The Mayflower And The Pilgrims.

Why do Americans revere The Pilgrims ?

A few facts.

Of the 102 passengers on The Mayflower only 37 where Pilgrims.
The Plymouth Colony was not the first colony established in America.
The Pilgrims only played a part in establishing the colony, as non Pilgrims where also involved.
The Pilgrims where mainly wealthy people who bought their servants with them
The Pilgrims where loyal subjects to The British Crown as outlined in the " Mayflower Compact "
There main issue was to breaking away from The Church Of England to follow the teachings of Robert Browne ( Brownists )
In today's world they would probably be called a " cult "

So why are they so special to Americans ?

a reply to: alldaylong

Because theyre symbolic of a moral highground and the breakaway from the monarchy.

No they didn't breakaway from The Monarchy. I pointed this out with them signing The Mayflower Compact, and their loyalty to The British Crown.

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: alldaylong

Probably has something to do with our schools telling the pilgrim story in 1st grade.

That being said I don't know anybody that goes overboard in acclaim for the pilgrims.

a reply to: Bluntone22

That being said I don't know anybody that goes overboard in acclaim for the pilgrims

Wasn't there a big fuss a few days ago when The Plymouth Rock was spray painted ? What's so special about a rock ?
If the rock was at the first colony established then i could understand it, but it wasn't .

Weird.

a reply to: alldaylong

Well, it matches everything else mainstream teaches. Why would you expect actual truth from our educational system? You give them truth, they turn it 180 degrees and start teaching from there. An uneducated or wrongly educated populace is the perfect machine to extract wealth from. giggity giggity

a reply to: alldaylong
Doesn't it occur to you that they would have been obliged to say that, in order to be on good terms with the authorities? You need to be aware that New England still counted as British territory, and colonists could not legally be there without permission. I would have to look up the details, but I believe they were there as members of a legally recognised Company.

a reply to: alldaylong

Why does it have to be the first to deserve respect?

Besides...i said our education system made a big deal out of the pilgrims when we were young.

The pilgrim story is an early Americana story. Today we know it wasn't THAT special. Jamestown comes to mind. (I can trace my own ancestry to that colony.) There were others close to the same time, including the lost colony of Roanoke. We now know about the Viking colonies, even the Portuguese fishermen. DNA studies are shining new light on migration patterns. Obviously the history of populating the Americas is a lot more complex than we thought in the 1700s.

But, geez. No big deal.

a reply to: DISRAELI

Some of these Pilgrims have quite interesting stories. Some came back to England to fight in The English Civil War.

Edward Winslow for instance became Governor of The Plymouth Colony then returned to England to work with Oliver Cromwell.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Stonehenge has often been spray painted. It just gets cleaned off.

Unfortunately that's the world we live in today.

The real question is why do the English care about American customs? The world may never know...

originally posted by: Metallicus
The real question is why do the English care about American customs? The world may never know...

I suppose it's for the same reason Americans comment on The British Royal Family.

a reply to: alldaylong

Well, most of us got the education regarding American History in school, alas, in the 70s people still cared about these things.

Rather than type pages upon pages to catch you up, may I recommend you pick up Limbaughs excellent Rush Revere series and find out?

www.amazon.com... &camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1476755868

originally posted by: alldaylong

No they didn't breakaway from The Monarchy. I pointed this out with them signing The Mayflower Compact, and their loyalty to The British Crown.

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith

en.wikipedia.org...

I didn't say they did, I said they were symbolic of it.

originally posted by: alldaylong
So why are they so special to Americans ?

For the same reason the "first Thanksgiving" is painted as a feel-good coming together story -- people don't know any better because they're not taught it (in the case of the first Thanksgiving, the colonists not knowing WTF they were doing from a hole in the wall over here and starving for it wouldn't have made as good a story for the kiddies. Edit: And I'm not talking about the basic knowledge of this, I mean the ugly, nitty gritty details that makes it SO much less heartwarming)

The Mayflower folks were really not that special compared to other settlers. Some of them were certainly more comical. Ever read the property manifests? William Mullins brought nearly 150 pairs of SHOES AND BOOTS. not provisions, FOOTWEAR. Granted, he was a shoemaker & it was his business goods, it still baffles that someone would pick that over much more important food stores as a settler.

a reply to: alldaylong

They eventually defected...

My ancestors were on the Mayflower. In fact they had a daughter on the way here. Their last name was Chilton, same as my moms maiden name. I think their first names may have been Bob and Mary.

Dont be saying bad things about my family now!

originally posted by: Nyiah

originally posted by: alldaylong
So why are they so special to Americans ?

For the same reason the "first Thanksgiving" is painted as a feel-good coming together story -- people don't know any better because they're not taught it (in the case of the first Thanksgiving, the colonists not knowing WTF they were doing from a hole in the wall over here and starving for it wouldn't have made as good a story for the kiddies. Edit: And I'm not talking about the basic knowledge of this, I mean the ugly, nitty gritty details that makes it SO much less heartwarming)

The Mayflower folks were really not that special compared to other settlers. Some of them were certainly more comical. Ever read the property manifests? William Mullins brought nearly 150 pairs of SHOES AND BOOTS. not provisions, FOOTWEAR. Granted, he was a shoemaker & it was his business goods, it still baffles that someone would pick that over much more important food stores as a settler.

A better commodity would have been axe heads, hoes, shovels, files, knifes, and other tools that they couldn’t make for themselves.

I grew up in the 70s and thought it was a huge story, with a huge rock. But it turns out the story is about as big as the real rock. lol Which is like a pebble.