William Bradford (March 1590-May 9, 1657)

William Bradford (March 1590-May 9, 1657) was a Pilgrim leader who helped establish the Plymouth Colony. Sailing in the Mayflower, he was chosen as governor of the colony in 1621, and was reelected 30 times until his death. In 1650, William Bradford wrote a history Of Plymouth Plantation, which is comparable to Shakespeare's works in literary and historical significance. In it, he traced the events which led to the Pilgrims' departure from England:

<It is well knowne unto ye godly and judicious how since ye first breaking out of ye lighte of ye gospell in our Honourable Nation of England, (which was ye first of nations whom ye Lord adorned ther with, after the grosse darkness...which had covered and overspread ye Christian world), what warrs and opposissions ever since, Satan, hath raised, maintained, and continued against the Saints, from time to time, in one sort or other.

Some times by bloody death and cruell torments; other whiles imprisonments, banishments, and other hard usages; as being loath his kingdom should goe downe, and trueth prevaile, and ye churches of God reverte to their anciente puritie and recover their primative order, libertie, and bewtie.

But when he could not prevaile by these means againste the maine trueths of ye gospell, but that they began to take rootting in many places, being watered by ye blooud of ye martires, and blessed from heaven with a gracious encrease; he then begane to take him to his anciente strategeme used of old against the first Christians.

That when by ye bloody and barbarous persecutions of ye heathen Emperours, he could not stop and subvert the course of ye gospell, but that it speedily overspred with a wonderfull celeritie the then best known parts...ye professours themselves, (working upon their pride and ambition, with other corrupte passions incident to all mortall men, yea to ye saints themselves in some measure), by which woefull effects followed; as not only bitter contentions, and hartburnings, schismes, with other horrible confusions, but Satan tooke occasion and advantage therby to foyst in a number of vile...cannons and decrees, which have since been as snares to many poore and peacable souls even to this day.

So as in ye anciente times, the persecutions by ye heathen and their Emperours, was not greater than of the Christians one against another.> 1590WB001

In 1607, as a result of religious persecution upon their persons, reputations, families, and livelihood, the "Separatists," or Pilgrims, departed from England for Holland. Governor Bradford recorded:

<Being thus constrained to leave their native soyle and countrie, their lands and livings, and all their friends and famillier acquantance....to goe into a countrie they knew not (but by hearsay) where they must learne a new language, and get their livings they knew not how, it being a dear place, and subject to the miseries of war, it was by many thought an adventure almost desperate, a case intolerable, and a miserie worse than death....

But these things did not dismay them (though they did sometimes trouble them) for their desires were sett on ye ways of God and to enjoye His ordinances; but they rested in His providence, and knew whom they had believed.> 1590WB002

Governor William Bradford stated:

<They shook off this yoke of antichristian bondage, and as the Lord's free people, joined themselves by a covenant of the Lord into a church estate in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all His ways, made known unto them, according to their best endeavours, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them.> 1590WB003

On December 15, 1617, in their letter to Sir Edwin Sandys in London, John Robinson and William Brewster explained that the Pilgrims were:

<Knit together as a body in a most strict and sacred bond and covenant of the Lord, of the violation whereof we make great conscience, and by virtue whereof we do hold ourselves straitly tied to all care of each other's good, and of the whole by every one and so mutually.> 1590WB004

In 1618, the Pilgrims' Church of Leyden, Holland, sent seven Articles to the Counsel of England in order to receive approval to settle in Virginia:

<Article III. The King's Majesty we acknowledge for Supreme Governor in his Dominion...but in all things obedience is due unto him if the thing commanded be not against God's Word....

Article VII. And lastly, we desire to give unto all Superiors due honor to preserve the unity of the Spirit, with all who fear God, to have peace with all men what in us lieth, and wherein we err to be instructed by any.

Subscribed by John Robinson and William Brewster.> 1590WB005

In July 1620, after having lived in Holland for 12 years, Governor William Bradford described the Pilgrims' departure from Leyden, Holland, to Delfes-Haven, Holland, and from there to Southampton, England, where they would board the ship bound for America. Little did they realize that out of the 103 Pilgrims who departed, 51 would die in the first winter in the New World:

<So being ready to departe, they had a day of solleme humiliation, their pastor taking his texte from Ezra 8:21: "And ther at ye river, by Ahava, I proclaimed a fast, that we might humble ourselves before our God and seeke of Him a right way for us, and for our Children, and for our substance."

