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City on a Hill: The Misunderstood Legacy of Pilgrims and Puritans | The American Story | Ep 2
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Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms@mintmobile.com the North Atlantic wasn't cooperating. It never cooperated. Its swirling, heaving waves sprawled to infinity in every direction, an endless blue gray highway tormenting the 102 men and women and children crammed into a tiny cargo ship that wasn't designed for passengers. Sometimes the thunderous waves battering the timber hull would just let up long enough for the desperate or the foolish, depending on who you ask, to scramble up to the main deck for a deep breath of fresh air. For John Howland, a British man in his early 20s, the bracing wind and cold ocean spray against his face helped chase away the nausea, if only just for a few minutes. He had to escape the windowless, cramped belly of the ship, where the stench of vomit hung in the stale air. He wasn't a sailor. He was just a hired servant for one of the many dreamers on board this rickety vessel. But the ocean doesn't care about dreams. In a split second, John Howland is plunged into a nightmare. A massive rogue wave smashes over the ship's railing, sweeping John overboard into the frigid abyss. He's gone, vanished into the deep, and no one even notices. At first, in an era when most people can't swim and the ship can't just throw it in reverse, this is a death sentence. John thrashes in the freezing water. His lungs are burning with the ocean as the ship labors on without him. Then he glimpses a rope in the water, within reach. Instinctively, desperately, he snags it and clamps on with both fists. The rope trailing behind the ship is one of the halyards used to raise and lower the sail. His only hope. He clings for dear life, dragging through the pounding surf like a rag doll, the saltwater scraping down his throat and burning his eyes. And finally, incredibly, crew members spot him bobbing in the water. Slowly and steadily, they manage to reel him in. John finally splats on the deck and rolls over on his back, sputtering, shivering, uncontrollably, gasping, head Spinning dumbfound that he's still alive. The hard boiled crew mutters curses about these seasick novices that they're hauling across the Atlantic to a forbidding wilderness. These dreamers, they must be insane. It's 1620 and this is the main deck of the Mayflower. John Hallen survives the voyage. He marries Elizabeth Tilley. She's a fellow passenger. They start a family. Ten kids, then grandkids, then great grandkids. Millions of descendants ripple out from that one seemingly fluke moment. But it's no fluke, because among the howlands descendants are US Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Bush, George W. Bush, poets Emerson and Longfellow. Hollywood stars Humphrey Bogart, Christopher Lloyd, Chevy Chase, the Baldwin brothers and somebody else that would make an impact in America. Joseph Smith. One guy's near death plunge changes history. It's wild how much one life dangling by a thread or a rope can shape a nation.
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This is the American story the Beginnings,
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Adapted from the book of the same
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title by David Barton and Tim Barton. Episode 2 City on a Hill the misunderstood land legacy of Pilgrims and Puritans.
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Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. With her fiery red hair and iron will, she had no tolerance for dissent in her Church. In 1593, she ordered the execution of John Greenwood, a bold English reformer who had the audacity to say that no monarch could be the head of the church that belongs solely to Christ. Greenwood, a leader in the underground congregations, was charged with denying Her Majesty's supremacy and attacking the established order. He was hanged, his death a public spectacle meant to terrify others into submission. It was all part of a broader crackdown by a queen who insisted that spiritual obedience was the state's business. Parliament backing the Queen passed harsh laws mandating prison time for anybody who dared deny her religious authority. No bail, no mercy, just iron bars for those who would not bow. Surviving this oppressive atmosphere were the Separatists. These were a group of everyday farmers and believers from central England who also refused to play along. But they worshiped in secret, knowing full well that their gatherings were treasonous act. Hunted like criminals, they often lost homes and livelihoods and their freedom. These separatists, they were distinct from the larger group of Puritans in England. While Puritans aimed to purify or fix the Church of England from within, staying loyal despite their gripes, the Separatists wanted a clean break. No more tainted rituals, no more state control. They dreamed of an independent faith community, accountable only to the scripture and to each other. The Separatists were not actually called Pilgrims in their time, that term didn't become common until the 1820s, when a pilgrim society was formed to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the colony's founding. But since they are so much better known today as Pilgrims, that's the name we're going to go with. By 1608, the pressure became unbearable. A group of 125 pilgrims made the risky decision to flee. Flee for Holland. This was a land known for its religious tolerance. Among them was William Bradford, an 18 year old orphan already earning respect for his steady demeanor and deep convictions. In the Dutch town of Leiden, they found relief. No persecution for what they believed. But life as refugees is no paradise. As foreigners, they were barred from the Dutch craft guilds, forcing them into low paying, backbreaking jobs in the textile industry, weaving, spinning and dyeing cloth for meager wages. Their standard of living plummeted and their community struggled to grow. Newcomers from England were rare, after all, who wanted to join the life of endless toil and poverty? William Bradford captured the frustration in his writings.
