samoset walking into Pilgrim community

Squanto

He was the Native American who assisted the

Pilgrims after their first winter in the

New World and was integral to their survival. The

Patuxet tribe was a tributary of the Wampanoag Confederacy.

Pilgrims & American Indians

•Squanto aided colonists by:

–Teaching colonists to use fertilizer

–Helping establish peace between the Pilgrims & Massasoit

Pilgrims & American Indians

•First Thanksgivinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsdzjdT_LkY

Thanksgiving Poems

T is for the trust the pilgrims had so many years agoH is for the harvest the settlers learnt to growA is for America, the land in which we liveN is for nature and beauty which she givesK is for kindness, gentle words, thoughtful deedsS is for smiles, the sunshine everyone needs

G is for gratitude... our blessings big and smallI is for ideas, letting wisdom grow tallV is for voices, singing, laughing, always caringI is for Indians, who taught them about sharingN is for neighbors, across the street, over the seaG is for giving of myself to make a better me

by Judith.A. Lindberg

The Pilgrims came across the sea,And never thought of you and me;And yet it's very strange the wayWe think of them Thanksgiving Day.We tell their story old and trueOf how they sailed across the blue,And found a new land to be freeAnd built their homes quite near the sea.The people think that they were sad,And grave; I'm sure that they were glad -They made Thanksgiving Day - that's fun -We thank the Pilgrims every one! by Annette Wynne