...The rest of the time was spent in powering out prairs to ye Lord with greate fervencie, mixed with abundance of tears. And ye time being come that they must departe, they were accompanied with most of their brethren out of ye citie, unto a towne sundrie miles off called Delfes-Haven, wher the ship lay ready to receive them. So they left ye goodly and pleasant citie, which had been ther resting place for near 12 years; but they knew they were pilgrimes (Hebrews 12), but lift their eyes to ye heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits.> 1590WB006

On September 6, 1620, after two attempts which were canceled due to the ship, the Speedwell, developing a leak, the Pilgrims finally set out for America in the Mayflower, just as the stormy season began in the North Atlantic. On November 11, 1620, having been blown off course by violent winds from their intended destination of Virginia, the Pilgrims landed at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They found the area deserted, as the Patuxet tribe which lived there, one of the fiercest Indian tribes on the New England coast, had been destroyed by a great plague just two years prior.

Had the Pilgrims landed there earlier, they would most likely have been massacred as the survivors of a French vessel were in 1617, as recounted by Governor William Bradford:

<About three years before, a French ship was wrecked at Cape Cod, but the men got ashore and saved their lives and a large part of their provisions.

When the Indians heard of it, they surrounded them and never left watching and dogging them till they got the advantage and killed them, all but three or four, whom they kept, and sent from one Sachem to another, making sport with them and using them worse than slaves.> 1590WB007

On November 11, 1620, before setting foot on dry land, Governor William Bradford and the leaders on the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact, the first constitutional document of America:

<In ye name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwriten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by ye grace of God, of Great Britaine, France, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith, etc., having undertaken, for ye glorie of God, and advancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly & mutually in ye presence of God, and one of another, covenant & combine our selves togeather into a civill body politick, for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient for ye generall good of ye Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

In witnes wherof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd ye 11. of November, in ye year of ye raigne of our soveraigne lord, King James, of England, France, & Ireland ye eighteenth, and by Scotland ye fiftie fourth. Ano:Dom. 1620.> 1590WB008

On November 12, 1620, the first full day in the New World, Governor William Bradford described the Pilgrims' thankfulness:

<Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.> 1590WB009

Governor William Bradford stated:

<What could now sustaine them but ye spirite of God and His grace?

May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; (Deuteronomy 26:5,7) but they cried unto ye Lord, and He heard their voyce, and looked on their adversitie, etc.

Let them therefore praise ye Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure for ever. (107 Psalm: v. 1,2,4,5,8) Yea let them which have been redeemed of ye Lord, show how He hath delivered them from ye hand of ye oppressour.

When they wandered in ye deserte wilderness out of ye way, and found no citie to dwell in, both hungrie, and thirstie, their sowle was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before ye Lord His loving kindness, and His wonderful works before ye sons of men.> 1590WB010

In March of 1621, as recorded in Governor Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, Squanto joined the Pilgrims:

<About the 16th of March, a certain Indian came boldly amongst them and spoke to them in broken English...His name was Samoset. He told them also of another Indian whose name was Squanto, a native of this place, who had been in England and could speak better English than himself....

Massasoyt, who about four or five days after, came with the chief of his friends and other attendants, and with Squanto. With him, after friendly entertainment and some gifts, they made a peace which has now continued for twenty-four years....

Squanto stayed with them and was their interpreter and was a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation. He showed them how to plant corn, where to take fish and other commodities, and guided them to unknown places, and never left them till he died.

He was a native of these parts, and had been one of the few survivors of the plague hereabouts. He was carried away with others by one Hunt, a captain of a ship, who intended to sell them for slaves in Spain; but he got away for England, and was received by a merchant in London, and employed in Newfoundland and other parts, and lastly brought into these parts by a Captain Dermer, a gentleman employed by Sir Ferdinand Gorges....

