The REAL Story of Thanksgiving

The Liberator Onlline ^ | Nov. 20, 1997 | Paul Schmidt

[FreeKeys]

The Real Story Behind Thanksgiving Did you know that the first [Plymouth Colony Pilgrim's] Thanksgiving was a celebration of the triumph of private property and individual initiative? William Bradford was the governor of the original Pilgrim colony, founded at Plymouth in 1621. The colony was first organized on a communal basis, as their financiers required. Land was owned in common. The Pilgrims farmed communally, too, following the "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs" precept. The results were disastrous. Communism didn't work any better 400 years ago than it does today. By 1623, the colony had suffered serious losses. Starvation was imminent. Bradford realized that the communal system encouraged and rewarded waste and laziness and inefficiency, and destroyed individual initiative. Desperate, he abolished it. He distributed private plots of land among the surviving Pilgrims, encouraging them to plant early and farm as individuals, not collectively. The results: a bountiful early harvest that saved the colonies. After the harvest, the Pilgrims celebrated with a day of Thanksgiving -- on August 9th. Unfortunately, William Bradford's diaries -- in which he recorded the failure of the collectivist system and the triumph of private enterprise -- were lost for many years. When Thanksgiving was later made a national holiday, the present November date was chosen. And the lesson the Pilgrims so painfully learned was, alas, not made a part of the holiday. Happily, Bradford's diaries were later rediscovered. They're available today in paperback. They tell the real story of Thanksgiving -- how private property and individual initiative saved the Pilgrims. This Thanksgiving season, one of the many things I'm thankful for is our free market system (imperfectly realized as it is). And I'm also grateful that there are increasing numbers of Americans who are learning the importance of free markets, and who are working to replace government coercion with marketplace cooperation here in America and around the world. Paul Schmidt -- copied from http://FreedomKeys.com/thanksgiving2.htm  which was copied from the Nov. 20, 1997 issue of  THE LIBERATOR ONLINE at http://www.theadvocates.org/liberator/vol-02-num-21.htm for more detailed accounts see:  The Great Thanksgiving Hoax  at-http://mises.org/story/336 The Pilgrims’ Real Thanksgiving Lesson  at  http://snipurl.com/av27 How Capitalism Saved America  at http://tinyurl.com/CapitalismSavedAmerica How Private Property Saved the Pilgrims at http://tinyurl.com/ylc83r The REAL Thanksgiving Story   at   http://tinyurl.com/RealThanksgivingStory Giving Thanks for Lessons Learned at  http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/article/2281 and The Plymouth Experiment  at http://snipurl.com/12lca Find some more excerpts from Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford's diary-HERE: http://tinyurl.com/1stThanksgiving Finally, to see how it feels to be caught in a coerced-sharing society check out THIS page: http://tinyurl.com/20thCenturyMotors AND for those of you unfortunate enough to have to deal with fanatical self-righteous altruists, see THIS page:  http://FreedomKeys.com/paradox.htm#pcdt And there are a lot more HERE:  http://search.mises.org/search?q=thanksgiving&site=default_collection Also see: "Private Property Saved Jamestown, And With It, America" HERE: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8236 "Property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist." -- President John Adams, direct descendent of Pilgrims John and Priscilla Alden  "The true foundation of republican government is the equal right of every citizen in his person and property and in their management." -- Thomas Jefferson "Private property is the most important guarantee of freedom." -- F.A. Hayek  "No freedom is secure if your property rights are not secure." -- Neal Boortz "It is the institution of private property that protects and implements the right to disagree."-- Ayn Rand "If you can't own (and use) property, you are property." - Wayne Hage Check out: HOW CAPITALISM SAVED AMERICA: The Untold History of Our Country, from the Pilgrims to the Present by Thomas DiLorenzo (paperback) $9.95 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> HAPPY THANKSGIVING! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Also see Town Hall Posters here: http://FreedomKeys.com/teapartysigns.htm -- and Please PASS IT ALONG------------> -- -- you can make a cleaner copy by going to this page and copying it or sending it as-is: http://FreedomKeys.com/thanksgiving2.htm -----------> ----------->

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[FreeKeys]

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Copy this and email it to absolutely everybody you can -- and ask them to do the same.   Also, be creative: find the email addresses of the officers, staff and members of various clubs and Chambers of Commerce in the towns around you.