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Some preferred and chose the prisons in England rather than this liberty in Holland. With these afflictions,
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it wasn't just economic hardship that gnawed at them. The Pilgrims worried about their children. Dutch society, with its bustling ports and cosmopolitan vibe, exposed their youth to what the Pilgrims called licentiousness, loose morals or wild behavior, and influences that pulled their kids away from their Christian upbringing. If they stayed, would the next generation forget the boundaries of their faith? Their pilgrim identity might dissolve with this foreign nation. With kids becoming more Dutch than English, more worldly than godly. Where on earth could such a small church truly be itself? They needed a place where they could isolate, build and preserve their way of life without these temptations. This is when opportunity knocked, courtesy of the Virginia Company. Yes, the same enterprise behind the sloppy, chaotic, gold obsessed Jamestown venture that we visited in episode one. Desperate for colonists to develop their vast land claims, the company granted the Pilgrims a tract of land near the mouth of the Hudson river in present day New York City. It was on the northern edge of the Virginia territory, a spot mapped by explorers like Captain John Smith, who had named the region New England after his voyage in 1614. The Pilgrims saw potential as it was a fresh start in the wilderness, far from the European corruptions. Now, to finance the venture, they formed a joint stock company with 70 London businessmen known as the Merchant Adventurers. These investors covered the cost of the ships and the crew and the year's worth of supplies in hopes of future returns. It was an enormous gamble. The group left Holland for England to rendezvous with their two ships, the Speedwell and the Mayflower. William Bradford, by then 30 years old, recounted their heart wrenching farewell.
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So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting place near 12 years. But they knew they were pilgrims and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits.
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Their journey hit a major snag before it really began. The Speedwell was a lemon. It leaked. They set out from England, returned to port, patched the leaks and tried again, only to find more leaks to force them back. Frustrated, they abandoned the Speedwell, squeezing everybody into the mayflower. Finally, on September 6, 1620, they departed with 102 passengers and 37 crew members. 41 of the passengers were Pilgrims. The other 61 were hired workers, merchants and non believers, lured by adventure, pay or both. There weren't any plush accommodations here. The Mayflower was mainly a cargo vessel, not built for that many passengers. The voyage was grueling. The ship was 100ft long, 24ft wide, with four masts. It had an upper deck for the crew, a middle deck for the passengers, and a lower cargo hold for supplies. The middle deck didn't have any windows. The ceiling was barely 5ft high. And if that wasn't bad enough, they shared the same space with a shallop. That's a 30 foot sailboat that would be used for exploring the coast once they reached the New World. The total living space for the passengers was 58 by 24ft, so the conditions were hellish. Constant rocking induced seasickness. The air reeked of vomit and sweat and human waste. The cold and the damp seeped in. No privacy to speak of. Meals were mostly hardtack biscuits, salted pork or fish and beer, which was safer to drink than water and even given to the kids. Malnutrition quickly set in. Dehydration worsened. Scurvy afflicted them with its bleeding gums and painful joints. But incredibly, a pilgrim named Elizabeth Hopkins gave birth amid the squalor, a boy they named Oceanus Clever. A month into their journey, a ferocious North Atlantic storm battered the Mayflower. During one especially violent storm, the main beam cracked. That was the ship's structural backbone. The Pilgrims and crewmen had a meeting, debating whether to turn back. But then there was a miraculous solution. The Pilgrims had brought along William Bradford's printing press. He was a printer, but this printing press had broken just before the journey and he was going to leave it behind. He said in prayer. He felt The Lord wanted him to take the printing press. There was no use for it. They all discussed why. How could you possibly use it? It can't be fixed, he said. The Lord told him to put it on the ship. Now he knew why. It contained a large jackscrew. That was now the exact tool they needed. The crew used that jackscrew to raise the beam back into place where it