Karina Yanez
HIS/110
October 23, 2013
Sarah Farenick Pilgrims and Native Americans in Massachusetts
\In September of 1620 some 100 people ,mostly seeking religious freedom from the church of England set sail seeking the colony of Virginia. They traveled over on a ship known as the Mayflower where they were blown off their course. After a long voyage of 65 days, the refugees landed in cape- cod, present day Massachusetts. The settlers mostly lived on the Mayflower, while they built their new living quarters. A scouting party was later sent out and the new settlers landed in Plymouth Harbor that December. These settlers began to establish the first pure Christian colony of New England. The start of the Plymouth colony began. These settlers are known as Pilgrims. The Pilgrims would now face a dreadful first winter where nearly half of them died due to poor nutrition and housing that faltered in the harsh weather. Many of the pilgrims returned home and the pilgrims that stayed began establishing farms and a fur trade. To establish ground rules for governing they signed an agreement known as the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact was an agreement that bounded each member of the Separatist group in Plymouth to obey majority rule to promise to defend one another from potential eviction; set a precedent for democratic rule in Massachusetts ("The Pilgrims", 1996-3013).
The Wampanoag people were the native inhabitants that lived around the area of the Plymouth Colony for some 10,000 years before the Europeans arrived. The Wampanoag people needed help fending off their rivals in the interior. If the Pilgrims would agree to ally with the Wampanoag’s then they could stay. This was the choice given to them by the Wampanoag leader. Soon after the settlement, the Pilgrims came into contact with Squanto a English speaking native from the Pawtuxet tribe. Squanto was later seized
References: The Pilgrims. (1996-3013). Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/pilgrims EBOOK COLLECTION: Schultz, K. M. (2012). HIST2, Volume 1 (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.