One of the first Protestant groups to emigrate, later known as Pilgrims, professed an unorthodox view known as separatism. These Separatists sought to withdraw — or separate — from the Church of England, which they considered hopelessly corrupt. William Bradford, a leader of the Separatists, believed that America promised to better protect and preserve their community. Separatists obtained permission to settle in the extensive territory granted to the Virginia Company. In August 1620, the Pilgrim families boarded the Mayflower, and after eleven weeks at sea all but one of the 102 immigrants arrived in present-day Massachusetts.

The Pilgrims drew up the Mayflower Compact on the day they arrived. They pledged to “covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation.” The signers (all men) agreed to enact and obey necessary and just laws.

The Pilgrims settled at Plymouth and elected William Bradford their governor. That first winter, which they spent aboard their ship, “was most sad and lamentable,” Bradford wrote later. “In two or three months’ time half of [our] company died.”

In the spring, Indians rescued the floundering Plymouth settlement. First Samoset and then Squanto befriended the settlers. Samoset arranged for the Pilgrims to meet and establish good relations with Massasoit, the chief of the Wampanoag Indians, whose territory included Plymouth. With the Indians’ guidance, the Pilgrims managed to harvest enough food to guarantee their survival through the coming winter, an occasion they celebrated in the fall of 1621 with a feast of thanksgiving attended by Massasoit and other Wampanoags.

The Pilgrims persisted, living simply and coexisting in relative peace with the Indians. By 1630, Plymouth had become a small permanent settlement, but it failed to attract many other English Puritans.

Table 4.1 Pilgrims and Puritans