could be secured. So they were able to limp on, averaging less than two miles an hour over the 3,000 mile trip. After 66 days of their excruciating ocean crawl, finally land. But not the land they were aiming for. Storms had driven them 250 miles north of their target, toward a hook of land that curled up like a beckoning finger. We now know this as Cape Cod Relief mixed with uncertainty. They were out of bounds, way outside of their legal charter, which meant no one technically had the authority to tell anyone else what to do. Mutters of rebellion stirred among the non pilgrim on board. Once they landed, they'd fend for themselves. Answer to nobody, do whatever they wanted. Real Lord of the Flies kind of stuff. Which forced an urgent question. Who governs when there is no official authority? They were in the wrong place. Facing an unknown wilderness. And anarchy was brewing as they anchored. The true test of survival was just beginning. With winter's icy grip waiting to claim its toll. See if this sounds familiar to you. You're going about your day, doing all the things you normally do, and then out of nowhere it hits you. Pain. You can actually remember the time when it wasn't there, when you didn't have to think about it, you didn't have to work around it, you didn't have to stop what you were doing all the time because something in your body was deciding, yeah, I'm done for the day. But somewhere along the line it just showed up and then it just stayed. I lived through that. I got my life back with my hands were in so much pain that I couldn't break it. Relief Factor has broken the back of that. I don't have pain in my hands anymore. I didn't think I could paint. I didn't think I could write. And I started taking it because my wife forced me to take it because I didn't think it would work. But it did. Three weeks. She said, just try it for three weeks. Like they say, three weeks. I wasn't doing commercials for Relief Factor because I didn't know the product or whatever she said. I heard it and you should take it and try it. And I did. Three Weeks later I was feeling better and I'm like, well, but it's not that. And I stopped taking it and all that pain came rushing back and I'm like, oh, it is that. Reliefactor.com 800 for relief. Try it for three weeks. Listen to my wife. Releffactor.com Choice hotels get you more of
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Since the Pilgrims had landed far from their intended Virginia territory, the settlers faced a crisis of authority to head out for anarchy. On November 21, 1620, 41 men gathered in the Mayflower's main deck cabin and drafted the Mayflower compact. It was a bare bones agreement affirming loyalty to King James, but forming a separate civil body, politics for self governance to pass just and equal laws by majority consent. It was practical and revolutionary. A voluntary agreement among equals rooted in their Christian conviction, setting a precedent for American democracy. No grand constitution, but a pact that bound everybody under mutual rules. Now the ink would mean nothing if the shore killed them first. They still had to find a place to live. They still had to survive the first winter in a world that didn't owe them and didn't owe them anything. William Bradford captured the electric moment when they finally stepped ashore at Cape Cod.
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Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.
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Bradford and the scouting party launched the Shallop to explore, searching for a settlement site. They chose a harbor on the mainland, later named Plymouth. It had clearly been the site of some sort of settlement. They even found stashes of dried corn. But it was completely deserted. The story behind the emptiness was chilling. The area had once been home to the Patuxent tribe. They were fierce, fierce warriors. But they were wiped out by a devastating plague, likely smallpox, introduced by the British or French fishermen a few years before the Pilgrims arrived. While the epidemic killed up to 95% of the local peoples, leaving villages abandoned and survivors too terrified to return because they feared a supernatural curse. Bradford reflected on how if the Patuxet had survived, the settlers might have met a gruesome end.
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About three years before, a French ship was wrecked at Cape Cod. But the men got ashore and saved their lives and a large part of their provisions. When The Indians heard of it. They surrounded them and never left, watching and dogging them till they got the advantage and killed them all but three or four, whom they kept and sent from one sachem to another, making sport with them and using them worse than slaves.
