Pilgrims' Progress? (PC vs. Thanksgiving)

The Washington Times ^ | Nov. 25, 2003 | Robert Stacy McCain

[Madstrider]

The Pilgrims were brave Christians who risked everything to gain religious freedom in the New World. Or they were fanatical European interlopers, guilty of "genocide" against American Indians. Multiculturalism has taken its toll on the reputation of the small band of Protestant separatists who landed at Plymouth Rock in November 1620.

[Caipirabob]

BUMP

Our family arrived in 1635 in Plymouth colony. I'll have to look up the name of the ship again, it's in the book on our history. Neat stuff.

[ppaul]

Our family arrived in 1635 in Plymouth colony.

What a tremendous heritage you have! Few people realize that America was founded because a devout band of non-conformist Christians lived and breathed the covenant promises of Jesus Christ. Though the Pilgrims left England because of religious persecution, they actually left Holland to protect their children from ungodly influences. These parents risked everything to protect their young. William Bradford boldly proclaimed that these families were willing to sacrifice their lives, if necessary, "even though they [the Pilgrims] be but stepping stones" for future generations of Christians they would never meet.

Of Plymouth Plantation is one of the most inspirational books I have ever read. It is the true story of 50 "average" people who changed the world because they shared a multi-generational vision. After all, how can we truly appreciate the significance of Thanksgiving if we do not know the real story?

[meowmeow]

My kind of book!

My kin were a couple shiploads after the Mayflower. A history to be proud of! Screw PC.

The family line also shows a couple of Indian women, each of whom had 10+ kids and lived with the husband until a ripe old age. The white man couldn't have been that bad ;)

[Northern Yankee]

In our school we celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims, and the joint declaration of friendship between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe. (The treaty lasted for 60 years.)

If we're in violation of any federal law I am unaware of it, and could really care less.

Certainly the tribe aided the Pilgrims through that first winter, but few people seem to know that Plimoth Colony really didn't start to flourish until the free enterprise system was put in place. They had started a collective commune at the beginning of the colony's existence and it failed.(The Bradford Journals have a great accounting of this.)

I am tired of hearing about the "heartless" white man. Native American tribes continued the fight for dominance over other tribes for hundreds of years. The Lakota were feared by many tribes, as were the Huron, Pawnee, and the Chippewea. They ensloved their captives, or killed and ate their enemies.

No... we'll continue to celebrate the first Thanksgiving, and thank God that we live in such a wonderful Country where the work and sacrifice of millions have given us the precious freedoms and liberties we enjoy today.

[Caipirabob]

Thank you!

I'm laughing because I got curious and looked up an archive of Plymouth colony archives. I actually saw my actual NAMESAKE listed for an event which took place in the 1640's. Apparently there was some sort of indenturement or something. Here's the link:

AH-HAH! Here's the boat we came in on!

[Northern Yankee]

That would be ...Enslaved their captives.

Where's my coffee?

[dakine]

I just ask anyone that if the Indians were able to Invent/create a better musket(or a nuke for that matter) they would have used them to annilate the "evil" white man from Europe.

[Corin Stormhands]

No... we'll continue to celebrate the first Thanksgiving...

You mean the REAL first Thanksgiving in Virginia?

America's First Official Thanksgiving - 1619

[Caipirabob]

Apparently there was some sort of indenturement or something.

Hey! Don't I get reparations because of this or something? At least a hunk-o-gub-mint-cheez (I like the yellow cheez)? Where's my 40 acres and a mule? How about a Lexus? (Oh, already have one...)

If my kin saw this, he'd most likely give me "a rightous beating"...

All joking aside, GOD BLESS AMERICA! HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL!

[Northern Yankee]

Morning Sarge! (dakine) fellow USAF serviceman...

Exactly! No matter who would have settled here, the fight for dominance would have ensued.

Corin... Does that mean we get another Thanksgiving Holiday to celebrate? I'll take it!

[grania]

Mr. James said the Pilgrims "introduced sexism, racism, anti-lesbian and gay bigotry,

Huh????? The indians were gay?

[dakine]

By looking at your profile, I see you got out of A.F., I'm at 22 years and thinking of doing another 2-4 years, I'm getting too old for this....

[mewzilla]

Ours came over just a couple of years later. They got while the gettin' was good :) And we're still giving thanks.

[50sDad]

Yep. History belongs to the victors.

At one time, the "noble savages" down in Middle America were cutting each other's hearts out with obsidian knives, and slavery between tribes was not unknown. In came our Founders, who lived in peace for a while, but in any environment, from wolf to human, competition for the area means there will usually be warfare. My (Cursed European!) ancestors were simply better fighters. You hear all kinds of things about the nobility of battle. My people kicked @$$ with better tech. If our Amerindian forebearers had the chance to be better killers, it would be they who owned everything now.

