Journal #3 William Bradford: A Leader in Rationalization?

QUOTE:

“In these hard times and difficult beginnings they found some discontents and murmurings arise amongst some, and mutinous speeches and carriages in other; but they were soon quelled and overcome by the wisdom, patience, and just equal carriage of things by the governor and better part, which clave faithfully together in the main” (Bradford 121).


SUMMARY:

Bradford is writing about how difficult their journey was, only to find out how hard they must work to survive once they land. They had no family or friends in the new land, so they had to stick even closer together as a group.


RESPONSE:

Before I immediately assume the Pilgrims were simply greedy and detrimental to the Native Americans and the new land, I have to remind myself just how intense and extremely tough their experience was. They had “no friends to welcome them, nor inns to entertain or refresh their weatherbeaten bodies” (Bradford 115), and sadly, “in two or three months’ time half of their company died, especially in January and February” (Bradford 121). This describes just a small portion of the hardships endured by the surviving Pilgrims, however, looking at them from a slightly biased opinion, I can’t help but have a lack of sympathy for the Pilgrims.

To start out, the Pilgrims assumed all of their good luck, as far as finding Native American stockpiles of food and robbing graves, had to be gifts from God. Since I don’t think they were that naïve, it seems like their survival depended on their ability to justify their thefts. Perhaps they really truly believed God was “on their side” though; in that case, I guess they could have assumed God came down and placed that corn neatly in the ground for them to find. Then I guess I have to turn my attention on the fact the Pilgrims came to America to have freedom to practice their religion, but they condemned anyone else who practiced a different religion than them?

I think it’s just really hard for someone like me, who has grown up in a household that tries to be at least politically correct and fair, to really sympathize with the Pilgrims. Especially reading Bradford’s letters, and seeing him describe natives as “savages” when they actually seem far better off (excluding the plague) than the Pilgrims, is difficult to take.