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While Bradford was away with the scouting party, his wife Dorothy accidentally fell from the Mayflower and drowned in the freezing water of Provincetown harbor. She was 23. Was it truly an accident in the icy winds, or was she overcome with despair in this harsh, harsh New world? There has been speculation about suicide through the years, but there's no historic evidence to support that theory. Bradford was silent about the tragedy in his writings, but the loss undoubtedly shattered him. He was now a widower in an unforgiving land. It was the first heartbreak in a flood of tragedy yet to come. As the winter descended, the Pilgrims disembarked and scrambled to build shelters, simple huts with thatched roofs. But the harsh New England cold, combined with their weakened states, unleashed a wave of illness. Scurvy from vitamin deficiency, pneumonia from exposure. Death came quickly. Bradford's account paints a harrowing picture.
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That which was most sad and lamentable was that in two or three months time half of their company died, especially in January and February, being the depth of winter, and wanting houses and other comforts, being infected with scurvy and other diseases, there died sometimes two or three of a day. That of 100 and odd persons, scarce 50 remained. And of these, in the time of most distress, there was but six or seven persons, who, to their great commendations, be it spoken, spared no pain night nor day, but with abundance of toil and hazard of their own health, fetched them wood, made them fires, dressed them meat, made their beds, washed their loathsome clothes, clothed and unclothed them, in a word, did all the homely and necessary offices for them which dainty and queasy stomachs cannot endure to hear named. And all this willingly and cheerfully, without any grudging in the least, showing herein their true love unto their friends and brethren. A rare example and worthy to be remembered. Two of these seven were Mr. William Brewster, their revered elder, and Miles Standish, their captain and military commander, unto whom myself and many others were much beholden in our low and sick condition.
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47 of the 102 Mayflower passengers died. 47 including 13 of the 18 Pilgrim women. Only three families remained intact. In March 1621, with grief permeating the camp, a glimmer of hope arrived in the form of an unexpected visitor. An Indian strode confidently into their settlement and blew their minds with his greeting in English, saying, welcome, Englishmen.
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But about the 16th of March, a certain Indian came boldly amongst them and spoke to them in broken English, which they could well understand, but marvelled at it at length. They understood by discourse with him that he was not of these parts, but belonged to the eastern parts, where some English ships came to fish, with whom he was acquainted and could name sundry of them by their names, amongst whom he had got his language.
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This was Samoset, a native of Maine who had picked up bits of English over the years from British cod fishermen. He explained the devastation of the Patuxet community and how their tribes were afraid to come near the place where the Pilgrims had set up their base camp.
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He told them also of another Indian whose name was Squanto, a native of this place who had been in England and could speak better English than himself.
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A few days later, Samoset returned with Squanto. The Pilgrims were awestruck by his fluent English, and even more so by his story. In 1614, Captain John Smith, the same John Smith from the Jamestown colony, explored New England's coast and left one of his associates, Thomas Hunt. He was to establish a trading relationship with the Indians in Cape Cod. Instead, Hunt eventually kidnapped a group of 24 Indians and sailed for Spain, where he hoped to turn a quick profit by selling them into slavery. Among this group of Indians was a Patuxet tribe member named Squanto. In Spain, a group of Spanish monks rescued the Indians, treated their wounds, and then tried to teach them Christianity. Somehow the monks helped Squanto get into England, where he hoped to hitch a ride back to North America. He lived with a merchant's family for a few years where he lived learned English. He finally found passage back across the Atlantic, landing six months before the Pilgrims arrived. When he reached his home, the village was completely abandoned. Eventually, he learned from all the other local Indians about the devastating illness that wiped out his entire tribe. Squanto became invaluable, serving as a translator and a go between for the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. The Pilgrims negotiated a treaty with Massasoit. Mutual aid against enemies, no harm to one another. The agreement lasted 54 years. It's the only treaty between English colonists and Native Americans to be honored throughout the lives of everyone who signed it. And Squanto. He became a fixture of the Pilgrims lives. He showed them where to hunt deer, how to catch fish and identify edible plants. He taught them how to plant corn using fish for fertilizer. He helped them set up fur trading relationships with various tribes. He was a miraculous godsend for the Pilgrims. Imagine a guy just shows up who happens to speak fluent English, understands their Christian faith and their British culture, and is able to help them keep peace with with the local tribes and teach them essential wilderness survival skills. It's incredible. Bradford wrote.
