Interesting Providences: Bradford Manuscript

William Bradford, second Governor and historian of the Pilgrims, began his “journal” about ten years after they landed.  With providential foresight, he said the purpose of history was, “That their children may see with what difficulties their fathers wrestled in going through these things in their first beginnings, and how God brought them along notwithstanding…

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Family: What made Plymouth Unique

Historian and Director Emeritus of the Pilgrim Society Peggy Baker has noted, “Family is at the heart of the Pilgrim story….that makes Plymouth Colony unique amid a sea of other settlements – English, Dutch, French, and Spanish alike – that were almost exclusively masculine… The Separatist movement, from its earliest beginnings, was built around strong…

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Pastor John Robinson and the Synod of Dort

During the time the Pilgrims were staying in Leyden a famous synod was called by the Dutch Reformed Church to settle a doctrinal dispute initiated by Jacob Arminius.  Though Jacob had already died, his disciples presented their objections to the teachings of John Calvin.  This challenge was called the Remonstrance of 1610.  Those defending the…

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Why They Came: 400 Years

Consider the number 400.  The Hebrew Republic, a government built on the family, self-rule, local control and universal education with separation of powers appeared in ancient Israel from 1450 to 1050 BC.  Unique among all the ancient nations and Empires, it had the highest literacy and the greatest freedom for the individual.  However, the individual…

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The Grand Union Flag of 1776

On January 1, 1776, while the British laid siege to Boston, George Washington raised the Grand Union Flag on Prospect Hill near his headquarters in Cambridge. It was the first flag of the united colonies.  It was known as the Congress Colors, the First Navy Ensign and the Cambridge Flag and could be considered the…

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