As that warm-and-fuzzy Thanksgiving feeling begins to fill the hearts, mind and bellies of people across the U.S., I’m reminded once again of how many times the history I learned in school fell wide of the mark. To cover all those myriad points would fill a whole shelf of books, so this post will focus only on the holiday we call Thanksgiving. And while it’s true that the Plymouth pilgrims did receive assistance from the local indigenous American’s, that assistance was not the only thing that saved those early American pilgrims just over 400 years ago.
But first, here’s the back-story:
Religious Persecution
Europe had been awash with religious tyranny for centuries, with Catholicism in the mainland and Anglicanism in England. In the wake of Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century, the persecution of those early Protestants was extreme. This caused our first American ancestors to flee from England to the Netherlands in 1608; but those early pilgrims found Dutch society to be far too licentious for their tastes (from one extreme to the other!). So, they petitioned a group of investors to fund a voyage to the New World, where they could establish their own distinct society and culture, free from the influence of established European paradigms. The investment group was called the Merchant Adventurers, and those early venture capitalists made a contract with the pilgrims to travel with the Virginia Company (who had already made dozens of crossings), in exchange for a percentage of the profit from their labors and discoveries.
The Mayflower voyage took 66 days, and ended at (or somewhere near) the promontory that was later named Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. The ship landed there on December 21st, 1620, after having missed the intended landing site near the Hudson River (they missed it due to bad weather, and imperfect navigation).
A Rough Start
The group settled in the immediate vicinity of their landing site, in an empty native American village called Patuxet, which had been almost completely wiped out by disease, then abandoned, a few years earlier (likely due to earlier European settlers, who had brought with them one or more infectious diseases which were absolutely devastating to the indigenous locals).
The new settlers had a harrowing time settling into their new environment. The long sea voyage had severely weakened many of the passengers, due to the fact that they had been travelling on the high seas during winter. Many had developed pneumonia and scurvy, and were also malnourished. And once they had landed, they’d found that they were inadequately prepared for the harshness of their new environment – including the bitter cold weather. And their food stocks quickly dwindled before they could solve the problem of food production.
Within that first year, half of the colonists had died, and most of those remaining were sick. It’s estimated that only 7% of the original colonists were able to work during those most fatal months.
The dominant local tribe, the Wampanoag, were peaceful and therefore somewhat friendly to the new settlers. Another friendly local tribe was the Massasoit, who – like the Wampanoag – traded with the pilgrims for mutual advantage. The most important commodity provided by these two groups was their corn seed, which had been their staple for centuries if not millennia. The people of those tribes saw the intense suffering of the newcomers, and instinctively knew that what they needed most was corn, and the knowledge of how to grow it.
Although local meat and fruit were abundant, carbohydrates were scarce; and the settlers had little luck with their initial plantings of wheat, barley and oats. After many months of bitter failure, the new corn proved to be much better adapted to the local soil and climate conditions than the seeds they had brought from Europe, making corn a truly vital part of the settlers’ lives.
This new nutritional boon is what led to that first Thanksgiving celebration in 1621. The colonists were still suffering – but they were now able to regain at least some of their former strength.
A Political Dilemma
But there was still a very severe problem. Previous to the Mayflower’s departure from Europe, all parties to the investment contract had agreed that all property and assets would be held in common for seven years while the settlers worked and traded, and that after that allotted time the profits would be shared by the settlers and the investors (this was outlined in Governor William Bradford's journal, which he had titled Of Plymouth Plantation).
This plan, however, had two fatal flaws: 1) the pilgrims were unmotivated to do their best work, without being compensated either directly or quickly; and 2) the stronger settlers lamented the fact that they were producing far more than the others, without greater personal compensation. These two problems are well known today as the negatives of socialism, which is why many people call the episode a failed attempt at socialism (although an anachronism, the logic is sound).
And these were literally fatal flaws, since many of the settlers were still malnourished – with a few still dying of starvation (even after that first Thanksgiving feast). Because of the continuing suffering and fatalities, and the generally impoverished and squalid conditions of the village, a radical solution had to be found.
The Solution
In 1623 a new system was proposed and agreed upon. This new system replaced the Communal System (all property held in common) with a Private Property agreement which allotted a parcel of property to each and every family; this was land that the poor settlers could finally call their own. This allowed the pilgrims to finally build their own houses and grow their own crops (especially corn), all of which the families could keep for themselves, and/or sell/barter for other goods.
This new political economy was a grand success, immediately providing the stimulus that the colonists needed to ramp up their personal productivity. And because each person/family was more productive in the wake of these changes, it created a new atmosphere of general prosperity for the entire colony.
The Birth of Capitalism
The concept of reaping the rewards of one’s own labor in full is now, of course, known as capitalism, and has been the political and socio-economic model in the U.S. since that fateful day in 1623. Although capitalism has its own pitfalls when left unfettered (creating the great divide between the rich and the poor, as it has), the benefits are manifest, with unparalleled growth in economic rewards and technological progress being key. Capitalism is also the force that created the immense American middle-class, which has always been the largest of its kind in the world.
Conclusion
As we celebrate this Thanksgiving holiday, let us consider these vastly important lessons that we have learned from our painful past: firstly, that unfettered socialism is more dangerous than unfettered capitalism; and secondly, that something needs to be held in common for all to mutually benefit from. After all, the gift of corn seed to those early settlers (although likely bartered for) - and the knowledge to grow it - was something that was shared by our Native American cousins; they obviously considered such knowledge as something that all people should possess, for their individual and mutual prosperity. They could have held it back and watched their visiting ‘competitors’ wither away and perish; instead, they added the seeds to their items of barter, as well as their knowledge and techniques that were surely indispensable to the newcomers. In this regard, as we each sit down to our wonderful Thanksgiving meals, let us give thanks not only to those pilgrims who were the seeds of the modern U.S., but also to those good-hearted indigenous Americans who gave the gift of life to our ancestors.
I also suggest that we consider the idea that striking a perfect balance between capitalism and shared resources (whatever that perfect balance might be) could just pave the way forward to a better future for all of mankind. The collective will never truly prosper with rampant homelessness and hunger in the streets; nor will it truly prosper with the uber-wealthy hoarding all the resources (as they are now).
Our ancestors – along with the Native Americans who assisted them – helped to bring us many steps closer to unlimited prosperity. Now it’s our turn to complete that mission, and to turn this now-crazy world into a future garden of Eden…