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Squanto continued with them and was their interpreter and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation. He directed them how to set their corn, where to take fish and to procure other commodities, and was also their pilot to bring them to unknown places for their profit and never left them till he died.
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A month after the Pilgrims met Squanto, the Mayflower's captain determined it was finally time to set sail for England. The Pilgrims faced a gut wrenching return to the safety and comforts of civilization or stay in this wild unknown where so many of their friends and family members had already died. Remarkably, not a single Pilgrim boarded the ship. They were all in on their new home. By November, a modest harvest inspired a day of thanksgiving. Bradford invited Massasoit, who showed up with 90 Indians and five deer. The feast lasted three days. Venison, fowl, corn and games. Not exactly the turkey and pie affair we imagined in elementary school, but it was a major celebration of survival and God's provision. Still, the following year brought more tragedy. During a trade mission with Bradford and other pilgrim men, Squanto suddenly got sick.
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Here. Squanto fell ill of Indian fever, bleeding much at the nose, which the Indians take for a symptom of death. And within a few days he died. He begged the governor to pray for him, that he might go to the Englishman's God in heaven and bequeathed several of his things to some of his English friends as remembrances. His death was a great loss.
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Despite the blow, the loss of their indispensable guide, the Pilgrims slowly learned to stand on their own. In 1623, the widower William Bradford married Alice Southworth, herself a young widow with two sons from the Pilgrim community in Holland. Bradford's son from his first marriage, John, eventually joined the new family in Plymouth. William and Alice had three more children. And very slowly, very slowly, against all odds, the colony began to grow roots. In 1630, the now governor Bradford started writing the vital history volume he called of Plymouth Plantation. It was never a perfect colony, there is no such thing. But the core held because its substance was their Christian faith and devotion to Scripture. Meanwhile, as the tiny little outpost stabilized, forces beyond their control were brewing. Back in England, there was a new king, new pressures and it threatened the spiritual cousins that the Pilgrims had left behind. Ships were now being outfitted for Exodus. Plymouth was about to get some new neighbors. The best summer memories are made outside. And L.L. bean has the clothing and gear you need to make these memories. Their effortless styles are created for summers spent outside side with family and friends, like hand sewn boat shoes, coastal cotton sweaters, rugged polos, and of course the iconic boat and tote which has been made right here in Maine since 1944. L.L. bean be an outsider. Visit llbean.com to learn more. You ever look at your monthly bills and you feel like you're just playing defense? Not getting ahead, just trying to keep everything from getting worse. Groceries go up, gas goes up, utilities go up, and somewhere along the way, credit cards start filling in the gaps just to keep things moving. And before you know it, you're not just paying for what you bought, you're paying interest, crippling interest, just to survive. That's why I want you to know about American Financing. They're helping homeowners use their equity that they've built up to pay off that high interest debt and restructure things in a way that can actually work for you. So instead of watching your money disappear into 20% interest, you're putting it back into your own home with rates currently in the fives. Now here's what you can do. On average, people are saving about $800 a month just by calling American Financing. That's real money back in your pocket. Not a trick, not temporary fix, a reset. And so when you start playing offense again, everything will feel different. It's American Financing, America's home for home loans. 8009-0624-4080-0906-2440 or visit american financing.net hey, if you're enjoying this, you want to keep going, you don't have to wait a week for the next episode. Torch insiders already have access to the first 10 episodes of the American Story right now ad free. Just go to glenn beck.com torch and unlock the full experience today. In the 1620s, England's political and religious landscape grew increasingly hostile towards the Puritans. Remember, these were not the full separatists that the Pilgrims were, who had entirely cut ties with the Church of England. The Puritans were the reformers determined to cleanse the church while staying within the fold. But the tensions escalated after Charles I took the throne in 1625. His policies enforced Anglican ceremonies that Pilgrims saw as idolatrous ministers were suspended. They were jailed for non Compliance congregations faced fines, or even worse. Many decided to truly worship freely. Leaving England was their only option. In 1629, a savvy group of Puritans and merchants persuaded King Charles, ironically the very man persecuting them, to grant a charter for the Massachusetts Bay Company, claiming land north of Plymouth. Initially viewed as a commercial venture for fur trading and fishing, it transformed under its Puritan directors. They were led by John Winthrop. He was a respected lawyer, driven by his