Mayflower Compac, By Nathaniel Philbrick: Summary

When thinking about the name Mayflower it usually brings images of people in big hats and buckled shoes having Thanksgiving with some Indians; evoking memories of your history classes in elementary school. This isn’t the whole truth as Nathaniel Philbrick goes in deeper to what the relationship between the Pilgrims and Natives were really like. In the 1620s, English Puritans left England to the New World for the desire to seek religious freedom. They were a group of people unaware what will greet them across the vast, open ocean; taking their chances knowing the journey would prove both costly and frustrating. The English puritans arrived in Cape Cod after being blown north of their intended course, many people had gotten the plague due to close living conditions and low food supply on the ship. Many of the new arrivers died throughout the winter. To avoid chaos in the newly formed Plymouth Colony, a governing document called the Mayflower
Philbrick highlights when Mayflower arrives, there are many people who are malnourished, having signs scurvy with “loosening of teeth, and foul smelling breath” (Philbrick 1), and infected by the plague due to unsanitary conditions on the boat. There the people begin to die and endure a great deal of suffering because of the First Winter “... so many fell ill that there were barely half a dozen left to tend the sick” (Philbrick 85). As winter begins to approach, the food supply begins to run short and there are only a couple houses that are built within a span of one year: not enough for the whole population. Eventually, after the horrible winter, the Pilgrims meet Native Americans, the Wampanoag tribe in the area and they are able to form trading alliances with them which would benefit both parties. A celebration was had between the two parties in the Autumn of 1621, this would later be recognized as