Mayflower

There were several different classes of people who settled in the colonies of North America. They all experienced hardships along the way, though some experiences were milder than others. One perspective of someone who had a decent experience, was William Bradford. He was one of the leaders among the group of religious, freedom-seeking people, called Pilgrims, who arrived in America on the Mayflower. Their trip was not as smooth as it seemed though. Their ship had gotten off-course several times, as a result of the violent storms that took place. Consequently, in spite of the patent (which had originally granted them to settle in Virginia), they ended up settling their colony in what they called Plymouth (Massachusetts). This lead to a series of conflicts between the group of land-seeking people and the religious people. The land-seeking people argued that they were not bound by the terms of the patent, and thus no one had the power to control them. As a compromise, Bradford and the other leaders created an agreement called the Mayflower Compact, which stated that members of the colony had to form a civic body politic, and obey by the laws for the good of the colony. Bradford later went on become governor of the Plymouth Colony. Another perspective, is of Olaudah Equiano, who served as an African slave and came to the America not by choice, but by force. Born in Africa to a village chief, Equiano was suppose to follow in his father’s footsteps. However, at age 11 he was kidnapped and loaded into a crowded slave ship with inhumane conditions. After barely surviving the poor conditions of the trip, Equiano was first taken to the Barbados, and then to Virginia to work in a plantation. Less than a month later, he was sold to an English naval officer. After traveling the world as the man’s servant for seven years, he was fortunate to have been able to buy his way out of slavery. His fate was lucky, compared to others who would, along with their children, never know