2. Born in 1590 in
Yorkshire, England.
Orphaned both from
parents and
grandparents, he and
older sister Alice were
raised by their uncle
Robert Bradford.
3. Bradford, at the age
of 18, joined with the
group of Separatists
that fled from
England in fear of
persecution, arriving
in Amsterdam in
1608.
4. Bradford
migrated to
Holland with
the rest of the
group and
lived 11 years
in Leiden.
5.
6. In 1620 he helped
organize the
Mayflower's
expedition to the
New World.
7. Literal authority of the Bible
The Bible as a topological model
Original depravity
Limited atonement
Predestination
8. A drive toward solidarity and consensus and
a championing of individual thought
An emphasis on individual responsibility
and on a personal relationship with God
A belief in the special destiny of New
England
A special emphasis on reading correctly,
both sacred texts and the events of
everyday life
9.
10. To bind the group
into a political body,
Bradford helped draft
the important
Mayflower Compact
en route to America.
11. • Earliest document of
democracy in
America.
Lays the foundation for
direct popular
government.
• Drawn up for the
general good by
mutual agreement of
the majority of the
people.
12. Bradford helped select the
site for the new colony.
In 1621, after the colony's
first, disastrous winter, he
was unanimously elected
governor,
• served in that position for some
30 years between 1621 and
1656
13.
14. Began writing Of
Plymouth Plantation in
1630 and continued the
project until 1647.
• As an account of the
Pilgrims, it is a major
historical and literary
achievement of the time.
Still the primary source of
information about the
Plymouth settlement.
15. Eyewitness accounts
of happenings.
Considered to be a
trustworthy narrator.
• Avowed his purpose to
write “in a plain style,
with singular regard
unto the simple truth in
all things.”
16. Not published in Bradford’s lifetime.
• Passed down through family
• Lost during Revolutionary War
• Reappeared nearly a century later in England
• Published for first time by Massachusetts
Historical Society in 1856.
Hinweis der Redaktion
If you’re hoping that your students will find ways to empathize with the New England Puritan mind and not regard the whole group as grumpy, hopelessly repressed, inhuman zealots, then it may be a good idea to establish what mortality meant to these people, how very close at hand it was, and how it could affect all phases of life—not just belief but ideas of family, of career, of the worth of any human action or enterprise. The Massachusetts Bay Colonists were primarily, though not exclusively, Puritan in ideology, which meant that most believed in the literal authority of the Bible. They saw the Bible as a topological model for their own lives (Puritan writers use biblical metaphors to explain the Puritan condition; they often refer to themselves, for example, as Israelites, and the new world becomes Canaan). You will probably need to outline several basic tenets of Puritan thought: original depravity (we are born sinners), limited atonement (no worldly ritual or prayer will ensure salvation; no human action or gesture of faith obliges the Almighty to respond), and predestination (God has chosen his elect before we were born).
• With no central religious authority, and an expectation that each member of the community should encounter Scripture and theological prose firsthand, New England Puritanism would be strongly influenced by a drive toward solidarity and consensus and by a championing of individual thought. These conflicting values would become clear in the collision between the Bay Colony’s elders and Anne Hutchinson, less than ten years after the founding of Boston.
• An emphasis on individual responsibility, on a direct and personal relationship with God, and on the acquisition of knowledge in anticipation (or hope) of the coming of Divine Grace could be a powerful force for the education of women, and eventually for their political and social equality.
• A belief in a special destiny and a conviction that what was unfolding in New England was the last and best hope of the Christian world. Cataclysmic changes in London in the middle of the seventeenth century and the erosion of solidarity in the colony after the Restoration and with the passage of years would bring those convictions into crisis at century’s end.
• A special emphasis on reading correctly—not only holy texts but commentaries and the events of ordinary life. The New England Puritans were an intellectual people who believed firmly in portents, symbols, and the significance of all that happened in private and public life
A recreation of the original Plymouth settlement in Massachusetts.
In 1621, at age 31, Bradford was elected governor of the settlement. He would serve in that capacity for most of his life. He died in 1657.
To bind the group into a political body, Bradford helped draft the important Mayflower Compact en route to America. Once on land, he helped select the site for the new colony. In 1621, after the colony's first, disastrous winter, he was unanimously elected governor, and he served in that position for some 30 years between 1621 and 1656.