Page 16 - Heavenly Signs III by Mel Gable

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was not sealed in blood as a covenant with God would be. John Adams and many historians have referred to the
Mayflower Compact as the foundation of the U.S. Constitution written more than 150 years later.

History of Mayflower Pilgrims

The Pilgrims were a group of English Calvinist religious dissenters who were known as Separatists. They fled
persecution under Queen Elizabeth I and her successor King James I. They went and took up residence in 1609 in
Leyden, Holland. Many of this same group immigrated to America on the Mayflower. Queen Elizabeth I wanted to
firmly establish the Church of England. The Queen attempted to have all religious groups conform to the
Anglican Church. The Puritans, who were another group in the Anglican Church, wanted to remove all Roman
Catholic ceremonies and practices and bring about further reforms. Both groups wanted to be a church unto its
own. But, they were being persecuted for their attempts to run their churches their way rather than the way the
bishops of the Anglican Church wanted it run. With the reign of King James I, he ended up persecuting the
Catholics and the extreme Protestant Puritans as well as the Separatists. It was during the end of Elizabeth's years
as Queen and the beginning of King James' reign that the Separatists left England. They fled to Holland where
there was acceptance of different religious beliefs. It was during King James' reign that the version of the Bible
we know as the King James Version was translated. 12

This group that had gone to Holland later arranged with English investors to establish a new colony in North
America. The colony, established in 1620, became the second successful English settlement after the founding of
Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. The Separatists even though they were safe in Holland, they were not well off
financially. They had mostly worked in existing trades, and some of its member had graduated from Cambridge
or Oxford in England, and had taught at the University. They also published religious pamphlets, which annoyed
King James when these materials were smuggled back into England. This caused a problem with the Dutch
because the English Ambassador complained about these Separatists. With increased poverty at the time and the
feeling the Separatists had with the Dutch caused them to consider going to America. They wanted to spread the
word of God to remote parts of the world and felt they should go to America where they might convert the
Indians and thus bring their religion into the New World.
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Settlement

Once they arrived in American, several of the men went out to explore the bay. To do this, they used a small
boat called a “shallop.” One wonders why the Pilgrims did not settle on Cape Cod once they found fresh water
ponds and land already cleared for planting by the Indians. There must have been great discussion as to where to
settle. Many people were sick and there was little food, since winter had come. There was fighting with the
Indians on the Cape; but the guns scared them away. Finally, the small boat returned to the Mayflower and on
December 11, 1620 the Mayflower sailed into Plymouth. This was the place Captain John Smith had discovered
and named six years earlier. It has been assumed that everyone was so happy to be able to go on shore.
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The Mayflower men started exploring the land to find a place for the Pilgrims to settle. There was a good harbor,
rivers, fields cleared for planting and they saw no enemy Indians. The “Rock” which we now call Plymouth Rock
was the only good landing place and to this day it is the place where it is believed the Pilgrims landed. Gradually
houses were built for the families and a “Common House” as shelter for those who did not have houses. The
weather was so bad it took 26 days to build this “Common House.” On Sunday's the Pilgrims worshipped God,
sang Psalms and listened to sermons by William Brewster. 13

Resuming exploration the party crossed over to the mainland and surveyed the area that ultimately became the
settlement. The anniversary of this survey is observed in Massachusetts as Forefathers' Day and is traditionally
associated with the Plymouth Rock landing. This land was especially suited to winter building because the land
had already been cleared, and the tall hills provided a good defensive position. The cleared village, known as

12 Young, Alexander (1841). Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth from 1602 to 1625. pp. 117–124