Captain Dermer had been here the same year that the people of the Mayflower arrived, as appears in an account written by him, and given to me by a friend, bearing date, June 30th, 1620..."I will first begin," says he, "with the place from which Squanto (or Tisquantem) was taken away, which in Captain Smith's map is called 'Plymouth'; and I would that Plymouth (England) had the same commodities. I could wish that the first plantation might be situated here, if there came to the number of fifty persons or upward; otherwise at Charlton, because there the savages are less to be feared....The Pokanokets, who live to the west of Plymouth, bear an inveterate hatred to the English....For this reason Squanto cannot deny but they would have killed me when I was at Namasket, had he not interceded hard for me."> 1590WB011

Governor William Bradford stated concerning Squanto:

<The settlers, as many as were able, then began to plant their corn, in which service Squanto stood them in good stead, showing them how to plant it and cultivate it. He also told them that unless they got fish to manure this exhausted old soil, it would come to nothing, and he showed them that in the middle of April plenty of fish would come up the brook by which they had begun to build, and taught them how to catch it, and where to get other necessary provisions; all of which they found true by experience....

Another Indian, called Hobbamok came to live with them, a fine strong man, of some account amongst the Indians for his valor and qualities. He remained very faithful to the English till he died. He and Squanto having gone upon business among the Indians, a Sachem called Corbitant...began to quarrel with them, and threatened to stab Hobbamok; but he being a strong man, cleared himself of him, and came running away, all sweating, and told the Governor what had befallen him, and that he feared they had killed Squanto....So it was resolved to send the Captain and fourteen men, well armed....The Captain, giving orders to let none escape, entered to search for him. But [Corbitant] had gone away that day; so they missed him, but learned that Squanto was alive, and that Corbitant had only threatened to kill him, and made as if to stab him, but did not....

After this, on the 18th of September, they sent out their shallop with ten men and Squanto as guide and interpreter to the Massachusetts, to explore the bay and trade with the natives, which they accomplished, and were kindly received....

Nor was there a man among them who had ever seen a beaver skin till they came out, and were instructed by Squanto.> 1590WB012

In 1621, Governor William Bradford reported that fishing had been good all summer and by autumn:

<Begane to come in store of foule, as winter approached...And besides water foule, ther was great store of wild Turkies, of which they tooke many, besids venison, etc.> 1590WB013

Margaret Junkin Preston was a well known poet, whose sister married Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, and whose father, George Junkin, was president of Lafayette College, Miami University, and Washington and Lee University.

Margaret Junkin Preston wrote a popular poem, “The First Thanksgiving” (Matthew Henry Lothrop, editor, The Poet and the Children: Carefully Selected Poems From the Works of the Best and Most Popular Writers for Children (D. Lothrop and Company, Franklin Street, Boston, MA, 1882, p. 146):

<“And now,” said the Governor,

gazing abroad on the piled-up store

Of the sheaves that dotted the clearings

and covered the meadows o’er,

“Tis meet that we render praises

because of this yield of grain;

Tis meet that the Lord of the harvest

be thanked for his sun and rain.”

“And, therefore, I, William Bradford

(by the grace of God today,

And the franchise of this good people),

Governor of Plymouth, say,

Through virtue of vested power—

ye shall gather with one accord,

And hold, in the month of November,

 thanksgiving unto the Lord.”

“He hath granted us peace and plenty,

and the quiet we’ve sought so long;

He hath thwarted the wily savage,

and kept him from wrack and wrong;

And unto our feast the Sachem shall be bidden,

that he may know

We worship his own Great Spirit,

who maketh the harvests grow.”

“So shoulder your matchlocks, masters—

there is hunting of all degrees;

And, fishermen, take your tackle,

and scour for spoils the seas;

And, maidens and dames of Plymouth,

your delicate crafts employ

To honor our First Thanksgiving,

and make it a feast of joy!”

“We fail of the fruits and dainties—

we fail of the old home cheer;

Ah, these are the lightest losses,

mayhap, that befall us here;

But see, in our open clearings,

how golden the melons lie;

Enrich them with sweets and spices,

and give us the pumpkin-pie!”

So, bravely the preparations went on

for the autumn feast;

The deer and the bear were slaughtered;

wild game from the greatest to least

Was heaped in the colony cabins;

brown home-brew served for wine,

And the plum and the grape of the forest,

for orange and peach and pine.

At length came the day appointed;

the snow had begun to fall,

But the clang from the meeting-house belfry

rang merrily over all,

And summoned the folk Of Plymouth,

who hastened with glad accord

To listen to Elder Brewster 

as he fervently thanked the Lord.

In his seat sate Governor Bradford;

men, matrons, and maidens fair,

Miles Standish and all his soldiers,

with corselet and sword, were there;

And sobbing and tears and gladness

had each in its turn the sway,

For the grave of the sweet Rose Standish

o’ershadowed Thanksgiving Day.

