Founding of the American Colonies
Handouts, Homework and Final Assessment
Kristen Borges
Johann Knets
Hamilton-WenhamRegionalHigh School
HANDOUT #1
The Pilgrims: Stuff of Myths
By CHARLES HILLINGER November 22, 1990
PLYMOUTH, Mass. — In Jennie Brownscombe's popular painting of the First Thanksgiving, somber Pilgrims in Victorian clothes sit down to pray with half-naked Indians.
What's wrong with this picture? Plenty, says Laurence Pizer, director of Pilgrim Hall.
"America's perceptions of the First Thanksgiving are historically inaccurate," said Pizer, 44, as he looked at Brownscombe's 1914 interpretation of that first holiday. "This painting is a symbol of Thanksgiving for most Americans," but it's based more on whimsy than fact, he said.
"Pilgrims didn't wear black-and-white Victorian clothing. They dressed in the conventional style of that day, in trousers, shirts and dresses of various colors. We know Elder William Brewster (who, in the painting, leads the group in prayer) had a red vest and a purple vest. And, the Indians certainly didn't go around in the chillyNew England autumn half-naked."
Hanging from the walls here in Pilgrim Hall, one of the nation's oldest museums, are other paintings that give misleading pictures of Pilgrims and the way they lived. There are paintings that show the Pilgrims embarking for the New World from Delfthaven, Holland, the Mayflower crossing the Atlantic, the landing at Plymouth Rock on Dec. 21, 1620, and the First Thanksgiving at Plymouth the following fall.
"These paintings make up the American myth about the Pilgrims," said Pizer. "We all grew up with the story illustrated in these depictions. (But) the paintings are better known for their romantic charm, rather than historical accuracy."
Most of the paintings are 19th Century, the earliest, "The Landing of the Pilgrims" by Michael Felice Corne, from 1803. He was among the first artists to interpret the story of the Pilgrims. Corne shows Pilgrims stepping off the Mayflower onto Plymouth Rock.
"The rugged coastline, feather-headdressed natives on shore and the variously garbed Pilgrims, some in British naval uniforms and others in French Revolution caps, are all products of Corne's imagination," said Pizer.
Some paintings show Pilgrims disembarking from the Mayflower wearing breast plates. "Hardly believable. Breastplates were incredibly heavy," said Pizer. "Indians are pictured greeting Pilgrims when they arrived at Plymouth Rock. Not true. It was three months before Indians came out to visit."
Pizer said popular books have always had accounts much like the paintings, what writers fancied, inconsistent with history. Nowhere is there mention in Pilgrims’ journals of turkey being eaten at the harvest feast.
"At that time of the year, geese would have been plentiful. They probably ate goose. They also ate deer provided by the Indians," Pizer added.
Pizer walked a visitor through the stately Greek Revival granite mansion that is Pilgrim Hall. "This was the cradle that rocked Peregrine White, who was born on the Mayflower shortly after the ship anchored in Provincetown harbor," he said. In his journal "Of Plimoth Plantation," William Bradford describes Peregrine White as the "first of the English that was borne in these parts."
It was in 1820, the bicentennial of the landing at Plymouth Rock, that the Pilgrim Society was organized in Plymouth "to exhibit and interpret the history of the Pilgrims and the colony and town they founded." The museum opened to the public in 1824.
"Our aim as a scholarly institution is seeking anything that reveals the situation of the Pilgrims--pieces of furniture, books, manuscripts, anything they owned, telling us what life was like, what they were like," said Pizer.
The only known likeness of any of the Mayflower passengers hangs in Pilgrim Hall. It is a portrait of Edward Winslow, painted when he visited England in 1651. No one knows what the other Pilgrims looked like.
Pizer lifted a huge iron cooking pot off the museum floor. "This came over on the Mayflower. In all likelihood, it was used at the First Thanksgiving," he said.
In one exhibit case is a sampler made by Myles Standish’s daughter, Loara, when she was a teen-ager in 1653. It is the earliest known American sampler. Her verse reads:
"Loara Standish is my name Lorde guide my hart that I may doe thy will, also My hands with such Convenient skill as may Conduce virtue void of Shame and I will give The Glory to thy name."
Myles Standish's razor and sword are here, as are John Alden's and Gov. William Bradford's Bibles. There are chairs, dinnerware, tables, pewter, a cloak, a bead purse, a slipper and tools--a hoe, an ax, a hand saw--that belonged to Pilgrims.
There is a model of the Mayflower here, made in England in 1925, but it does little to answer any of the Mayflower mysteries. "There are so many mysteries about the Pilgrims. The Mayflower is one of them," said Pizer. "We do not know what the Mayflower looked like. We can only guess.
"We know that it was an old ship, that it was 90 feet long and was like a taxi, hired by the Pilgrims for the voyage to the New World."
Pilgrim Hall also has on display the remains of a 17th-Century vessel that carried transatlantic passengers from Europe to the New World, the 40-foot Sparrow-Hawk.