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[FreeKeys]

turkeyday ping

[ReaganCaesar]

Haha! Awesome!

[stylecouncilor]

ping

[nmh]

Thank you!

I already know ths BUT I will print them out before they disappear off the web. TRUTH is the enemy of LBERALS and they have NO TOLERANCE FOR IT.

[nmh]

Thank you!

I already know ths BUT I will print them out before they disappear off the web. TRUTH is the enemy of LIBERALS and they have NO TOLERANCE FOR IT.

[Tennessee Nana]

“What they said”.. Tennessee Nana, direct descendant of Jesse the Walloon, and direct descedant of Phillipe Du Trieux, one of the passengers on the New Netherland, from Leyden, Holland, and a founder of New Amsterdam (New York City) March, 1623.

[Dick Bachert]

· Back in the early 80s, we took the kids up to Plymouth to see my wife’s sister who lived there at the time. Visited Plymouth Plantation. During the tour, I was struck by the presence of fortified guard shacks in the town square and asked the guide if they were a last line of defense for the citizens there if trouble with the natives spilled into the compound. He told us that they were for the control of the FOOD RIOTS which broke out those first few winters — BEFORE they abandoned their experiment with Marxism before Karl was even born.

Seems each generation or so we must relearn the hard lessons of history.
Obama will teach us the next round of such lessons. I suspect they will be BITTER ones indeed.

Have a wonderful day.

And the early leaders of this country wanted the turkey to be our national bird. Looks like they got their wish as we now have 537 TURKEYS running America — into the ground.

[FreeKeys]

· "Back in the early 80s, we took the kids up to Plymouth to see my wife’s sister who lived there at the time. Visited Plymouth Plantation. During the tour, I was struck by the presence of fortified guard shacks in the town square and asked the guide if they were a last line of defense for the citizens there if trouble with the natives spilled into the compound. He told us that they were for the control of the FOOD RIOTS which broke out those first few winters — BEFORE they abandoned their experiment with Marxism before Karl was even born.

"Seems each generation or so we must relearn the hard lessons of history."-- Dick Bachert

Awesome! May I add the above to the web page?

[thefactor]

ping

[ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY]

Most of the early colonies started out as communal systems; it's kind of a natural idea when you have a small group of people that know each other, and are facing an enormous challenge together. Much like a infantry unit.

However, while the Pilgrims had a communal system, I doubt it was abolished the very first year they were in the New World, and their Thanksgiving in December 1621 was NOT about its demise!

This story reads as if information found in the “diary of William Bradford” was actually the history of the Jamestown settlement over a decade before. That colony struggled for several years under its communal system, and starvation was a constant threat. Most of the colonists were noblemen and were resistant to doing hard labor, and as a result, only a few were working to feed everyone; with predictable results.

Things got so bad that, like the Hope Colony a few years before, the colonists abandoned the settlement and set sail for England. However, before they sailed out of the James River, they were met by another supply fleet coming from England. The new Governor that came with it, really shook things up (in the modern vernacular: he kicked ass and took names!) He abolished the communal system, ordered the nobles to work, commanded Sunday worship of all, and community service (militia, building repairs, etc.)
Within a year, the colony was flourishing. In 1619, they held the first official Thanksgiving by Englishmen in America.

[Dick Bachert]

By all means. With attribution. Like John Hancock, I don’t want OBOWzo’s Brown Shirts to overlook me when the round-ups begin.
And thanks.
Dick

[I Drive Too Fast]

Thanks for the ping. Great story.

Now, all the turkeys are in Washington, D.C.

[maine-iac7]

Great Post - Little by little, the REAL story of the “Plimoth” Pilgrims is getting absorbed by Americans,

Regarding “Bradford's diaries were later rediscovered” - It wasn't ‘diaries’ but a Family Journal that he wrote for his descendants.