And when Massasoit, the Sachem,

sat down with his hundred braves,

And ate of the varied riches

of gardens and woods and waves,

And looked on the granaried harvest—

with a blow on his brawny chest,

He muttered, “The good Great Spirit

loves his white children best!”

And then as the feast was ended

With gravely official air,

The Governor drew his broadsword

Out from its scabbard there,

And smiting the trencher near him,

He cried in heroic way,

“Hail! Pie of the Pumkin!

I dub thee Prince of Thanksgiving Day.”> 1590WB014

In September of 1622, Governor William Bradford wrote the account of Squanto's death:

<Captain Standish was appointed to go with them, and Squanto as a guide and interpreter, about the latter end of September; but the winds drove them in; and putting out again, Captain Standish fell ill with fever, so the Governor (Bradford) went himself. But they could not get round the shoals of Cape Cod, for flats and breakers, and Squanto could not direct them better.

The Captain of the boat dare not venture any further, so they put into Manamoick Bay, and got what they could there. Here Squanto fell ill of Indian fever, bleeding much at the nose,-which the Indians take for a symptom of death,-and within a few days he died. He begged the Governor to pray for him, that he might go to the Englishmen's God in Heaven, and bequeathed several of his things to some of his English friends, as remembrances. His death was a great loss.> 1590WB015

In the founding of America, there were three types of colonies:

  1. Company Colonies
  2. Royal Colonies
  3. Proprietary Colonies

Company Colonies had bylaws which determined how the colony was to be run.

Jamestown was founded by the Virginia Company. Their experiment of bylaws and central planning proved ineffective, especially in emergencies.

After disease, starvation and Indian attacks led to thousands dying in just a few years, the Virginia Company had to be dissolved, and the King assumed control, resulting in Virginia becoming a Royal Colony.

The King did not want to be bothered with colony management, so he appointed a Royal Governor who had to raise his own support through taxes.

The Royal Governor called all of Virginia's land owners together and told them to figure out amongst themselves how to raise money. The meeting of these land owners, called the Virginia House of Burgesses, became the first legislative assembly in America.

The third type of colony was the Proprietary Colony, where land was given by the King to favored individuals as their personal property, such as: Maryland given to Lord Baltimore

Pennsylvania given to William Penn Georgia given to James Oglethorpe and Carolinas given to Seven Lord Proprietors.

The Pilgrims were originally part of the Virginia Company and were ruled by a set of bylaws that set up a communal system for the first seven years.

In this system, all capital and profits remained "in ye common stock":

<Anno: 1620. July 1. 1. The adventurers & planters do agree that every person that goeth being aged 16 years & upward - be accounted a single share...

3. The persons transported & ye adventurers shall continue their joint stock & partnership together, ye space of 7 years - during which time, all profits & benefits that are got by trade, traffic, trucking, working, fishing, or any other means of any person or persons, remain still in ye common stock until ye division...

5. That at ye end of ye 7 years, ye capital & profits, viz. the houses, lands, goods and chattels, be equally divided betwixt ye adventurers, and planters...

10. That all such persons as are of this colony, are to have their meat, drink, apparel, and all provision out of ye common stock & goods.> 1590WB115

Pilgrim Governor William Bradford wrote in his Of Plymouth Plantation, that sharing everyone's profits & benefits equally 'in ye common stock,' regardless of how hard each individual worked, was a failure:

<The failure of that experiment of communal service, which was tried for several years, and by good and honest men, proves the emptiness of the theory of Plato and other ancients, applauded by some of later times, - that the taking away of private property, and the possession of it in community, by a commonwealth, would make a state happy and flourishing; as it they were wiser than God...

For in this instance, community of property (so far as it went) was found to breed much confusion and discontent; and retard much employment which would have been to the general benefit and comfort.

For the young men who were most able and fit for service objected to being forced to spend their time and strength in working for other men's wives and children, without any recompense.

The strong man or the resourceful man had no more share of food, clothes, etc., than the weak man who was not able to do a quarter the other could. This was thought injustice.

The aged and graver men, who were ranked and equalized in labor, food, clothes, etc., with the humbler and younger ones, thought it some indignity and disrespect to them.

As for men's wives who were obliged to do service for other men, such as cooking, washing their clothes, etc., they considered it a kind of slavery, and many husbands would not brook it...

