Reformation
Protestants
Puritans
Separatists
Pilgrims

The Speedwell
The Mayflower
Mayflower Compact
Plymouth Colony
The Great Migration

William Bradford
Squanto
Massasoit
Sarah Hale
President Lincoln

Thanksgiving was a harvest festival,
first held by the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony in 1621.

STUDY EXERCISE
Activities, Quizzes, Poems, Songs

The Protestant Reformation ^ In 1517, Martin Luther broke with the Catholic
Church.

Protestants  ^  The word originated in Germany in 1529. "Protest" means to stand for
something.  Protestants were Christians who believed:

1. in Christian creeds (statements of belief)
2. that the Bible is the supreme authority in all questions of faith & religion
3. that salvation is by faith alone
4. in two sacraments (not the 7 in the Roman Catholic Church)

Puritans ^ The Puritans wanted King James I to "purify" (make clean) the Church of
England.  They wanted to take away the fancy pictures and written prayer of the Roman
Catholic Church.  They said these things were not in the Bible.  The Puritans were farmers,
merchants, scholars.

Separatists  ^ They were one group of Puritans.  They wanted religious freedom from the
Church of England.  They wanted the church and the government to be separate.

In England, they met to worship in secret, but they were discovered and persecuted, so
they decided to find another home.  They ran away to Holland in 1608, and then to
America in 1620.  They came to America because they wanted to keep their English
language and culture, not become Dutchmen.

Pilgrims  ^ The Pilgrims were a Separatist group.  They left England because King James I
did not permit religious freedom.  Everyone was expected to belong to the Church of
England.

The Speedwell  ^ Two times the group tried to come to America on this ship, but had
to return.

Plymouth, England ^ The  Mayflower left for America from the city of Plymouth, England.

The Mayflower ^ In 1620, for 66 days, the Mayflower traveled across the Atlantic.  The
ship left Plymouth, England on September 16, 1620, and arrived in America on Saturday,
November 21, 1620. During the trip, one baby was born and two people died.  On Sunday,
the 22nd, the people on the ship rested and worshipped. On Monday they came on land near what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Mayflower Compact  ^ The Pilgrims signed an agreement for self-government.

Plymouth Colony ^ The Pilgrims' first permanent colony in the U.S. It was named after
the city of Plymouth, England.

The First Winter ^ The Pilgrims landed in a difficult New England winter.  More than 100
Pilgrims had landed, but half died before the end of the winter, including William Bradford's wife.

William Bradford ^ (1590-1657) governor of  the Plymouth Colony for 30 years. He was
a Separatist at the age of 17.  He wrote the history of the Plymouth Colony.

Squanto  ^ the colonists' Indian interpreter and friend.  He had learned English from
explorers.  He lived at the Plymouth Colony and taught the Pilgrims how to live in the
wilderness and showed them how to plant crops.  The Indians gave the Pilgrims seeds for
Indian corn.   Squanto died in 1622.

Massasoit ^ the chief of the Wampanoag Indians. A peace treaty was signed and not
broken by either side.

The First Thanksgiving ^  The winter was very difficult.  Half of the Pilgrims died. But
the harvest in 1621 was bountiful. The Pilgrims celebrated the harvesting of their first crops by giving thanks to God.

The Pilgrims had their first Thanksgiving feast.  They had Indian corn.  Four Pilgrims hunted
wild turkeys.  Fishermen caught cod and bass. 

The Pilgrims invited Massasoit, who came with 90 Indians.  Indian hunters brought five deer.
The feast lasted three days.

The Great Migration  ^ James I and Charles I pushed the Puritans out of England.
About 16,000 came to America during the Great Migration of 1630-40.

New York State adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom in 1817.

Sarah Hale  ^ ... was the editor of a magazine in 1846. She wanted to make Thanksgiving
a national holiday.

President Lincoln proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day holiday in 1863.

Thansgiving Day Holiday ^ is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November.

***

Today, tourists come to Plymouth, Massachusetts to see the famous Plymouth Rock.
At this rock, according to tradition, the first Pilgrims stepped on land.

There is also a statue of Massasoit, the Indian chief, and the Bible of Governor Bradford,
printed in 1592.

There is also a 106-foot copy of the Mayflower; this  copy is called the Mayflower II. 
It sailed from England in 1957.