America’s Legacy of Religious Liberty and Equality

Commentary

I highly recommend watching one of the latest episodes on EpochTV, “The Legacy of Plymouth,” part three of a series entitled “The American Story.” Host Timothy Barton, President of WallBuilders, and Jonathan Richie, Assistant Director of the American Journey Experience tell the inspiring story of one of the earliest colonies in America, the Plymouth Pilgrims. The episode highlights where some of the earliest seeds of religious liberty, equality, and inalienable rights were first planted in the new world.

Motivated by Religious Freedom

In the second episode of “The American Journey,” the hosts explain how the members of Jamestown, the first English colony, were more financially than freedom motivated, which may explain their many shortcomings. However, another group of people came to Plymouth in 1620, the Pilgrims.

The Pilgrims were very religious people. Back then, the reigning monarchs of England would choose a denomination for their people to adhere to, or else they would be punished. The Pilgrims had different views than the Anglicans did, resulting in religious persecution that set them on their journey to find religious freedom, first in Holland. After several years, they experienced persecution there as well because of the pressure Holland was receiving from the King of England to deliver up the pilgrims who were printing critical views on him. The pilgrims, realizing they were not outside the King of England’s reach, secured two ships to sail to Jamestown. The journey would be wrought with hardship, and also divine providence.

One example of this had to do with the pilgrim’s printing press. While in Holland, pilgrim leaders were printing books speaking out against the King and Church of England. Various parts of their machine were confiscated, leaving them with an incomplete printing press. When one of their two ships had problems and could not sail, the pilgrims decided to send part of their group on the Mayflower, along with the printing press. This decision to bring a broken printing press made little sense on paper, however, when a storm at sea broke the main beam on the ship, the printing press ended up saving them due to one of the pieces on it serving as a jack screw that allowed them to secure the beam and make it to shore.

The Mayflower Compact

Although the original destination was Jamestown, the Mayflower was blown way off course and eventually landed in Massachusetts at a place they called Plymouth. The Pilgrims realized there weren’t any established laws there yet, so they agreed to form a political compact and governing body with the consent of everyone involved.

William Brewster, one of the religious leaders, wrote out the charter for the new colony. This became the Mayflower Compact, which is the first organically written document in the New World. Host Barton calls the production of the Compact an “of the people, by the people, for the people” scenario.

The pilgrims were motivated to pursue God and live Biblically, and this is found in the very first words in the Mayflower Compact. The Compact reveals their ideas on civil governance, as well as their understanding that humans are made in God’s image and therefore are all equal, which led to them having very good relations with the Native Americans.

The First Thanksgiving

Shortly after arriving in Plymouth, the pilgrims befriended the Abenaki Chief Samoset, who spoke English, as well as Squanto, who ends up saving the pilgrims during their first winter. During the winter, half of all the pilgrims died and many more got sick. It is documented that at one point, there were only about five to seven men healthy enough to hunt and gather firewood to keep the others alive. Squanto taught them how to fish, hunt, and survive in the new world. By the next year in 1621, the pilgrims had learned how to provide for themselves.

This led them to invite their Native American friends, who brought some food as well, and together they feasted, played athletic games, and thanked God that they had survived and learned how to take care of themselves. That first Thanksgiving Day, there were ninety Indian braves and just over fifty sickly religious pilgrims made up of men, women, children, and the elderly. Barton notes that this highlights how good of a relationship the Natives and the Pilgrims had since the Natives could have easily conquered the Pilgrims if they had wanted to.

For over fifty years, the peace between the pilgrims and Natives Americans was maintained. When it did eventually break, it was broken by the descendants of Chief Massasoit who did not like the number of Natives converting to Christianity. This certainly goes against the narrative of today that the pilgrims were stealing land and being evil towards the natives.

Did the Pilgrims Support Slavery?

In the EpochTV episode, Barton and Richie address some of the accusations often directed at the Pilgrims and their legacy. One is that the pilgrims were racist and that America was founded on racism and slavery. This claim is simply inaccurate, as the pilgrims had established laws outlawing slavery, which they labeled as “man-stealing.” They even had Biblical verses to back up the reasoning behind the law, revealing their understanding of equality and human rights. When the first slave ship arrived in Plymouth, they imprisoned the ship captain, freed the slaves, and tried to raise funds to send the slaves back home.

Although the Plymouth Pilgrims did not do everything right, their legacy and the American story are what influenced the majority of America. Barton and Richie display a map showing the eventual expansion of the Plymouth Pilgrims, reaching the central and northern parts of the United States. Interestingly, the legacy of Jamestown, which was founded by the more financially-motivated settlers, eventually expanded mostly to the southern states.

The Legacy of the Pilgrims

Listening to this EpochTV episode, I was impressed by how vital the concept of religious freedom and inalienable rights were to the early colonizers. In our society today, these concepts are often under attack, and many don’t understand their meaning or importance. Those who have educated themselves on the early history of America can feel proud of the foundational principles that led to a land where all people could express their beliefs freely and where their rights could be recognized and protected. Unless we know the facts about our nation’s history, we cannot hope to defend its founding values and pass its legacy on to future generations.

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Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.