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/scholastic_thanksgiving/daily_life/

• Plimoth Plantation: Virtual Field Trip

http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_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