Did we do a poor job of taking care of the Indians? Yep. Did we repeatedly bargain in bad faith? To my embarassment, yep. Should we give them all the casinos? Yep...I would like to see them out of my state and in the hands of the Tribes, but taxed like anyone else. (If my people are stupid enough to lose their houses gambling, the Noble Savages deserve the money.) But did we win because we were better killers? Yep. And if they were "better warriors" they'd be typing this.

[50sDad]

Huh????? The indians were gay?

Explains the long hair and all the jewelry.

[Corin Stormhands]

Corin... Does that mean we get another Thanksgiving Holiday to celebrate?

Well, as a Virginian it's just my duty to point out the history lesson. Not that I have anything against the Pilgrims. They were good folk.

And, what the heck? Any excuse to put on another big feed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

[Corin Stormhands]

Huh????? The indians were gay?

[BubbaBasher]

http://www.familytravelfiles.com/ezine/articles/518.asp

Despite the popular conception that New Englanders held the first Thanksgiving, the first Thanksgiving in English-speaking America actually took place in Virginia - more than a year before the Mayflower set sail for Plymouth.

Massachusetts-native President John F. Kennedy acknowledged Virginia's claim in his official Thanksgiving Day Proclamation for 1963 - less than three weeks before his death; and 100 years before that, President Abraham Lincoln, who visited Berkeley once, also acknowledged Virginia's first-Thanksgiving claim. To this day, Virginia continues to commemorate its noteworthy event the first Sunday each November at Berkeley Plantation, the original Thanksgiving site.

The First Thanksgiving at Berkeley History records that the first Thanksgiving occurred when Captain John Woodlief - a veteran of Jamestown who had survived its "starving time" of 1608 and 1609 - led his crew and passengers from their ship to a grassy slope along the James River for the New World's first Thanksgiving service on Dec. 4, 1619. There, the English colonists dropped to their knees and prayed as the British company expedition sponsor had instructed.

Today, on the site where Woodlief knelt, a brick gazebo contains the following inscribed words: "Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God."

Each year, visitors to Berkeley on Nov. 1 can witness the reading of a proclamation - commemorating Berkeley's first Thanksgiving 379 years ago - at 2 p.m. In addition, a traditional Thanksgiving meal will be served to patrons at the Coach House Tavern.

Visitors to Berkeley any time of year won't want to miss touring the grounds, gardens and the three-story manor house to learn other interesting Berkeley facts. For example, Berkeley stakes a claim as the site of the first distillation of bourbon whiskey in America, when Episcopal missionary George Thorpe produced the beverage and declared it "much better than British ale."

The brick home, built in 1726 and among the earliest of the Georgian plantation dwellings, has a number of presidential connections. Berkeley is the birthplace of a signer of the Declaration of Independence and of ninth U.S. President William Henry Harrison and the ancestral home of 23rd U.S. President Benjamin Harrison. In earlier days - and as one of the James River plantations that became the focal point of colonial Virginia's economic, cultural and social life - Berkeley hosted more than 10 presidents including George Washington.

Lincoln, the first president to designate a November Thursday as Thanksgiving Day, visited Berkeley on July 8, 1862, to confer with Union General George McClellan, headquartered in the mansion. That same summer, Berkeley garnered another first when Union General Daniel A. Butterfield composed the "Taps" melody, customarily used as a "lights out" bugle call, while camped on the grounds.

1(804) 829-6018 or www.berkeleyplantation.com . Ages 10 or older.

Other Thanksgiving Events While Virginia's Thanksgiving legacy resides at Berkeley, other Virginia locations find their own ways to celebrate the holiday.

Events November Charles City. The first Thanksgiving at Berkley Plantation. A free ceremony commemorating the first Thanksgiving ceremony of the English colonists at Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County at 2 p.m. $ for house tours and meal. Berkeley Plantation, 12602 Harrison Landing Road. 1(434) 829-6018. Tradition Thanksgiving meal offered at Coach House Tavern; 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; reservations required by calling 1-800-291-6003.

Williamsburg. Foods and Feasts of Colonial Virginia. Explore the 17th- and 18th-century food ways of Virginia during this Thanksgiving holiday event. At Jamestown Settlement, learn how food was gathered, preserved and prepared by Jamestown's colonists and the Powhatan Indians. 1-888-JYF-IN-VA or 1(757) 253-4838.

Yorktown. At Yorktown Victory Center, learn about food of soldiers during the American Revolution and of farmers in the 1780s. $. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. 1-888-JYF-IN-VA or 1(757) 253-4838.

[tubebender]

We lived across the street from some Bradfords in the sixties. The younger boy went on to become a school principal and talked about his ancestors from Plymouth. His name was Russel the same as his father. Both he and his sister died of cancer before 50 years of age...