Of Plymouth Plantation

Summary

William Bradford’s Of Plimoth Plantation is the principal narrative history of the Plymouth colony, written by its long-serving governor in the plain style he promised at the outset, “with singuler regard unto y^e simple trueth in all things.” The hosted text follows the 1898 official edition of the manuscript, printed at Boston by Wright and Potter for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and now circulated as Project Gutenberg ebook 24950. The spelling is Bradford’s own, not a modernization: y^e, togeather, civill body politick. Students should expect that difficulty and should be taught to read slowly, not to treat the spelling as a defect. The history begins in England and in Holland, with the Scrooby congregation’s decision to leave rather than conform. When they left Leyden, Bradford says, “they knew they were pilgrimes,” and lifted their eyes to heaven, “their dearest cuntrie.” After the crossing of 1620, the company covenanted, “solemnly & mutualy in y^e presence of God, and one of another,” to combine themselves “into a civill body politick.” That compact should be read beside the library’s Mayflower Compact page, which presents the same agreement in a modernized form. The first winter is told without decoration. In two or three months, Bradford writes, half the company died, “espetialy in Jan: & February,” so that “of 100. & odd persons, scarce 50. remained.” Later he records that “the living were scarce able to burie the dead.” Into that weakness came Tisquantum, whom Bradford calls Squanto, “a spetiall instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation,” who taught them where to set corn and take fish, and who remained until he died. Bradford also records the peace made with Massasoyt, the Wampanoag sachem, “which hath now continued this 24. years,” and he lists its terms: neither side is to injure the other; offenders are to be sent for punishment; takings are to be restored; each will aid the other if unjustly attacked; confederates are to be told of the peace; and men coming to the settlement are to leave their bows and arrows behind. The history does not pretend that later years were only a feast. It should be read with Mourt’s Relation for the harvest gathering of 1621, and with Edward Winslow’s Good Newes from New England for later friendship, suspicion, illness, and conflict. Bradford’s own later meditation is modest: “of so small beginings so great things should insue,” and “as one small candle may light a thousand, so y^e light here kindled hath shone to many.”

Plot or Argument

• From England and Holland to the sea

  Bradford begins with the congregation’s dissent in England, their years in Holland, and the decision to leave Leyden as pilgrimes looking toward heaven.

• The compact and the first winter

  After the 1620 crossing he records the civil compact made at Cape Cod, then the sickness in which half the company died and scarce fifty remained.

• Squanto and the peace with Massasoyt

  He tells how Tisquantum taught them to plant and fish, and how a formal peace with Massasoyt was made in six terms that, he says, had lasted twenty-four years.

• Later years and a small candle

  The later books follow planting, trade, church, and controversy, and they close in meditations on small beginnings and a light kindled at Plymouth.

Characters

• William Bradford, author and governor

  The narrator, who writes as a participant and as the colony’s long-serving governor, in his own spelling and plain style.

• Massasoyt, Wampanoag sachem

  The sachem with whom the colony made a formal peace whose terms Bradford lists, and whom later English spelling usually writes Massasoit.

• Tisquantum (Squanto), interpreter and guide

  A Native man of the place, called Squanto by Bradford, whom he names a special instrument of God for the colony’s good until his death.

• Edward Winslow, colleague and fellow writer

  A leading planter whose Mourt’s Relation and Good Newes from New England should be read beside this history.

Lessons

• Read the spelling as the author’s voice

  The 1898 official text keeps Bradford’s own spelling. Students should learn to hear y^e and togeather rather than treat them as errors to be silently modernized.

  • What does Bradford promise about his “plaine stile” and the “simple trueth”?
  • How does the original spelling change the way you hear the compact?

• The peace has terms

  Bradford does not only say that the English and Massasoyt were friends. He lists six conditions, including mutual aid and the leaving of bows and arrows. Accurate reading begins with those terms.

  • Which of the six terms is a promise of aid, and which is a rule about weapons?
  • How does this treaty language differ from a mere story of a feast?

• Providence and loss together

  Bradford can call Squanto a special instrument of God and, in the same history, say that the living were scarce able to bury the dead. Neither sentence should cancel the other.

  • How does Bradford describe the first winter without explaining it away?
  • What does he mean by calling Tisquantum an instrument sent of God?

Context

Bradford wrote as a governor of a small English plantation in New England, looking back from the 1630s and 1640s on a congregation that had left England and Holland and had lived, with Native neighbors, through dearth, harvest, and later controversy.

Composition

He began the manuscript in 1630 and carried the narrative through the later 1640s. The hosted text is the 1898 official edition of that manuscript, printed at Boston by Wright and Potter for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, now Project Gutenberg ebook 24950. The 1897 proceedings, the 1898 index, and transcriber notes are omitted.

Reception

The manuscript was long in private and official keeping before it became the standard narrative of Plymouth. It should be read with the 1622 Mourt’s Relation and Winslow’s 1624 Good Newes, which were published earlier and closer to some of the events.

Comparisons

• Mourt's Relation

  The 1622 journal, written with Edward Winslow, is the earliest published account of the first year and includes Winslow’s December 1621 harvest letter.

• Good Newes from New England

  Winslow’s 1624 sequel records later friendship, suspicion, Massasoit’s illness, and the conflict around Wessagusset, which Bradford’s history should be read against.

