The First Thanksgiving: Liberty at Last!

Per Scriptum E. Wesley - Mackinac Center Intern

Fleeing the prisons in England and the threat of foreign invasion in Holland, a band of so-called "Separatists" left Europe forever aboard the crowded Mayflower to found the freest nation the world has yet seen. It is no accident that those who search for freedom find it. In the fall of 1621, these Pilgrims feasted to give thanks to God for His providence in their trek to safety.

The Pilgrims left Europe for many reasons. After Queen Mary's death, the episcopal party returned in earnest under Queen Elizabeth, alienating the more Calvinistic sects. Persecution soon followed, and some of the Calvinists fled to Holland. While at Leyden in Holland, these Separatists were plagued with persistent poverty and yet more church dissensions. At the schools, teachers were split between Calvinism and Arminianism. In other words, the Separatists left England only to find Holland in a similar situation. On top of this, the Twelve Years' Truce between Spain and Holland had ended during the Separatists' stay in Holland, "and there was nothing but the beating of drums and preparation for war" (Bradford 23). Invasion from pro-Catholic Spain may this time prove more costly for Protestantism than it had in 1588. "The Spaniard might prove as cruel as the savage of America, and the famine and pestilence as sore in Holland as across the seas" (ibid). A pilgrimage to America would certainly free the Separatists from both the divisions within the church and the clutches of Spain.

After having obtained a patent from the Virginia Company, the Pilgrims set out from Holland to England, and from England to America. The voyage was rough, including such difficulties as sea-sickness, repeated storms, and a broken main beam. For the Pilgrims, the worst trial of all was the cursing of the sailors, which to the pious Pilgrims would be something akin to someone today being repeatedly subjected to verbal racial abuse. They were Christians, and such language denigrated their very way of life (not to mention their God). Through it all, the Pilgrims stood still and saw the salvation of the Lord (Exodus 14:13). Mimicking the journey of the Israelites to freedom from Egypt, William Bradford wrote of the voyage:

What, then, could now sustain them but the spirit of God, and His grace? Ought not the children of their fathers rightly to say: Our fathers were Englishmen who came over the great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity.... Let them therefore praise the Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure forever. Yea, let them that have been redeemed of the Lord, show how He hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered forth into the desert-wilderness, out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness, and His wonderful works before the sons of men! (Bradford 66).

Hunger and thirst should have killed every last one of them had the Indians been hostile. However, Chief Massasoit had traded with the English and knew some of the language. Squanto, who had been shipped to England, Newfoundland, and finally Cape Cod, knew even more English than Massasoit. They both helped the Pilgrims grow corn and forage for meat. By autumn 1621, the Pilgrims had gathered quite a store of supplies.

Only two known original accounts exist of the first thanksgiving: William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation and Edward Winslow's Mourt's Relation. Bradford's account is rather unadorned on the subject:

They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to prepare their houses for the winter, being well recovered in health and strength, and plentifully provisioned; for while some had been thus employed in affairs away from home, others were occupied in fishing for cod, bass, and other fish, of which they caught a good quantity, and every family having their portion. All the summer there was no want. And now, as winter approached, wild fowl began to arrive, of which there were plenty when they came here first, though afterward they became more scarce. As well as wild fowl, they got abundance of wild turkeys, besides venison, etc. Each person had about a peck of meal a week, or now, since harvest, Indian corn in the proportion; and afterward many wrote at length about their plenty to their friends in England, --not feigned but true reports (Bradford 89).

Bradford makes no mention of a specific feast, but does mention that others wrote about "their plenty." One of which was Edward Winslow, who wrote the following in a letter (in original spelling):

Our Corne did
proue well, & God be praysed, Ave had a good increase of Indian-
Come, and our Barly indifferent good, but our Pease not worth the
gathering, for we feared they were too late sowne, they came vp
very well, and blossomed, but the Sunne parched them in the blossome;
our harvest being gotten in, our Governour sent foure men
on fowling, that so we might after a more speciall manner reioyce
together, after we had gathered the fruit of our labours ; they foure
in one day killed as much fowle, as with a little helpe beside,
served the Company almost a weeke, at which time amongst
other Recreations, we exercised our Armes, many of the Indians
coming amongst vs, and amongst the rest their greatest King
Massasoyt, witli some nintie men, whom for three dayes we entertained
and feasted, and they went out and killed fiue Deere,
which they hrought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governour,
and vpoa the Captaine, and others. And although it be not
alwayes so plentifull, as it was at this time with vs, yet by the
goodnesse of God, we are so farre from want, that we often M'ish
you partakers of our plentie...

Resting in him
Your louing Friend.
E. W. (Winslow)

These, at least, were Calvinists who knew how to feast (a week long)! Winslow's joy was overwhelming, and his peace rested in God: "resting in him." William Bradford also was far from dry when it came to thanking God in a new place of liberty: "And thus they found the Lord to be with them in all their ways, and to bless their outgoings and incomings, for which let His holy name have the praise forever, to all posterity" (Bradford 89).

Image of Thanksgiving-Brownscombe from Wikimedia
Bradford, William. Of Plymouth Plantation: Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement 1608-1650. San Antonio: The Vision Forum, Inc., 2008. Print.