Eng 48A
Journal on Bradford
12/1/09
William Bradford
1590-1657
"You, I now see, show your love like Christians indeed one to another, but we let one another lie and die like dogs." (Norton Pg.122)
1590-1657
"You, I now see, show your love like Christians indeed one to another, but we let one another lie and die like dogs." (Norton Pg.122)
"From my years young in days of youth,
God did make known to me his truth,
And call'd me from my native place
For to enjoy the means of grace.
In wilderness he did me guide,
And in strange lands for me provide.
In fears and wants, though weal and woe"
(Poem by Bradford, About.com)
The first quote is taken from Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, wherein one of the non-Puritan sailors, sick and dying during the first long winter, admits that the ordinary settlers lack the brotherly compassion of the Puritans. An example of the differences held between the two groups that made up the Plymouth pilgrims, the Puritans and the settlers start off in stark contrasts to one another, but I don't believe that they stay that way for long. Forced to survive in the New World, with no real concept of how to survive, they experienced a long winter, of cold, disease and famine, and I believe that these hardships eventually brought them together. As Bradford tells us, in the first winter alone, more than half of the settlers died. Throughout the winter, sickness spread throughout the pilgrims, and those that were capable of retaining their health worked to keep the rest alive, both Puritans and Settlers alike. Depending on each-other for survival, they must have found respect for their English brethren.
Throughout their settlement of Massachusetts the Puritans also came to depend on the Indians such as Squanto for survival. This dependence, no doubt lead Bradford and the Puritans to admire their adversity although they still saw them as savages: "Squanto continued with them, and was their interpreter, and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation." After describing Squanto as a means of divine intervention, Bradford goes on to dedicate a good section of the remainder of the chapter to his amazing story of survival. In conclusion, depending on the Native Americans just as they did their fellow settlers, the Puritans must also have come to admire the natives.
Although seemingly natural for the Puritans to feel this way, admiring these godless men was a big deal at the time. Being a Separatist-Puritan, Bradford was taught to believe that from the very beginning, God had chosen who was to be saved from eternal damnation in hell, and yet here he was admiring the very heathens that his own God saw fit to torture for eternity. In a way, this foreshadows the future of Puritanism in the America's, and the religious changes that would occur over the next few centuries.
The second quote, goes on to describe the origins of American exceptionalism in the Americas:
'God did make known to me his truth and call'd me from my native place.'
Being a Puritan, Bradford saw God in all things be they good or bad. Naturally then, he believed that it was God that brought him to America, and God that lead him to survive through all the hardships rather than the Native Americans who's food kept him alive over the first winter. And there starts the beginning of American exceptionalism. When it comes down to it however, to the Puritans, whatever happened would have been God's will. Either God is giving a helping hand, by parting some lake, or smiting some people, or he is testing you by making your life miserable. Going beyond the ridiculousness of this claim, and the arrogance of believing that God had selected them to settle the Americas, however, this belief has somehow held on for centuries. Americans still believe we're the chosen ones, naturally superior to all other cultures, but why? Is it because of the history books, as Loewen might put it? Is it in the water? No matter the reason however, it seems to be a very destructive claim because by saying that we are God's chosen people what we're really saying, is that everyone else isn't.
God did make known to me his truth,
And call'd me from my native place
For to enjoy the means of grace.
In wilderness he did me guide,
And in strange lands for me provide.
In fears and wants, though weal and woe"
(Poem by Bradford, About.com)
The first quote is taken from Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, wherein one of the non-Puritan sailors, sick and dying during the first long winter, admits that the ordinary settlers lack the brotherly compassion of the Puritans. An example of the differences held between the two groups that made up the Plymouth pilgrims, the Puritans and the settlers start off in stark contrasts to one another, but I don't believe that they stay that way for long. Forced to survive in the New World, with no real concept of how to survive, they experienced a long winter, of cold, disease and famine, and I believe that these hardships eventually brought them together. As Bradford tells us, in the first winter alone, more than half of the settlers died. Throughout the winter, sickness spread throughout the pilgrims, and those that were capable of retaining their health worked to keep the rest alive, both Puritans and Settlers alike. Depending on each-other for survival, they must have found respect for their English brethren.
Throughout their settlement of Massachusetts the Puritans also came to depend on the Indians such as Squanto for survival. This dependence, no doubt lead Bradford and the Puritans to admire their adversity although they still saw them as savages: "Squanto continued with them, and was their interpreter, and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation." After describing Squanto as a means of divine intervention, Bradford goes on to dedicate a good section of the remainder of the chapter to his amazing story of survival. In conclusion, depending on the Native Americans just as they did their fellow settlers, the Puritans must also have come to admire the natives.
Although seemingly natural for the Puritans to feel this way, admiring these godless men was a big deal at the time. Being a Separatist-Puritan, Bradford was taught to believe that from the very beginning, God had chosen who was to be saved from eternal damnation in hell, and yet here he was admiring the very heathens that his own God saw fit to torture for eternity. In a way, this foreshadows the future of Puritanism in the America's, and the religious changes that would occur over the next few centuries.
The second quote, goes on to describe the origins of American exceptionalism in the Americas:
'God did make known to me his truth and call'd me from my native place.'
Being a Puritan, Bradford saw God in all things be they good or bad. Naturally then, he believed that it was God that brought him to America, and God that lead him to survive through all the hardships rather than the Native Americans who's food kept him alive over the first winter. And there starts the beginning of American exceptionalism. When it comes down to it however, to the Puritans, whatever happened would have been God's will. Either God is giving a helping hand, by parting some lake, or smiting some people, or he is testing you by making your life miserable. Going beyond the ridiculousness of this claim, and the arrogance of believing that God had selected them to settle the Americas, however, this belief has somehow held on for centuries. Americans still believe we're the chosen ones, naturally superior to all other cultures, but why? Is it because of the history books, as Loewen might put it? Is it in the water? No matter the reason however, it seems to be a very destructive claim because by saying that we are God's chosen people what we're really saying, is that everyone else isn't.
20/20
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