If (it were thought) all were to share alike, and all were to do alike, then all were on an equality throughout, and one was as good as another; and so, if it did not actually abolish those very relations which God himself has set among men, it did at least greatly diminish the mutual respect that is so important should be preserved amongst them.

Let none argue that this is due to human failing, rather than to this communistic plan of life in itself. I answer, seeing that all men have this failing in them, that God in His wisdom saw that another plan of life was fitter for them...

So they began to consider how to raise more corn, and obtain a better crop than they had done, so that they might not continue to endure the misery of want.

At length after much debate, the Governor, with the advice of the chief among them, allowed each man to plant corn for his own household, and to trust themselves for that; in all other things to go on in the general way as before. So every family was assigned a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number...

This was very successful. It made all hands very industrious, so that much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could devise, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better satisfaction.

The women now went willing into the field, and took their little ones with them to plant corn, while before they would allege weakness and inability, and to have compelled them would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.> 1590WB116

William Bradford wrote in Of Plymouth Plantation:

<Herewith I shall end this year - except to recall one more incident, rather amusing than serious. On Christmas Day the Governor called the people out to work as usual; but most of the new company excused themselves, and said it went against their consciences to work on that day. So the Governor told them, if they made it a matter of conscience, he would spare them till they were better informed. So he went with the rest, and left them; but on returning from work at noon he found them at play in the street, some pitching the bar, some at stool-ball, and such like sports. So he went to them and took away their games, and told them that it was against his conscience that they should play and others work. If they made the keeping of the day a matter of devotion, let them remain in their houses; but there should be no gaming and revelling in the streets.> 1590WB216

In 1623, after a severe drought, William Bradford wrote in Of Plymouth Plantation:

<And afterwards the Lord sent them such seasonable showers, with interchange of fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing. For which mercy, in time convenient, they also set apart a day of thanksgiving. By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine now God gave them plenty - for which they blessed God. And the effect of their particular planting was well seen, for all had - pretty well - so as any general want or famine had not been amongst them since to this day.> 1590WB316

A proclamation, possibly composed in the late 19th century in an effort to commemorate the Pilgrims' thanksgiving, was:

<To all ye Pilgrims:

In as much as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetable, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience;

Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November ye 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings. William Bradford, Ye Governor of Ye Colony.> 1590WB016

In 1644, Governor William Bradford wrote of the death of Mr. William Brewster (1567-1644), who was one of the founders of the Separatist movement in England, 1606. Brewster had allowed the nonconformists to meet for worship at his home in Scrooby, England. He had escaped with the Separatists to Holland, 1608, to be free from religious persecution and taught at the University of Leyden, Holland. William Brewster, who had published religious books which were banned in England, signed of the Mayflower Compact, 1620, and was one of the founders of the Plymouth Colony:

<About the 18th of April died their reverend elder, my dear and loving friend, Mr. William Brewster, a man who had done and suffered much for the Lord Jesus and the gospel's sake, and had borne his part in the weal or woe with this poor persecuted church for over thirty-five years in England, Holland, and this wilderness, and had done the Lord and them faithful service in his calling. Notwithstanding the many troubles and sorrows he passed through, the Lord upheld him to a great age.> 1590WB017

In 1650, Governor William Bradford stated in Of Plymouth Plantation:

<Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.> 1590WB018

<Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation; let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.> 1590WB019

<It was answered that all great and honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and must be enterprised and overcome with answerable courages. It was granted that the dangers were great, but not desperate, and the difficulties were many but not invincible....and all of them, through the help of God, by fortitude and patience, might either be borne or overcome....

Their ends were good and honorable, their calling lawful and urgent, and therefore they might expect the blessing of God in their proceeding; yea, though they should lose their lives in this action, yet they might have comfort in the same, and there endeavors would be honorable.> 1590WB020

<Though I am growne aged, yet I have had a longing desire, to see with my own eyes, something of the most ancient language, and holy tongue, in which the Law, and oracles of God were writ; and in which God, and angels, spoke to the holy patriarchs, of old time; and what names were given to things, from the creation.     And though I cannot attaine to much herein, yet I am refreshed, to have seen some glimpse hereof; (as Moses say the Land of Canaan afarr off) my aime and desire is, to see how the words, and phrases lye in the holy texte; and to dicerne somewhat of the same for my owne contente.> 1590WB021

The Pilgrims, who landed in Massachusetts in 1620, had borrowed money from English adventurers (investors) to finance their voyage and buy supplies. It took forty years worth of beaver skins and dried fish to settle the debt, due to exorbitant interest rates and losses at sea.

