The Mayflower 400
This year marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower arriving in New England, on Nov. 11, 1620. The Pilgrims aboard the ship had been traveling for 66 days from Southampton, England. The ship sheltered in Cape Cod Bay until mid-December, when they moved to Plymouth Harbor and began to build their new settlement.
This week, The Mini Page learns more about who the Pilgrims were and their journey to North America.
Who were the Pilgrims?
In the 1600s in England, it was against the law to worship in any other church but the Church of England. But some people thought the Church of England was too much like the Roman Catholic Church and wanted to worship differently. They were called Separatists.
Some of the Separatists moved to Holland, where they could practice their faith more openly. But they were afraid of losing their English identity, and finding work was difficult. They decided to move to the Virginia Colony, which extended north to the Hudson River. They originally planned to settle near what is now New York City.
About 40 of the people aboard the Mayflower were not Separatists; the Pilgrims called them “strangers.”
Settling in
While the colonists built houses in Plymouth, they lived on the ship. Many of them became sick with scurvy (caused by not enough vitamin C) and pneumonia. About half the people who had set out from England on the Mayflower died within the first year.
The Mayflower Compact
When the Mayflower ended up in Massachusetts rather than in the Virginia Colony, the “strangers” didn’t think they needed to follow the rules that had been set out at the beginning of the journey. The Pilgrims believed they must establish some laws for the new settlement.
The Mayflower Compact said:
• colonists would remain loyal to King James.
• they would create and obey laws for the good of the colony.
Almost all of the adult male passengers of the Mayflower signed the document.