Plymouth Colony was a short-lived trading enterprise between English families and merchants in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The colony was founded by Separatists seeking religious freedom and financed by the Merchant Adventurers. Despite financial failures, Plymouth Colony is important in US history for its self-sustaining government and religious freedom. The Mayflower Compact established the first written record of government by consent of the people. The colony’s original location in Massachusetts can be visited by tourists.
Plymouth Colony was a trading enterprise between a group of English families and merchants from 1620 to 1691. This colony was based in the then unexplored Cape Cod region of present-day Massachusetts. Despite the colony’s relatively short life and its early financial failures, Plymouth Colony is considered one of the most important landmarks in US history. In 1691 the colony was dissolved, when it was incorporated into the larger Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Unlike other English and French colonies that were slowly springing up in the New World, the germination of Plymouth Colony began with religious freedom and not financial gain. A group of worshippers, finding their Biblical religious methods tainted by the established Church of England, seceded from the Anglican Church and met in private. Known as Separatists, these people were persecuted for their beliefs and imprisoned, as well as having their homes raided. The group fled to Holland for a time before being allowed to settle on the American continent.
To finance their expedition, the Separatists contracted with a group of English merchants, the Merchant Adventurers. They provided the separatists with funds for sea voyages and supplies in exchange for raw materials and goods harvested from the American continent. After a series of delays, the party set sail on the famous ships Mayflower and Speedwell in September 1620.
The start of the colony in the New World was shaky from the start. Turbulent weather drove the ships off course and the party landed north of their intended destination, which had been legally granted to them. The party arrived in early winter, unprepared for the harsh conditions in the northern part of the continent. That first winter, half of the settlers perished. The assistance of the local natives saved the newcomers from complete disaster, and a thanksgiving feast was held the following year.
The colonists called their establishment Plimouth Plantation, and despite the hardships, the colony was slowly growing. They experienced several setbacks, such as new arrivals of Puritan religious settlers but few accompanying supplies, and the growing shortfall for adventuring merchants for shipments of slow or missing revenue. After a political revolution in England, Plymouth Colony’s charter was not renewed and it was absorbed into a larger royal colony.
Despite the colony’s financial failures and rapid dissolution, Plymouth Colony shines as an example of the self-sustaining government and religious freedom that later defined the independent United States. When the ships of the group went off course in 1620, the Separatists created their own pact, the Mayflower Compact. This covenant established the first written record in modern times of government by consent of the people. Founded on religious freedom, Plymouth Colony paved the way for other religious groups seeking refuge in the New World. Tourists can tour the colony’s original location in Massachusetts, viewing the stone, Plymouth Rock, upon which the Separatists allegedly alighted from the Mayflower.
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