deep, deep faith. Winthrop and his allies envisioned the colony as a sanctuary for persecuted Puritans and a model wilderness Zion, a society that would embody godly principles. Their charter had one key loophole. Unlike the Virginia Company, theirs did not require the company's headquarters to be in London. This allowed Puritans to relocate governance to America. Stockholders who were not on board with this plan resigned. Puritans took control and elected John Winthrop as the future colony's governor. At 40 years old, Winthrop became the Moses of this Puritan exodus. In 1630, he led 700 colonists aboard 11 ships, launching the Great Migration, a 16 year wave that brought over 20,000 Puritans to New England. They weren't poor refugees, but often middle class families with skills and resources who could fund churches, schools and farms. On the flagship Arabella, Winthrop composed a sermon he titled A Model for Christian Charity. It outlined their covenant, communal support, humility and a divine purpose. He famously declared, for we must consider
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that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. If we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.
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Crossing the Atlantic was the Puritans declaration of independence from the Church of England. They planned to create a model society for proper worship, stripping away Catholic and Anglican rituals, fostering communal faith and basing laws and government on biblical precepts. In popular culture, Puritans always get a bad rap. They're portrayed as stern, scowling killjoys, witch hunters obsessed with sin. And a lot of that is due to the works of somebody like Nathaniel Hawthorne. He wrote a novel in 1850 called the Scarlet Letter, or Arthur Miller's 1953 play the Crucible. These stories amplify Puritan flaws for dramatic effect and the fictionalized versions that created the stereotype that just stuck. But the reality was much more human. An honest look reveals that Puritans were complex. Devout, yes, but not humorless prudes. They drank beer as a staple. They wore colorful Clothing, not just black. And they celebrated sex within marriage as a gift from God. They were highly literate. They insisted on education for all so individuals could read the bible themselves. In 1636 they founded Harvard University to train ministers, ensuring an educated clergy. Their society drew from the whole Bible to emphasize family, community and moral discipline. They built a government that in hindsight looks like a practice run for the later American institutions. As the English population grew in Massachusetts, Bay Colony power evolved from the original tight circle led by John Winthrop to a broader representative system. Official members of the Puritan churches, called Freemen were allowed to vote. Freemen elected two or three deputies from each town who had to serve as a representative. By 1644 they had a two house legislature and Scripture was always consulted as their standard in making laws. The Puritan experiment largely worked and New England's colonies thrived compared to those in the South. Fewer indentured servants meant less transient labor. There was no planter elite class system, so there was more equality in Puritan society. More women, more intact families fostered stability and population growth. The cooler and healthier climate reduced diseases like malaria that plagued Virginia. The towns were compact, centered around a meeting house and promoted communal oversight and support. It's really a modern day cliche that these New England settlers simply landed and started stealing land from the American natives. Reality was much, much different. Yes, conflicts arose, tons of misunderstandings, violence and atrocities committed by both sides in the fog of culture clashes. Yet the Pilgrims and Puritans frequently negotiated land deals with tribes agreeing on payments in material goods that the Indians valued. Both parties signed treaties voluntarily, though the concepts of ownership differed and often led to further conflict. Still, many of the transactions were fair by contemporary standards, not outright theft. In the Puritans relationship with the Indians, it was important for them to share their Christian faith. No one was dedicated more to this outreach than John Elliot. He was a missionary who arrived in 1631. Known as the Apostles to the Indians, Eliot immersed himself in the Algonquin culture, learning the language and creating a written form since none existed. For over a decade he translated the Bible, publishing the first Indian language edition in 1663. It was the first Bible printed in America. With his missionary partner Daniel Gookin, he evangelized the Massachusetts Algonquin tribe for over 40 years. And Eliot traveled tirelessly to villages preaching and teaching. By 1674 the so called praying Indian communities, which were Christian native villages, numbered 3,600 converts. The villages offered education, agriculture and self governance which were often viewed as threats to traditional Indian society. Because their new Christian faith led them to reject certain native customs like ritual torture, polygamy and shaman practices. The praying Indians sowed seeds of resentment in their original tribes. Tensions started to simmer. John Elliot's work, meant for harmony unwittingly fueled divisions that would explode into catastrophe. For more of the history that inspired this podcast series, be sure to read the American Story, the Beginnings by David Barton and Tim Barton, available now@wallbuilders.com.
