The earliest evidence of Europeans coming to North America is attributed to the Norse or Vikings , the Germanic people from the Scandinavian region. Erik the Red from Greenland founded a settlement in the newly discovered land around the year 985. Ruins of Norse houses dating to that era were discovered in Newfoundland, Canada.
The land discovered beyond the Atlantic Ocean became the new destination of European explorers staking claim and building colonies on unoccupied territories. It was named America after the Italian adventurer Amerigo Vespucci, who wrote about his voyages to the “New World”.
In England in the 1600s, it was illegal to be part of any other church other than the Church of England. The Puritans was a religious sect of the Church of England given the name for their desire to “purify” the Church of England (Anglican) of practices and ceremonies not rooted in the Bible. Puritans believed that the Church of England had become too similar to the Roman Catholic Church.
The Separatists was a group of Puritans who established the Plymouth Colony in New England. Their demand for the formation of a new and separate congregation was radical and dangerous. They were harassed, fined or sent to jail for refusing to follow the teachings of the Church of England. Hoping to practice their own religion without fear of persecution, the Separatists fled to the Netherlands; then, eventually, to the “New World” on the ship Mayflower, to establish a new colony.
Majority of the Mayflower colonists were Separatists; although some were non-Separatist Puritans, servants or crew of sailors with no particular religious affiliation. To establish order in the community, they signed on November 23, 1620, the Mayflower Compact which laid the foundation of the new colony’s government.
On December 16, 1620, the Mayflower docked on the shores of an abandoned native village previously occupied by the Wampanoags. They began to build the town of Plymouth with the help and protection of these natives. Of the 102 passengers that sailed from England, only 52 people survived the first year. In the fall of 1621, the colonists celebrated their first harvest with a three-day feast together with their Wampanoag allies. This celebration is known today as the First Thanksgiving.
On the 300th anniversary of the signing of the Mayflower Compact, Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge, who became the 30th U.S. President, gave tribute to this agreement:
“The compact which they signed was an event of the greatest importance. It was the foundation of liberty based on law and order, and that tradition has been steadily upheld. They drew up a form of government which has been designated as the first real constitution of modern times. It was democratic, an acknowledgment of liberty under law and order and the giving to each person the right to participate in the government, while they promised to be obedient to the laws.
But the really wonderful thing was that they had the power and strength of character to abide by it and live by it from that day to this. Some governments are better than others. But any form of government is better than anarchy, and any attempt to tear down government is an attempt to wreck civilization.”
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