One such loss happened in the year 1625. Governor William Bradford wrote of the incident in his History of the Plymouth Settlement 1608-1650 (rendered in Modern English by Harold Paget, 1909, chapter 6, pages 165-167):

<The adventurers...sent over two fishing ships...One was the pinnace...the other was a large ship, well fitted, with an experienced captain and crew of fishermen...

The pinnace was ordered to load with corfish...to bring home to England...and besides she had some 800 lbs. of beaver, as well as other furs, to a good value from the plantation. The captain seeing so much lading wished to put aboard the bigger ship for greater safety, but Mr. Edward Winslow, their agent in the business, was bound in a bond to send it to London in the small ship...

The captain of the big ship...towed the small ship at his stern all the way over. So they went joyfully home together and had such fine weather that he never cast her off till they were well within the England channel, almost in sight of Plymouth.

But even there she was unhapply taken by a Turkish man-of-war and carried off to Saller [Morocco], where the captain and crew were made slaves and many of the beaver skins were sold for 4d. a piece. Thus all their hopes were dashed and the joyful news they meant to carry home was turned to heavy tidings...

In the big ship Captain Myles Standish...arrived at a very bad time, for the country was full of trouble and a plague very deadly in London...

Several of the friendly adventurers were so reduced by their losses last year, and now by the ship taken by the Turks...that all trade was dead.> 1590WB022

Between 1606-1609, Muslim corsair pirates from Algeria captured 466 British and Scotish ships. Giles Milton, in his book, White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves (UK: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 2004), wrote of Muslim corsairs (pirates) who raided England in 1625, even sailing up the Thames River. They attacked the English coast of Cornwall, capturing 60 villagers at Mount's Bay and 80 at Looe. Muslims took Lundy Island in Bristol Channel and raised the standard of Islam. By the end of 1625, over 1,000 English subjects were sent to the slave markets of Sale, Morocco.

Between July 4-19, 1627, Algerian and Ottoman Muslim pirates, led by Murat Reis the Younger, raided Iceland, carrying into slavery an estimated 400 from the cities of Reykjavik, Austurland and Vestmannaeyjar. One captured girl, who had been made a slave concubine in Algeria, was rescued back by King Christian IV of Denmark.

On June 20, 1631, the entire village of Baltimore, Ireland was captured by Muslim pirates, led by Murat Reis the Younger. Only two ever returned. (see: Des Ekin's The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates, O'Brien Press, 2006). Thomas Osborne Davis wrote in his poem, 'The Sack of Baltimore' (1895):

The yell of "Allah!" breaks above the shriek and roar; O'blessed God! the Algerine is lord of Baltimore.

Robert C. Davis' book, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy 1500-1800 (Palgrave Macmillian, 2003, chp. 1, p. 3), gives the record Francis Knight, an Englishman who had been kidnapped and enslaved in Algiers, then made a slave on Algerian galleys for seven years:

<January the 16[th] day, in the year before nominated [1631]; I arrived in [Algiers,] that Citie fatall to all Christians, and the butchery of mankind...my condolation is for the losse of many Christians, taken from their parents and countries, of all sorts and sexes.

Some in Infancy, both by Land and by Sea, being forced to abuses (most incorrigible flagitions) not onely so, but bereaft of Christian Religion, and means of grace and repentence.

How many thousands of the Nazarian nations have beene and are continually lost by that monster, what rationall creature can be ignorant of?> 1590WB023

In the 16th and 17th centuries, more Europeans were carried away south across the Mediterranean into the Muslim slavery of North Africa, than Africans, purchased at Muslim slave markets, who were carried west to the Americas. Upon arrival in North Africa, infidel Christian slaves were jeered and pelted with stones by children as they were marched to the auction block.

Men were often made galley slaves and women became servants or were paraded naked and sold as sex slaves. The whiter the skin, the higher the bid. By 1640, hundreds of English ships and over 3,000 British subjects were enslaved in Algiers and 1,500 in Tunis. In three centuries, over a million Europeans were enslaved by Muslim Barbary Pirates.

Robert Davis described the end of the 17th century:

The Italian peninsula had by then been prey to the Barbary corsairs for two centuries or more, and its coastal populations had largely withdrawn into walled hilltop villages or larger towns like Rimini, abandoning miles of once populous shoreline.

