Why Did The Pilgrims Leave England?

Americans have the Pilgrims to thank for the founding of the United States of America. The pilgrims were brave men and women that left their homes in England and came to a new land to make a life. The world was a distinctly different place then. The time was just after the Great Reformation, when the Protestants broke away from the Catholic Church. At about the same time, England broke with the Catholic Church and created the Church of England. The freedoms that exist today to worship any God were not practiced in England at the time of the Pilgrims. The King had the power to declare the state religion and require everyone to attend services and worship in only that way. This did not please the Pilgrims.

When King James took the throne, the Pilgrams thought that he might grant them the ability to set up their own church and practice their religion as they saw fit. The King was not clear that he would allow them them do this and so they decided to immigrate to Holland where there was religious freedom.

In 1609, they left England and moved to Holland. They lived there for twelve years until they realized that they would never be allowed to live autonomously. They also did not like the influence the Dutch were having on their children.

A small group of Pilgrims decided that the only way they would be able to live life as they saw fit and practice their religion as they felt it should would be to go to a brand new place.

Religious Beliefs of the Pilgrims

The Pilgrims were made up of a group of people that did not believe that the break with the Catholic Church had gone far enough and who believed that church should be simple and based on teaching the Bible.

This belief was not accepted in England and thus the pilgrim's suffered persecution for their practices. They were also not permitted to exercise their religious beliefs: the Act of Uniformity passed in 1559 declared that every citizen must attend services and follow the traditions of the Church of England.

Coming to America

In 1620, the Pilgrims traveled back to England to set sail for America on the Mayflower. The voyage would take 65 days to make and the Pilgrims would arrive in November. The 110 Pilgrims had to endure the rigors of sea travel, including cold meals because of the hazard of fire on a wooden boat, and suffer the cold weather from storms. Of the 110 original Pilgrims, all except one made it to the New World. Many were sick from the voyage.

Upon reaching landfall, they left the ship and settled in Plymouth. Plymouth offered a deep harbor and was situated near a large stream that provided fish for food. The cold and lack of provisions took its toll on the Pilgrims. The land was already in the grasp of winter and more than half of the Pilgrims died during that first winter as they tried to set up a settlement.

Samoset and Squanto

As the winter finally past into spring, the weather eased and the Pilgrims had a much better existance. In March, an Indian brave walked into the camp and greeted them in English. His name was Samoset. He had learned English from passing ship captains. He later brought another Indian that understood English much better and his name was Squanto. Squanto had voyaged to both England and Spain. He was invaluable to the Pilgrims. He taught them the skills to be able to feed themselves from the land:

• He instructed them on how to recover sap from maple trees.
• He taught how to plant corn.
• He provided fertilizer made from fish parts so that the plants would grow strong and provide a good yield.
• He shows them how to plant other vegetables with the corn to maximize yields.
• He showed them how to use local plants for medicinal purposes.
• He taught them about the plants that were safe to eat.

By the end of the summer that first year, they had plenty of food stored for the long winter ahead. There were various vegetables, fruits, corn, smoked meat and salt cured fish. Their settlement buildings were finished, and they were ready to begin the long process of colonizing America and creating the United States as people know it today.