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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[maine-iac7]

I forgot to mention regarding the first publication in the late 1800’s -after finally being found in the private library of the Archbishop Of London and gifted to Plymouth and published as “Bradford's History”.

I have been collecting current publication copies for my large family - and a few years ago, there was a “Bradford's History” on ebay. I won it for $5.

Imagine my elation when I opened the package and found one of the original editions as outlined above! Obviously, the seller had no idea what is really was. Probably in gramma’s things when she passed and who wanted that old book - or something similar.

I treasure it.

[maine-iac7]

oops - I just realized I posted one link twice and didn’t get this link posted

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/

This PBS special this spring “WE Shall Remain” is the most accurate telling of our dealing with the Native Americans I have seen.
The first segment in on the Pilgrims. It has a couple minor glitches, but still the truest I’ve seen to date. It shows that the original Pilgrims had a warm and lasting friendship with the local Indians, whom they admired and whom they never tried to ‘convert’. They made a mutual aid treaty that they never broke - the only treaty not to be broken.

[Dick Bachert]

MR.HANCOCK WOULD APPROVE. :-))

See you in camp. Dips on the bottom bunk...

[maine-iac7]

ahmmm

and this has to do with the First Thanksgiving - how?

[Dick Bachert]

Because, thanks to the OBOWzo maladministration, Thanksgiving 2010 will most likely be a replay of those first celebrations — food riots and all.

[daniel1212]

Thanks for the informative post. Do you know much about the “praying Indians” of places like Natick?

[maine-iac7]

Do you know much about the “praying Indians” of places like Natick?

The "praying Indians" came under the UBER self-righteous Puritans of Boston Bay Colony, unfortunately.

The Puritans looked upon the Natives as ignorant heathens in need of conversion, even by force, whereas the Pilgrims Fathers admired the Indians for who they were - found them to be as civil and honest as others - and indeed, their women to be more modest. ;o)

The Puritans not only felt the right to convert the "savages' to Christianity but to force them to give up their customs and live like 'civilized' people. What effrontery.

the Pilgrims struggled for decades to keep from being overpowered by the Puritans but numbers flooding into the Boston Bay Colony finally upset the balance and the applecart. And it went downhill from there as to relationships with the Native Americans.

The Puritans were a stiff-necked, holier-than-thou, scary people - a lot of their descendants are running around today ;o) and they have inherited the traits. (I suspicion most are liberals. LOL)

[FreeKeys]

TURKEY DAY PING
Did you see this!

[libh8er]

Thanksgiving is the day Americans thank God for Rush Limbaugh :)

[FreeKeys]

TURKEY DAY PING
Did you see this?

[Star Traveler]

Thanks for the ping

[GSP.FAN]

I tell that story every year..

[Cindy]

Thank you for the ping FreeKeys.

[gwilhelm56]

**Thanksgiving is the day Americans thank God for Rush Limbaugh :)**

DITTO’s

This story is in one of (I think first)Rush’s Books. I’m just glad someone found the original journal.. and the scumsuckers can’t deny it anymore.

[Cindy]

ON THE INTERNET:

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." -from THE BIBLE: I Corinthians 15:57

LET'S READ THE BIBLE: Psalms 100 (Read More...)

Video: "GIVE THANKS with a grateful heart" (Watch Here.)

TRUTHUSA.com: "CELEBRATE THANKSGIVING!" (Click Here.)

[thatdewd]

Most excellent!!!

[swheats]

Thanks. May this Thanksgiving be the beginning of a renewal of our great land.

I thank God for His providence and the exposure of criminals that want to destroy us.

[Nateman]

Rush likes to tell this story around this time of year. Still worth a look though, thanks!

[tubebender]

Many years ago we lived across the street from and became aquatinted with Russell Bradford and his family who were decedents of William Bradford. Mr Bradford gave talks on Plymouth Colony and later his son Russell Bradford III did the same during his teaching career until he died of cancer. He took a year off to research the family’s history. It was before the internet. I must do some poking around myself...

[Las Vegas Ron]

Rush, is that you??

Awesome, thank you for the ping!!