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On 10th February 1676 came the Indians with great numbers upon Lancaster. Their first coming was about sun rising. Hearing the noise of some guns, we looked out. Several houses were burning and the smoke ascending to heaven. There were five persons taken in one house. The father and the mother and a suckling child which the Indians knocked on the the head. The other two they took and carried away alive. There were two others who were set upon. One was knocked on the head, the other escaped. Another there was who running along was shot and wounded and fell down. He begged of them his life, promising them money, but they would not hearken to him, but knocked him in the head and stripped him naked and split open his bowels. At length they came and beset our own house. They shot against the house so that the bullets seemed to fly like hail, and quickly they wounded one man among us, then another, and then a third. Some in our house were fighting for their lives, others wallowing in their blood. The house on fire owed our heads and the bloody heathen ready to knock us on the head if we stirred out. Then I took my children and one of my sisters hers to go forth and leave the house. My brother in law being before wounded in defending the house in or near the throat, fell down dead whereat the Indians scornfully shouted and hallooed and were presently upon him stripping off his clothes, the bullets flying thick. One went through my side and the same as would seem through the bowels and hand of my dear child in my arms. Thus were we butchered by those merciless heathen standing amazed with the blood running down to our heels.
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That is from the written account of Mary Rowlandson, the wife of puritan minister who lived in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Mary and her three children were taken hostage and held for three months until colonists scraped together enough money to pay the ransom of £20. Her six year old daughter Sarah died from a gunshot wound a week into captivity. She was just one of hundreds of victims on both sides of a vicious bloody conflict known as King Philip's War. In 1621 treaty between the Pilgrims led William Bradford and the Wampanoag tribe led by Massasoi, lasted an amazing 54 years. No other historic treaty with Native Americans lasted longer than that one. But this piece, like a rope in the salt water, eventually frayed. And when it fell apart, it did so in a tragic fashion. Chief Massasoit died in 1661. His firstborn and successor died the following year. So leadership then passed to Massasoit's second son, Metacom, whom the English called King Philip. Metacom looked at the growing villages of Christian Indians, the land deals and constantly arriving ships, and saw a future that he did not want. Then the spark, a praying Indian named John Sassamon, educated, bilingual, reported to the Plymouth colonists that Metacom had planned war. A few days later, Sassamon's body was discovered under the ice of a pond. Plymouth tried and hanged three Wampanoags for the murder. To many Natives, the trial felt like English law crossing into their sovereignty. To many colonists, it felt like justice. To Chief Metacon, it was a call to arms. His alliance of tribes launched attacks designed to erase English towns entirely. Every English settler in Massachusetts, Rhode island and Connecticut was to be killed. No exceptions. The plan was total war. Starting in June 1675 and continuing for a year. Raids torched the interior of Massachusetts. Entire settlements were destroyed. Many Christian Indians fought with the colonists against Metacon. Others were suspected by both sides, confined or killed. The war was not a simple raceline. It was, at its awful core, a collision over Christianity, sovereignty and survival. Atrocities mounted on both sides. Scalps taken, heads on spike. Villages burned. To the. One of the most modern allegations is that King Philip's war was the result of Indians pushing back against the greedy, land grabbing colonists. That Indians were simply trying to regain territory that was actually rightfully theirs. But Governor Josiah Winslow disagreed. I think I can clearly say that before these present troubles broke out, the English did not possess one foot of
- [42:58]
B
land in this colony, but what was fairly obtained by honest purchase of the Indian proprietors.