The Sparrow-Hawk carried 20 passengers and crew. It sank in 1626 at Orleans, 50 miles southeast of Plymouth on Cape Cod.
A great storm uncovered the wreck in 1862. The Pilgrim Society acquired the ribs, floor pieces and sides of the Sparrow-Hawk in 1889.
"We are still collecting Pilgrim items from descendants, purchased through dealers and at auctions. One of our most recent acquisitions is a silver wine cup that belonged to William Bradford," said Pizer.
Pilgrim Hall, which is on Court Street in downtown Plymouth (population 41,000), has the largest collection of books, manuscripts and other written material about the Pilgrims.
Thismuseum of Pilgrim treasures is three blocks from Plymouth Rock, the 5-foot-long, 2-foot-tall rock the Pilgrims stepped on from their small boat when they first came ashore here. Today, the rock is protected by a portico of granite.
"The story of the Pilgrims is just as fascinating today as it was in the past. They were a band of brave pioneers who accomplished incredible things, including the mere fact of survival," said Pizer.
Of the 104 who made the voyage to Plymouth, 53 perished the first winter from exposure, starvation, and disease. It was the 51 who made it through that first cruel winter who held the harvest festival in the fall of 1621 that became this nation's First Thanksgiving.
Handout #2
Abrams,Ann Uhry. The Pilgrims and Pocahontas: Rival Myths of American Origins.Boulder: Westview Press,1999.
The following is a summary of Chapter 5 Landing of the Forefathers. The book can be easily accessed online through Google Books.
Nineteenth-century New Englanders viewed the landing of the Pilgrims as a seminal event that determined the future United States. The image of the the Pilgrim’s landing gave New Englanders a sense of unity. Beginning in the 1820s, when it first reached America, until well into the twentieth century, a poem entitled “The Landing of the Fathers” by Felicia Hemans was very popular among New Englanders.
The breaking waves dash’d high,
On a stern and rock-boundcoast;
And the woods, against a stormy sky
Their giant branches tost;
And the heavy night hung dark
The hills and waters o’er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore.
Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted came,
Not with the roll of stirring drums,
And the trumpet, that sings fame,
Ay call it holy ground,
The soil, where they first trod!
They have left unstained what there they found-
Freedom to worship God!
Felicia Hemans
Felicia Hemans was an English woman who never set foot in America. She admittedly knew nothing about the Pilgrims until one day she happened to read a crumpled newspaper that wrapped a parcel announcing an address delivered at Plymouth on some anniversary. She was so inspired by the oratory that she immediately wrote the poem. From that day thousands in the OldPilgrimChurch at Plymouth sang her words in a hymn every Forefathers Day.
New England’s enchantment with Hemans’s poem was easy to understand. Her Pilgrims were courageous fighters conquering the ravages of nature to gain religious freedom. Such phrase as “stern and rock-bound coast” and “holy ground” captured the mystique of the Pilgrim legend. For many New Englanders the landing inspired a sense of security an pride in the accomplishments of their legendary regional ancestors.
The impulse to attach significance to the Pilgrim’s arrival- even though there is no documentation attesting to the actual stepping ashore- sparked a number of tales during the early national period. For example, descendants of John Alden and offspring of Mary Chilton each claimed that its ancestor had been the first to leap onto Plymouth Rock. Also, for a time the actual date of that first step was also disputed.
By the early nineteenth century, pictures of that first step had become an accepted venue for illustrating European civilization’s westward migration. Many maps included a cartouche that showed submissive Native Americans startled that their territory ad been “discovered” by Europeans. Many of the images of the landing highlighted a rugged coast. This hardly represented the placid inlet of PlymouthBay. The rugged landscape came to symbolize the hardships endured by the forefathers. Also, the Pilgrims were often dressed in late eighteenth century costumes rather than the Jacobean clothing of the Pilgrim’s own time. The contemporary clothing worn by the people in the images associated the Bostonians attending Forefather’s Day celebrations with the people they were commemorating.
Michele Felice Corne’s Landing of the Pilgrims adds a dramatic quality. The snowy landscape pictures a rowboat entering from the left filled with passengers wearing early nineteenth-century costumes, a crew member near the center tying the vessel to the rocks and Native Americans viewing the scene from the right. He painted this scene more than twenty times in the early nineteenth century. However, each time he made slight variations. Corne expanded the contemporary relevance of the scene by each time introducing several elements that may reflect his own preoccupations. He often boasted of his own flight from Naples to Salem, MA to elude Napoleon’s recruiters. In one depiction he included in the approaching rowboat a British redcoat, an officer in a blue uniform holding a white flag , and men wearing broad-brimmed black hats and tight-fitting waistcoats of the artist’s mercantile contemporaries. With no documentary evidence to explain such inclusions, one can only speculate whether it suggest Corne’s own experiences or specific wishes of his patrons. Until the 1860s, the image of Pilgrims stepping ashore would grace artwork, literature, and oratory to justify everything from political conventions to religious beliefs.
