The Prologue to Thanksgiving

Why were the "Pilgrims" in the wilderness of Massachusetts, anyway? Surely they knew what they were facing. A dangerous trip across the ocean. A new continent full of unknowns. Full of possibly hostile inhabitants. Wild beasts.

Fear must have assailed them. William Bradford was no Elon Musk with a penchant for discovery. He was a devout, practical man. He and others in his congregation spent hard years laboring in Holland after persecution pushed many Separatists out of England.

For you see, the Church of England was united to the Crown in a way hard to understand today. The official religion of England was Protestant in much of its doctrine, but the practice differed little from Rome. There was a hierarchy of bishops that answered to the Crown. And if you didn't worship according to the Act of Conformity, you were committing treason.

"Separatists" believed that the Church of England was so messed up that it was no longer a true Church of Christ. That is, to unite with it was wrong, against the conscience of these men and women. But it was accounted seditious to worship according to your conscience like some were doing. They were meeting for midweek "lectures" or simply worshiping in their homes. Those who printed pamphlets were accounted especially dangerous. A few were hanged.

Some fled to Holland but there were drawbacks. The "Pilgrims" were discouraged by the environment. Their backs were bent by labor, and they wished to raise their children surrounded by godly influences. And these English yeoman farmers longer for the soil. Finally, rumors of war brought things to a head. If Catholic Spain took over Holland, their freedom would be lost.

Why not flee to the New World?

Not all did, but the rest is history.