The Calabrian coast suffered: 700 captured in 1636; 1,000 in 1639; and 4,000 in 1644. Some coastal areas lost their entire child-bearing population.

Muslims corsair raiders desecrated churches and stole church bells to silence the distinctive sound of Christianity.

By 1640, hundreds of English ships and over 3,000 British subjects were enslaved in Algiers and 1,500 in Tunis. In three centuries, over a million Europeans were enslaved by Muslim Barbary Pirates.

Giles Milton wrote of Thomas Pellow, born in an English fishing village in 1704. At the age of 11, Pellow was captured by Muslim Barbary Pirates when his uncle's ship was taken. He became property of Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail, who had 500 wives, mostly from captured European women, who bore him a record 1,042 children. The Sultan's 25,000 white slaves were forced to build a grand palace in Meknes, sometimes called the "Versailles of Morocco."

Sultan Moulay Ismail was known to beat his slaves "in the cruelest manner imaginable, to try if they were hard." He ordered soldiers to push Christian slaves off a high wall they were building because they did not synchronize their hammer strokes. He murdered some for "hiding pieces of bread."

An account of Sultan Moulay Ismail, titled A Journey to Mequinez (Meknes), written by John Windus (published in London, 1825), stated:

<His trembling court assemble, which consists of...blacks, whites, tawnies and his favourite Jews, all barefooted...He is...known by his very looks...and sometimes the colour of the habit that he wears, yellow being observed to be his killing colour; from all of which they calculate whether they may hope to live twenty-four hours longer..."

When he goes out of town...he will be attended by fifteen or twenty thousand blacks on horseback, with whom he now and then diverts himself at (by throwing) the lance...His travelling utensils are two or three guns, a sword or two, and two lances, because one broke once while he was murdering; His boys carry short Brazil sticks, knotted cords for whipping, a change of clothes to shift when bloody, and a hatchet, two of which he took in a Portuguese ship, and the first time they were bought to him, killed a man without any provocation, to try if they were good.> 1590WB024

Witnessing tortures, beheadings and forced conversions to Islam, Thomas Pellow escaped after 23 years. A distant relative, Sir Edward Pellew, led the British fleet to bombard Algiers in 1816, freeing thousands of slaves.

Governor William Bradford was buried at Burial Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts. His grave was inscribed:

<Under this stone rests the ashes of William Bradford, a zealous Puritan, and sincere Christian Governor of Plymouth Colony from 1621 to 1657, aged 69, except 5 years, which he declined. "Let the right hand of the Lord awake." [Hebrew] "What our fathers with so much difficulty attained do not basely relinquish."[Latin]> 1590WB025

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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.

Endnotes:.

1590WB001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1650, in The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608-1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988).

1590WB002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1607, in his work titled, The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608- 1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988). Verna M. Hall, comp., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 186.Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant-The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 32.

1590WB003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1650, in his work titled, The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608- 1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988). Verna M. Hall, comp., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 185. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant-The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 62.

1590WB004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, December 15, 1617, in a letter from John Robinson and William Brewster in Leyden, Holland, to Sir Edwin Sandys in London, England. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608-1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, from the original manuscript; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p.28. Sacvan Bercovitch, ed., Typology and Early American Literature (Cambridge: University of Massachusetts Press, 1972), p. 104. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart'N Home, Inc., 1991), 11.16.

1590WB005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1618, Church of Leyden Articles sent to the Counsel of England. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, 2 vols. (NY: F.S. Crofts and Company, 1934; Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1948, 6th edition, 1958; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 9th edition, 1973), pp. 14-15.

1590WB006. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, July 1620, in a day of solemn humiliation prior to the Pilgrims' departure from Leyden, Holland. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608-1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, from the original manuscript; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), pp. 49-50.

1590WB007. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1617, describing the fate of a French ship wrecked off Cape Cod. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608-1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, from the original manuscript; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 82.

1590WB008. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, November 11, 1620, in the Mayflower Compact. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608-1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), pp. 75-76. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant-The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. vii. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God-How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 3.

1590WB009. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, November 12, 1620, in recounting the Pilgrims' first full day in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in his work titled, The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608-1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), ch. 9, p. 64. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 265. 1590WB010. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, November 11, 1620, in his record of the Pilgrims' landing at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608-1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 66. Sacvan Bercovitch, ed., Typology and Early American Literature (Cambridge: University of Massachusetts Press, 1972), p. 104. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart'N Home, Inc., 1991), 11.28. (note: reference to these first settlers as "pilgrims" is owed to this passage.)