HANDOUT #3
Painting Analysis Worksheet
Step One: Observation
- Study the image for two minutes
- Form an overall impression of the painting and then examine individual items.
- Next, divide the painting into quadrants and study each section to see what details become visible.
- Use the chart below to list People, Objects, and Activities in the painting
Quadrant # / People / Objects / Activities
Step Two: Make Inferences
- Based on what you have observed above, make three inferences about the meaning(s) of the painting. Consider the following: (some of these Q’s may not apply)
- Which objects are acting as symbols?
- How would the subject of the painting like to be seen?
- How has the time in which the painting was created affected it?
Step Three: Question
- What questions does this painting raise in your mind? (Consider factors related to the painting, time period, and the author)
- Where could you find answers to them?
HANDOUT # 4
Background:
In 1561, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés commanded the great Armada de la Carrera (Spanish treasure fleet) on their voyage from Mexico to Spain. When he had delivered the treasure fleet to Spain, he asked permission to go back in search of one lost vessel. This was the vessel on which he had lost his son, other family members, and friends. After a lengthy delay, his request was granted on the condition that he would explore and colonize La Florida as King Philip II's adelantado (military title granted directly by the Monarch the right to become leader of a specific region, which they charged with conquering, in exchange for funding and organizing the initial explorations, settlements and pacification of the target area on behalf of the Crown.) Mendez fitted out an expedition for this purpose, personally bearing the associated expenses.
When Menéndez was about to sail, orders came to him from King Philip II, commanding him to "hang and burn the Lutherans" he might find in Florida (at the time, "Lutheran" was a catchall term for Protestant).
Excerpts from Pedro Menéndez de Aviles to King Philip II of Spain, (October 15, 1565)
“I sent on shore with the first 200 soldiers, two captains, Juan Vincent a brother of the Captain Juan Vicente,and Andres Lopez Patino, both old soldiers, in order to throw up a trench in the place most fit to fortify them selves in, and to collect there the troops that were landed so as to protect them from the enemy if he should come upon them. They did this so well that when I landed on Our Lady’s Day to take possession of the country in your Majesty’s name, it seemed as if they had had a months time, and if the had had shovels and other iron tools, they could not have done it better, for we have none of these things, the ship laden with them not having yet arrived. I have smiths and iron, so that I can make them with dispatch, as I shall. When I go onshore we shall seek out a more suitable place to fortify ourselves in, as it is not fit where we are now. This we must do with all speed, before the enemy can attack us, and if they give us eight days more time, we think we shall do it.”
"…(Spanish will be) free to implant the Gospel in these parts, enlighten the natives, and bring them to allegiance to Your Majesty…I hope in Our Lord that He will give me success in everything, that I and my descendants may give these kingdoms to Your Majesty free and unobstructed, and that the people thereof may become Christians; for this is what particularly interests me, as I have written to Your Majesty; and we shall gain much reputation with the Indians…"
Menéndez discussing his conversation with a French prisoner about the fate of his comrades:
"I answered that we had taken their fort and killed those in it,…because they were implanting their evil Lutheran sect in these Your Majesty's provinces…"
List of Passengers and Provisions Requested by Menéndez
100 farmers a year's supplies to be followed by:
100 sailors 500 settlers, including:
300 soldiers women and children
12 priests or religious menskilled tradesmen
100 horses
200 calves
400 hogs
400 sheep
Pedro Menendez de Aviles translated by Henry Ware “Letters of Pedro Menendez de Aviles”, Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings VIII:419-425.
Primary Source Questions
- How can we describePedro Menéndez de Aviles?
- What is the Menéndez’s main purpose in writing the letter?
- What can we say about Menéndez’s intended audience?
- How is the message shaped to appeal to his audience?
HANDOUT # 5
Chapter 10 Florida: Fountains of Youth, River of Blood from A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz
Please answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper. All answers must be supported with specific evidence from the reading.
- Describe the Huegenots.
- Why was Florida of interest to the French? the Spanish?
- Describe the early encounter between the French and the Timucua of Florida.
- What qualities did Jean Ribault have as a leader? How did he lose his position?
- What qualities did Rene Goulane de Laudonniere have as a leader?
- How does Hoirowitz describe modern day FortCaroline? Why is it referred to as FortFake-ee?
- Why does the park ranger say American history is incomplete unless you know what happened at FortCaroline?
- Menéndez spared some French. Who were they, and why did he decide not to kill them?
- Horowitz says Menéndez was as efficient a colonizer as he was a killer. Explain what he meant by this.
- What did the director of heritage tourism in St.Augustine mean when he said “…history- real history is a loser in this town.”?
- Why did city of St. Augustine create a historical fact finding commission?
- Identify the controversies that surround many of the historical interpretations that center on the settlement of St. Augustine.
HANDOUT #6
Document A: