From Of Plymouth Plantation: Why the Pilgrims Survived

Micah Wade
Mr. Anderson
American Literature
November 12, 2012
From Of Plymouth Plantation: Why the Pilgrims Survived
How would you like to spend two months losing your breakfast and then another six starving in makeshift huts, in the dead of winter, and a one out - of - two chance of dying? In “Of Plymouth Plantation” by William Bradford, a group of Puritans leave Europe in a flight from religious persecution to the New World. What enabled them to endure the endless months of suffering without yielding to the New England Climate? The Puritan pilgrims had the favor of God, covenants or contracts, simplicity, a firm trust in the Lord, and industriousness, which, as we clearly see in the account of the Puritan colony: “Of Plymouth Plantation,” carried them through countless hardships and into many years of prosperity and peace.
First and foremost, the fact that the Plymouth Pilgrims from “Of Plymouth Plantation” had the hand of God upon their lives made it possible to endure their first week. Among the many times that God intervened in the lives of the Puritans there is one that is almost impossible to be a coincidence. On a fine morning during their first Spring, a Native came walking up to the door of the common house... "And the story he told gave every one of them cause to thank God in their hearts. This area had always been the territory of the Patuxets, a large, hostile tribe who had barbarously murdered every white man who had landed on their shores. But four years prior to the Pilgrims' arrival, a mysterious plague had broken out among them, killing every man, woman and child. So complete was the devastation that the neighboring tribes had shunned the area ever since, convinced that some great supernatural spirit had destroyed the Patuxets. Hence the cleared land on which they had settled literally belonged to no no one!" (Marshall 130). It is astounding to think that God was preparing a place for the Puritans long before they even set foot onto the shore. If it hadn't have been for God’s favor with the Puritans in “Of Plymouth Plantation”, arguably one of the most important settlements would have failed before it even started.
Alternatively, the settlement from “Of Plymouth Plantation” did not fail in the first week but went on for many years to give our country a model of government that partially remains today. For instance, one of the views of Puritans were covenants - or contracts - which exist between man and God and can also exist between groups of people. In Of Plymouth Plantation, the pilgrims eventually settle a peace between themselves and the Indians and use a treaty to do so. "Who, about four or five days after, came with the chief of his friends and other attendance, with the aforesaid Squanto. With whom, after friendly entertainment and some gifts given him, they made a peace with him (which hath now continued this 24 years) in these terms" (Bradford 33). The Puritans had about six agreements on how they would coexist and they kept their covenant until war broke out between them a couple decades later. The Puritans kept order in their society with the use of these contracts and this helped them make it through the first hard years of their settling with their new allies, the Indians.
In addition, anyone who’s read “Of Plymouth Plantation” would know that one of the values of the Puritan faith was simplicity; if the Pilgrims of the Plymouth plantation didn't live simply, they may not have made it through their first winter in North America, or even out of their own homes. “Of the many problems that the crew and passengers had to face one of the biggest problems before they even left was some people had to leave some family behind. William Bradford himself, one of the people that made the voyage possible, had to leave his four year old son behind.” (Koernig) People who decided to go to the New World had to say goodbye to their social life and, to analogize, condense all their belongings into a wooden trunk (if they were fortunate enough to have one). Few people loved and lived by simplicity more than the Puritans in “Of Plymouth Plantation”. This was part of what actually brought themselves to make the voyage across the Atlantic - and furthermore helped them survive through the first couple years in the Plymouth Colony.
Those first few winters during the time of “Of Plymouth Plantation” were so full of dying, suffering, and starving that it is a wonder that they didn't simply give up. They never gave up because they were constantly watching for any act of God in their lives our the lives of those around them. On the voyage to the New World there arose a huge storm when "... one of them, as they thus lay and hull in a mighty storm, a lusty young man called John Howland, coming upon some occasion above the gratings was, with a seele [or lurch] of the ship, thrown into sea; but it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail halyards [ropes hanging from the sails] which hung overboard and ran out at length. Yet he held his hold (though he was sundry fathoms under water) till he was hauled up by the same rope to the brim of the water, and then with a boathook and other means got into the ship again and his life saved" (Bradford 30). When the young man fell into the water the passengers recognized God for his life being saved. This is just one example of how Puritans were always looking for any means of which God is moving in their lives thus making them natural optimists. When they were losing a third of their population for the first few winters, their optimism and trust in God became quite useful as a means of survival. It really shows through in “Of Plymouth Plantation” that they trusted God every step of the way.
Last but not least, “Of Plymouth Plantation” shows that the Puritans of Plymouth Colony had industriousness. Can you imagine what it would be like if the pilgrims came on the Mayflower then like Americans who go on cruises today. What would it the result be if brought all their magazines, umbrellas, swimming suits, and sunscreen to a to a miserable, cold, rocky bay for the winter? DISASTER! They needed to be working diligently every day to prepare for the snow storms and keep from getting sick. As William Bradford describes in Of Plymouth Plantation, "They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion" (Bradford 33). This is just one example of how these Puritans were always at work even in the times when they had plenty. Their industriousness, as shown in “Of Plymouth Plantation” proved to be exceptionally prudent as it just scarcely got them through those bone-chilling winters of agony and into a steady, good rhythm of life.
All in all, if it hadn't been for the hand of God, the values of the Puritans, and their 'natural optimism', the Pilgrims in “Of Plymouth Plantation” wouldn't have lasted any longer than you or I. It was God that carved out a safe home for the pilgrims in that New World. It was the Puritans' value of contracts that gave them an organized settlement. It was there love of simplicity that gave them the freedom to physically get on the boat! It was their perseverance that enabled the pilgrims to endure cold winters of sickness. And lastly, it was their industriousness that let them thrive and succeed. Without the Puritans lifestyle and system of government, America would be a very different place...Works Cited
Anderson, Robert,"Beginnings to 1800." Elements of Literature. Literature of the United States, with Literature of the Americas. By Robert E. Probst. Austin, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2000. 10-33. Print.
Koernig, Bob. The Atlantic Passage of the Puritans. Rep. Gettysburg College, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://www3.gettysburg.edu/~tshannon/hist106web/site15/TED/Puritans.htm>;.
Kondrat, Alla. Legacies of the Puritans and the Rationalists (2009): 1. Suite101.com. Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://suite101.com/article/legacies-of-the-puritans-and-the-rationalists-a95578>;.
Marshall, Peter, and David Manuel. "God Our Maker Doth Provide Chap. 6." The Light and the Glory: Did God Have a Plan for America ? Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, 1977. 128-30. Print.