1590WB011. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, March 16, 1621. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608-1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), pp. 79-80. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 1, p. 66. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant-The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 28.

1590WB012. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, in describing the aid rendered by Squanto to the Pilgrims. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608-1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, from the original manuscript; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), pp. 85.

1590WB013. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1621, as governor of the Plymouth Plantation. George Otis, The Solution to the Crisis in America, Revised and Enlarged Edition (Van Nuys, CA.: Fleming H. Revell Company; Bible Voice, Inc., 1970, 1972, foreword by Pat Boone), p. 66.

1590WB014. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford. Margaret Junkin Preston (1820-1897), “The First Thanksgiving.” Matthew Henry Lothrop, editor, The Poet and the Children: Carefully Selected Poems From the Works of the Best and Most Popular Writers for Children (D. Lothrop and Company, Franklin Street, Boston, MA, 1882), p. 146. Margaret Junkin Preston, Colonial Ballards (Houghton, Mifflin & Company, (1887). Ballou’s Monthly Magazine (G.W. Studley, Publisher, 23 Harvest Street, Boston, MA, Vol. 76, July-December, 1892), p. 415. Popular Educator-A Magazine of Education (Educational Publishing Company, 50 Bromfeld St. , Boston, MA; New York Office, 63 Fifth Ave., New York, NY; Western Office, 211 Wabash Ave., Chicago, IL; Pacific Coast Office, 300 Post St., San Francisco, CA), Vol. XIII, November, 1895, p.128. Sherman Williams, compiler, Choice Literature-Book 5 (New York State Institute Conductor, American Book Company, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, 1912, p. 101-104. Elizabeth Randolph Preston Allan, The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Company, 1903). http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/11689/ http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/thanksgiving/poems-rhymes/the- first-thanksgiving.html

1590WB015. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, September of 1622, the account of Squanto's death. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608-1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, from the original manuscript; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), pp. 109-110.

1590WB115. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, History of the Plymouth Settlement 1608-1650, rendered in Modern English by Harold Paget, 1909, chap. 6, pps. 38-39.

1590WB116. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, History of the Plymouth Settlement 1608-1650, rendered in Modern English by Harold Paget, 1909, chap. 6, pps. 115-116.

1590WB216. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, History of the Plymouth Settlement 1608-1650, rendered in Modern English by Harold Paget, 1909, pps. 94-95.

1590WB316. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1623. Of Plymouth Plantation.

1590WB016. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). A proclamation, possibly composed in the late 19th century to commemorate the Pilgrim's thanksgiving.

1590WB017. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). Bradford, William. 1643, in recounting the death of Mr. William Brewster. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608-1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, from the original manuscript; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 314.

1590WB018. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1650, in his work titled, The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608- 1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 21. Jordan D. Fiore, ed., Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims of Plymouth (Plymouth, MA: Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1841, 1865, 1985), pp. 10-11. William T. Davis, ed., History of Plymouth Plantation (NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1908), p. 46. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 1, p. 66. Verna M. Hall, comp., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 193. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant-The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self- Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 11. Gary DeMar, America's Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), pp. 34-35.

1590WB019. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1650, in his work titled, The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608- 1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 236. John Bartlett, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 265. Fleming, One Small Candle: The Pilgrim's First Year in America, p. 218. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart'N Home, Inc., 1991), 11.25. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God- How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 4.

1590WB020. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1650, in his work titled, The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608- 1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), pp. 22-35. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Light and the Glory (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1977), p. 110.

1590WB021. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1650, in his work titled, The History of Plymouth Plantation 1608- 1650 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988).

1590WB022. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1625 account, History of the Plymouth Settlement 1608-1650 (rendered in Modern English by Harold Paget, 1909, chapter 6, pages 165-167). 1590WB023. Francis Knight, account, Robert C. Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy 1500-1800 (Palgrave Macmillian, 2003, chp. 1, p. 3). Giles Milton, White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves (UK: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 2004).

1590WB024. Sultan Moulay Ismail, account, John Windus, A Journey to Mequinez (Meknes), published in London, 1825.

1590WB025. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). William Bradford, 1657, engraving on William Bradford's grave at Burial Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts.


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