It was in the possession of a grandson, who loaned it out and it got passed from person to person until the pastor of the Old South Church borrowed it. It was in the pastors library when the English took over the church for a stable during the Revolution. From here it disappeared.

It was finally tracked down in the late 1800’s - in the private library of the Archbishop Of London. After negotiations, it was gifted to Plymouth and published as “Bradford's History”. Up until that time, people speculated on their First Thanksgiving and how they lived. Thus we still have many erroneous ideas concerning them, like ‘dressed in black and white’ - and other nonsense, having mixed them up with the very different Puritans that founded Boston Bay colony.

After the late 1800’s publication, the book fell out of print again, but was again printed in the early 1950’s under the name “Of Plymouth Plantation’ - and is still in print.

Also available is the best account, other than Gov. Bradford's eye witness account, is a movie, available on DVD, “Desperate Crossing”

http://shop.biography.com/detail.php?p=69858

In addition: the first segment of the really great PBS series: We Shall Remain, is available to watch online.
It FINALLY bring out that the original Plymouth colonists had a warm and friendly relationship with the local Indians whom they admired and never tried to convert. They also made a mutual aid treaty - they only one never broken.

http://shop.biography.com/detail.php?p=69858

Most people are unaware of their presence in Maine - which was part of Massachusetts until into the 1800’s (Thank God for THAT split!).
They established trading posts as far north as Castine. Their most successful one was at Cusnac = now the site of the capitol, Augusta.

They brought everything, including the prefabbed trading post, up the Kennebec River.

Yes, Prefab. The trading post was 20’ x 60’, 3 rooms: family quarters (For John Howland, wife and 3 little girls) , middle was the trading room, and the last was the storage room. They made the building in Plymouth, took it up the river in sections and reassembled on site.

An aside: John Alden was arrested for murder there and hauled off to court in Boston...think of the Puritans as today's liberals and the Plymouth folk as conservatives.
and as to the outcome of his trial, I'll let y'all do the research.)

From this post they ‘trucked’ with the Indians to the north - peas, cloth, knifes and such for furs.

(Gov. Bradford, Alden, Howland etc are my 7th great great grandfathers, Elder Wm Brewster, Myles Standish, and such, 8th ggg. - So I have studied the group for decades) Journey of the Journal......http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/08/prweb430733.htm

[maine-iac7]

and Thank You again for the great post - and for the painting - my favorite of the First Thanksgiving...as it’s accurate as to their clothing. They loved colors - indeed, Elder William Brewster wore a long, red velvet cape...and had both green and blue ‘breeches’

[Misterioso]

All the proletariat needed was a dictator, it seems.

[FreeKeys]

OK, Mr. Hancock, click this: http://freedomkeys.com/thanksgiving3.htm

[Borges]

Bradford’s descendants include:

The Baldwin brothers; (Alec, Daniel, William, and Stephen)

Ambrose Bierce; American dystopian novelist and satirist
Julia Child, American entrepreneur and chef of French and French-influenced cuisine

Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, and his descendants, including Nelson Doubleday, Nelson Doubleday, Jr., and Russell Doubleday

George Eastman, American inventor and the founder of the Eastman Kodak Company

Clint Eastwood, American film actor, director, and producer

John Lithgow, American actor and philanthropist

George B. McClellan, Civil War general, Governor of New Jersey, Democratic opponent of Abraham Lincoln in the 1864 United States presidential election

Thomas Pynchon, American short story writer and novelist

Christopher Reeve, American film actor and political activist

William Rehnquist, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1972 to 1986 and Chief Justice of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2005

Benjamin Spock, child care specialist and author

Adlai Stevenson III, United States Democratic Senator representing Illinois from 1970 to 1981, two-time candidate for Governor of Illinois

Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr.,publisher of the New York Times since 1992

Noah Webster, American educator, journalist, and lexicographer noted for his Webster’s Dictionary

[FreeKeys]

Amazing. Thank you.

[FreeKeys]

(Gov. Bradford, Alden, Howland etc are my 7th great great grandfathers, Elder Wm Brewster, Myles Standish, and such, 8th ggg. - So I have studied the group for decades) Journey of the Journal...... http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/08/prweb430733.htm

Fascinating!