• The Mayflower Compact

  The library’s Mayflower Compact page presents the 1620 agreement in a modernized form; Bradford’s history preserves it in his own spelling.

• A Model of Christian Charity

  Winthrop’s 1630 lay sermon is a Massachusetts Bay reckoning with Christian community, written as Bradford was beginning this history of Plymouth.

• The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson

  Mary Rowlandson’s later captivity narrative is another New England primary source about war, providence, and Native neighbors, written in a different generation and a different conflict.

• The Pilgrim's Progress

  Bunyan’s allegory shares the name “pilgrim” in a spiritual sense; Bradford’s history uses “pilgrimes” of a particular congregation leaving Leyden.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The word “pilgrimes” in the departure from Leyden.
• The compact’s phrase “civill body politick,” in Bradford’s spelling.
• The first winter: “scarce 50. remained.”
• The six terms of the peace with Massasoyt.
• The later images of small beginnings and a small candle.

Key terms and names

Pilgrimes

Bradford’s word for the congregation leaving Leyden, looking toward heaven as their dearest country.

Civill body politick

The compact’s name for the civil government they combined themselves into at Cape Cod.

Squanto / Tisquantum

The Native interpreter whom Bradford calls a special instrument sent of God for their good.

Massasoyt

The Wampanoag sachem with whom Bradford records a peace of six terms.

Plain style

Bradford’s promised manner of writing, with a singular regard to the simple truth.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension When does Bradford say they knew they were pilgrimes, and what did they lift their eyes toward?
2. Comprehension What happened in the first winter, and how many of the company remained?
3. Comprehension What are two of the six terms of the peace with Massasoyt?
4. Interpretation Why does Bradford call Tisquantum a special instrument sent of God, and what limits should a reader keep on that claim?
5. Interpretation How does the original spelling of the compact change, or not change, its meaning?
6. Big Question How should a Christian reader hold together providence, mass death, and a formal peace with a Native sachem, without flattening any of the three?

Faith Connections

• Hebrews 11:13–16 (Scripture)

  The language of strangers and pilgrims on the earth is the biblical background Bradford’s “pilgrimes” would have recalled when leaving Leyden.

• Matthew 5:14–16 (Scripture)

  The image of a light that cannot be hid may be set beside Bradford’s small candle, without treating the gospel saying as a claim about English empire.

• Mourt's Relation and Good Newes from New England (Great Conversation)

  These earlier published accounts by Bradford and Winslow should be read with this history, especially for the harvest of 1621 and the later strain of 1622–1623.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Because the congregation had left England and Holland for conscience, and because God had, as Bradford tells it, both judged and preserved them, their small beginning may be remembered as a civil and a religious work, without denying the first winter’s dead or the terms of the peace with Massasoyt.

Rhetorical device: plain style. Bradford’s unadorned numbering of the dead, and his equally plain list of treaty terms, are the rhetoric of a governor who promised the simple truth.

Debate: Resolved: that Bradford’s history is better read as a record of covenant, loss, and negotiated peace than as a simple origin story of a nation.

Memory Work

they knew they were pilgrimes, & looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to y^e heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits.

as one small candle may light a thousand, so y^e light here kindled hath shone to many, yea in some sorte to our whole nation; let y^e glorious name of Jehova have all y^e praise.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Using Bradford’s own spelling, explain how Of Plymouth Plantation holds together the first winter, the peace with Massasoyt, and the claim of a light kindled at Plymouth.

Comparison with Mourt's Relation: Compare Bradford’s history with Mourt’s Relation. What does the 1622 journal give you that Bradford, writing later, does not, and what does Bradford add?

Medical Lens

Bradford’s account of the first winter is a primary description of mass death from scurvy and other diseases after a long voyage, in want of houses and comforts. It should be read as history, not as a medical diagnosis.

• The first winter, 1620–1621

  Bradford writes that in two or three months half the company died, especially in January and February, being infected with the scurvy and other diseases, so that of a hundred and odd persons scarce fifty remained.

  Starvation Nutrition Death Dying Fever Infection

Creative Prompts

• Essay

  Explain how Bradford can record both the first winter’s deaths and the peace with Massasoyt without turning either into a simple moral. Use at least three exact phrases from the hosted text.

• Classroom

  Copy the six terms of the peace in modern spelling on one side of a page and in Bradford’s spelling on the other. Then discuss what each term required of both sides.

• Dialogue

  Write a conversation in which Bradford, Winslow, and a student reader discuss why the word “pilgrimes” in the Leyden departure should not be confused with Bunyan’s later allegory.

Further Reading

• Mourt's Relation, William Bradford and Edward Winslow

  The 1622 journal of the first year, including Winslow’s harvest letter.

• Good Newes from New England, Edward Winslow

  Winslow’s 1624 sequel, needed for later years of the same relationship.

• The Mayflower Compact, The Mayflower company

  The library’s stand-alone page for the 1620 civil compact.

• William Bradford, Great Lives

  A short life of the governor and historian, in this library at /great-lives/william-bradford/.

• Massasoit (Ousamequin), Great Lives

  A short life of the Wampanoag sachem with whom Bradford recorded a formal peace.

• Tisquantum (Squanto), Great Lives

  A short life of the Patuxet interpreter Bradford called a special instrument sent of God.