Posted on 12/02/2008 9:57:48 AM PST by Fishface
It’s my favorite time of year: family, football, and giving thanks for all that I have and hold dear. Yes, Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. Living in Massachusetts, we have a unique perspective on Thanksgiving. From Plymouth Rock to the Mayflower, to Plymouth Plantation, most of us have experienced the sights and rich history of the holiday. The Pilgrims were a courageous group of people, willing to sacrifice the livelihood of their families for religious freedom and prosperity. There are many lessons to be learned from the Pilgrims and their amazing story. My favorite lesson, however, is rarely discussed in schools or the media and certainly is worth paying tribute to this week.
First a little background info: the Pilgrims had their trip delayed several times, forcing them to leave Holland much later in the year than they hoped. The long journey was made arduous by cramped quarters, clashing personalities, illness and death. When they finally arrived in America, there was no welcome party, just a cold, desolate wilderness. Without adequate shelter or food stores, the first winter was gruesomely difficult; half of them died from the bitter cold, the prevalent sickness or rampant starvation.
We all know the story from here: in the Spring, the friendly Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats. The harvest in October was bountiful, and there was much to celebrate. They had built houses in the wilderness and had enough food to last them through the upcoming winter. They celebrated with their new friends with three days of feasting. We mark this celebration today with the Thanksgiving Holiday. What most people don’t know, however, is that even after Massasoit, Squanto and Samoset taught them the fundamentals of survival, the Pilgrims did not prosper.
The contract with their investors in London directed that everything produced go into a common store and that each member of the community was entitled to one common share. Even the land and housing belonged to the community. So, despite electing William Bradford their Governor democratically, they had implemented a socialist system government.
Governor Bradford lost his wife that first winter but remained steadfast in his efforts to make the settlement a success. Though he was pleased with their first harvest, he soon recognized that the collectivism being practiced wasn’t working. As with all socialist systems, the most creative, talented and industrious people in the group had no incentive to work harder, smarter or produce more than anyone else. Thus, the talent level and productivity of the workers was reduced to the lowest common denominator rather than being increased through competition and reward.
Bradford expounded upon this in his writings: “the experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years…that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing—as if they were wiser than God. For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense…that was thought injustice.”
In other words, Governor Bradford and his people experienced the malaise and discontent that socialism fosters. Without incentive to do more, the workers, talented thinkers and entrepreneurs do less. So, he took bold action and assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage. This soon created a basic marketplace of services and ideas that gave the Pilgrims for the first time both incentive and motivation: work hard, do well and your family will prosper; fail and your family dies. This small scale capitalism forced the Pilgrims to develop work ethic, talents and expertise that could be exchanged for the goods and services they each needed to survive.
Did it work? “This had very good success,” wrote Bradford, “for it made all hands industrious.” Soon, the Pilgrims had more food than they knew what to do with. So, they established trading posts and exchanged food and goods with the Natives. Their profits enabled them to pay off their investors in London. Eventually, the prosperity of the settlement attracted more Europeans, which brought more talent and creativity and bread more success. It was America’s first great lesson in capitalism, and it truly was the very beginning of the prosperity that we enjoy in this country today.
Reviewing this rich piece of our history has put me in such a good mood that that I'm not even going to mention the fact that our schools today would rather focus on the multi-cultural menu of the first Thanksgiving than praise the birth of capitalism in America. That's another lesson for another time. So, as you sit down to dinner on Thursday, remember to give thanks for the Pilgrims and their commitment to progress. Because, we are all still benefiting from their experience 387 years ago.
>>We all know the story from here: in the Spring, the friendly Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats.<<
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