The Pilgrims were not the same group as the Puritans who many Americans, especially but not only conservatives confuse for them. Many people left right authoritarian, and libertarian have been badly served by the cartoon of history they learned in school lest Baby Boom age parents, stepped in the cold war, be offended to hear that America was not a utopia from the beginning. Here are the facts. The Pilgrims were people who wanted to practice their reformed Christianity and be left alone. They did come to America numbering no more than 2600. They lived in relative peace with their Native American neighbors for decades. The Puritans came later, in tens of thousands. Took over and displaced the Pilgrims and their historical legacy. Then also waged war against Metacomet also known as King Phillip of the Wampanoag. He was the son of Massasoit the leader of the Wampanoag who had made peace with the pilgrims. [1, 3, 5, 2, 4, 6]


The Pilgrims have a rock Puritans have a grandiose statue. Don’t confuse these two groups. The one on the right oppressed the one on the left too. For their time the Pilgrims were the liberals while the Puritans were so conservative that Christmas dinner or Christmas mass were banned.

It was the Puritans who came latter and brought with them a sense of divine right to tell other people how to live, including the original Pilgrims. The puritan leader of England a man named Oliver Cromwell who had been part of beheading King Charles I even banned having special Christmas church sessions. [6] The Jamestown colony remained loyal to the rightful King of England and so it was known as his old dominion as Virginia is sometimes called. It could be argued that the Christian movement of the United States may owe more to the Puritans book banning, and witch trial having ways than to the Pilgrims who just wanted to be left alone. I leave it to any reader to ponder that.

Thanksgiving has become part of our culture war in America regarding a fairy tale about our foundational stories that ignores 1607-1620 in Jamestown, and mythologizes the Pilgrims as being the same as the latter Puritans. The Puritans being virtuous and godly people come to civilize a “savage” land. What you learn either from reading a Rush Revere book or a book that teaches that from the start the goal was to oppress others is wrong.


In the case of Both Jamestown and of the Pilgrims the original motives were only to find land and wealth. These first lands Plymouth colony and Jamestown Virginia colony were negotiated for in good faith. Bad faith actors came latter, greedier, and more than willing to take from anyone White or Black or Red to enrich themselves. There were American Indians who were willing to own slaves of any race. The same for some Black people who imported first as indentured servants having gained their own freedom, had such servants themselves. By no latter than 1650 the racialization of English America was in full swing, and by 1700 it was complete. [7, 8]

I take this personally as a descendant of the first settlers in Jamestown, the Pilgrims, the 20 and odd Africans who were brought in 1619 and certain American Indians. The history of the United States of America is to me a history of a large family of people. Everyone who is a part of that family, everyone whom I share one or more of those heritages with is my family. Everyone who will soon in a generation or two share those heritages welcome to the family.

These are facts they don't fit either the woke narrative or the sleepy narrative (the opposite of being woke I suppose). We are all Americans, and our family history was not a fairy tale or a tale of evil. The first thanksgiving was a tale of people. With a base of reality let us celebrate what could've or should've happened next and try to do better.

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References

1“What's the difference between Puritans and Pilgrims.”UPDATED:MAR 16, 2021ORIGINAL:JUL 31, 2019 Dave Ross, https://www.history.com/news/pilgrims-puritans-differences

2“What's the Difference Between a Pilgrim and a Puritan?” Rockwell Stensrud ON 11/26/15 AT 10:19 AM EST, https://www.newsweek.com/whats-difference-between-pilgrim-and-puritan-397974

3“King Philip's War.” UPDATED:DEC 4, 2020 ORIGINAL:NOV 13, 2019 History.com Editors, https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/king-philips-war

4“America’s Most Devastating Conflict: King Philip’s War” August 12, 2020 By Mike Messina for Your Public Media https://connecticuthistory.org/americas-most-devastating-conflict-king-philips-war/

5“The Puritan Paradox.” Muriel Zagha Fri 15 Feb 2002 20.45 EST https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/feb/16/artsandhumanities.highereducation

6“Did Oliver Cromwell Really Ban Christmas?” https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/what-is-designation/heritage-highlights/did-oliver-cromwell-really-ban-christmas/

7“Forgotten History: How The New England Colonist Embraced The Slave Trade.” https://www.npr.org/2016/06/21/482874478/forgotten-history-how-the-new-england-colonists-embraced-the-slave-trade

8"Introduction: Indian Slavery in Historical Context". Indian Slavery in Colonial America. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 1–32. ISBN 978-0803222007. https://books.google.com/books?id=HT69BbA3Is8C&pg=PA1