- [43:06]
A
Many today reject this statement, accusing the colonists of taking an unfair advantage of the Indians that they gave Natives much less than what the land was worth. But this claim is misleading. It's a negotiated deal. Whenever the colonists and Indians negotiated a deal, each side voluntarily agreed to the terms. If they had not, then they wouldn't have signed it. Values and worldviews certainly clashed, but agreements were mutual. For Metacom's forces. Supplies dwindled, disease ravaged the ranks. In August 1676, Metacom was tracked down by the English and Indian allies. A Christian Indian who went by the name of of John Alderman shot him dead. The captain of the militia ordered that because Medicom had left so many European bodies to rot above ground, quote, not
- [44:05]
B
one of his bones should be buried.
- [44:08]
A
They quartered Medicon's body and sent it to pieces to towns all across New England. His head was posted on a stake and displayed in Plymouth. For decades, King Philip's war ravaged New England. The devastation set back English colonization by 30 years. And of the 90 towns in Massachusetts, 12 were completely destroyed, with 40 more badly damaged. Eight percent of adult white males died. Perhaps as many as 3,000 natives were killed. The praying Indian population was cut in half. The war resulted in the highest casualty rate by percentage of total population of any war in American history. William Bradford governed Plymouth until 1656, dying the following year at 68. His descendants include Noah Webster, the dictionary guy, the founder of Kodak, George Eastman, Julia Child, Norman Rockwell, presidents like John Adams, Zachary Taylor and James garfield. There are 10 million living Americans descended from these original passengers on the Mayflower. By 1691, Plymouth was absorbed into the much larger Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Separatists were no longer separate, but their deep commitment to God, community, self government and the rule of law took deep root and blossomed all over the next century in America. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't utopia. But much that is still good and right in the DNA of United States of America today can be found and traced right back to that band of religious rebels crammed shoulder to shoulder together in the Mayflower. William Bradford, looking back, wrote the line that feels like a benediction.
- [45:55]
B
Thus, out of small beginnings, greater things have been produced by his hand that made all things of nothing and gives being to all things that are. And as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea, in some sort, to our whole nation. Let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.
- [46:20]
A
In 1835, descendants erected an obelisk to mark Bradford's gravesite and burial hill in Plymouth. Chiseled into the stone is a wise warning written in Latin, which what our fathers with so much difficulty attained, do not basely relinquish. More dark times lay ahead for those colonies, but so did by God's grace revival.
- [46:51]
C
Coming up on the American story, the Beginnings.
- [46:55]
A
Then something goes wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. The girls begin barking like dogs. They shriek without warning, speaking strange unintelligible words. They clutch their heads in agony, convulsing, writhing on the floor, and curl themselves under the furniture as though trying to escape invisible claws. The town, Dr. William Griggs. He's quickly summoned. He examines them, his face growing more and more pale. He can't detect the obvious physical cause, and so he provides the only diagnosis a Puritan village would accept. In New England in the late 1600s, the girls have been bewitched. Just a reminder, I'd love you to rate and subscribe to the podcast and pass this on to a friend so it can be discovered by other people. I sold my car in Carvana last night. Well, that's cool.
- [48:12]
B
No, you don't understand.
- [48:14]
A
It went perfectly. Real offer down to the penny. They're picking it up tomorrow. Nothing went wrong.
- [48:18]
C
So what's the problem?
- [48:20]
A
That is the problem. Nothing in my life goes to smoothing. I'm waiting for the catch.
- [48:23]
C
Maybe there's no catch.
- [48:25]
A
That's exactly what a catch would want me to think.
- [48:27]
C
Wow. You need to relax.
- [48:29]
A
I need to knock on wood. Do we have wood?
- [48:30]
B
Is this table wood?
- [48:31]
A
I think it's laminate. Okay.
- [48:32]
B
Yeah, that's good.
- [48:33]
A
That's close enough. Car selling without a catch. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pick up fees may apply.