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The REAL Story of Thanksgiving
The Liberator Onlline ^ | Nov. 20, 1997 | Paul Schmidt

Posted on 11/21/2009 7:34:36 AM PST by 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

<<<<<<<>>>>>>>

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COPY  AND PASTE INTO YOUR EMAIL COMPOSING WINDOW AND SEND IT TO  EVERYONE YOU CAN 

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COPY  AND PASTE INTO YOUR EMAIL COMPOSING WINDOW AND SEND IT TO  EVERYONE YOU CAN 

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<----------------------------
COPY  AND PASTE INTO YOUR EMAIL COMPOSING WINDOW AND SEND IT TO  EVERYONE YOU CAN 

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<----------------------------
COPY  AND PASTE INTO YOUR EMAIL COMPOSING WINDOW AND SEND IT TO  EVERYONE YOU CAN 

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COPY  AND PASTE INTO YOUR EMAIL COMPOSING WINDOW AND SEND IT TO  EVERYONE YOU CAN 

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TOPICS: History; Politics; Reference; Society
KEYWORDS: firstthanksgiving; godsgravesglyphs; homeschool; plymouthcolony; privateproperty; socialism; thanksgiving
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To: netmilsmom
According to native sources, the Indians provided venison, corn pudding, pumpkin, native birds and fish to the Pilgrims for the feast....

That may well be true. And if so, it's even further from Mr. Schmidt's fanciful "celebration of the triumph of private property and individual initiative" than I thought.

81 posted on 11/23/2009 5:14:38 PM PST by r9etb
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To: r9etb

Not really. The “bountiful” wasn’t working yet. Why do you think that is?


82 posted on 11/23/2009 5:16:22 PM PST by netmilsmom (Psalm 109:8 - Let his days be few; and let another take his office)
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To: RaceBannon

Happy upcoming Thanksgiving Day RB. I was aware of this a number of years back. Rush Limbaugh had read portions over the air. Interesting. Communism never works. It is against human nature.


83 posted on 11/23/2009 5:45:22 PM PST by Marine_Uncle (Honor must be earned....)
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The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World was Created The Birth of Plenty:
How the Prosperity of
the Modern World was Created

by William Bernstein

Paperback
Audio Download


84 posted on 11/23/2009 6:05:49 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: FreeKeys; Pharmboy; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; ...

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·

 
Gods
Graves
Glyphs
Thanks FreeKeys!
Did you know that the first [Plymouth Colony Pilgrim's] Thanksgiving was a celebration of the triumph of private property and individual initiative?
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

·Dogpile · Archaeologica · ArchaeoBlog · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society ·
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google ·
· The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·


85 posted on 11/23/2009 6:10:31 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: netmilsmom

Doesn’t matter .. the article is still FOS.


86 posted on 11/23/2009 6:41:17 PM PST by r9etb
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To: r9etb

>>FOS<<

I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be stupid. Is that “full of ‘it’”?


87 posted on 11/23/2009 7:22:29 PM PST by netmilsmom (Psalm 109:8 - Let his days be few; and let another take his office)
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To: SunkenCiv; FreeKeys

“The first Thanksgiving ceremony in North America took place not in Plymouth in 1621, but near Jamestown, Va., on Dec. 4, 1619. Being a native of Virginia, such distinctions are of vital significance.

Virginia’s event was not a celebration, but a true thanksgiving service held by 38 English settlers who had just survived a perilous winter passage across the stormy Atlantic in a small sailing ship.”

http://spofga.org/flag/2005/nov/more_first_thanksgiving.php


88 posted on 11/23/2009 7:42:39 PM PST by Pelham ("Badges?!! We don' need no stinkin' badges!!")
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To: guitarplayer1953

Doubtful, since those words are written in the Declaration and not the Constitution, and came from the earlier Virginia Declaration of Rights.


89 posted on 11/23/2009 7:45:46 PM PST by Pelham ("Badges?!! We don' need no stinkin' badges!!")
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To: muawiyah

“In fact, my own genealogical research demonstrates that one of the attendees at St. Sauveur certainly was present for the first Thanksgiving at Jamestown, and may well have attended the first Thanksgiving at Plymouth. He’d gone into real estate sales with John Smith. “

Fascinating. What was the name of that First Realtor?


90 posted on 11/23/2009 7:55:19 PM PST by Pelham ("Badges?!! We don' need no stinkin' badges!!")
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To: Pelham

Thanks Pelham.


91 posted on 11/23/2009 8:06:39 PM PST by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
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To: Pelham
Historical it was a fact they changed it to pursuit of happiness from security of property. For the reason I gave that slaves were property and that would of given the south the constitutional right to slavery.
92 posted on 11/23/2009 8:11:18 PM PST by guitarplayer1953 (Romak 7.62X54MM, AK47 7.62X39MM, LARGO 9X23MM, HAPINESS IS A WARM GUN BANG BANG YEA YEA)
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To: FreeKeys; 2Jedismom; AAABEST; aberaussie; adopt4Christ; Aggie Mama; agrace; AliVeritas; AlmaKing; ..
Here's a nice lesson plan for Thanksgiving.

This ping list is for articles of interest to homeschoolers. Metmom holds both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping List. Please freepmail her to let her know if you would like to be added or removed from either list, or both.

The keyword for the FREE REPUBLIC HOMESCHOOLERS’ FORUM is frhf.

93 posted on 11/23/2009 8:23:23 PM PST by Tired of Taxes (Dad, I will always think of you.)
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To: Tired of Taxes

IIRC, the Common Store system was tried in Jamestown with similar results.

Too bad so many people don’t learn from history.


94 posted on 11/23/2009 8:32:02 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: netmilsmom

Yup. ;-)


95 posted on 11/23/2009 9:32:07 PM PST by r9etb
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To: RaceBannon

Thank you for the link. You might like to try this: http://tinyurl.com/PlymouthPlantation


96 posted on 11/23/2009 9:48:22 PM PST by FreeKeys (Give praise for a job done well but late; Next time it will be done Sooner. Berate - it'll Be Later.)
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To: FreeKeys; SunkenCiv

Should be required reading in all schools, every grade, every year.

We must take back our schools.


97 posted on 11/24/2009 4:03:23 AM PST by TheOldLady
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To: muawiyah; ROLF of the HILL COUNTRY

Of course, you forgot about the one in 1565 in St. Augustine that predates all that.


98 posted on 11/24/2009 4:56:52 AM PST by Lee'sGhost (Johnny Rico picked the wrong girl!)
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To: Salvation

ping


99 posted on 11/24/2009 5:03:07 AM PST by Mr. Jazzy ("I AM JIM THOMPSON and moderates make me PUKE!!!")
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To: Lee'sGhost
Or the one in 1492 ~ but that wasn't in what is now the United States.

I tend to discount the various "things" that went on at St. Augustine since the records in the "Virginia Room" support the idea that it was a "less than permanent" settlement.

We have several places around Chesapeake Bay that were as old or older ~ with one of them down the coast at Breton Bay that may well date to pre-Columbian times.

St.Sauveur was permanent, although the participants crossed the Bay of Fundy to resettle at Anapolis Royal (from which grew the Nova Scotia colony), and so was Jamestown ~ it grew into Virginia, then America, and so was Plimouth ~ which turned into a Boston suburb!

When the troops left St. Augustine to roll North to wipe out Ribault's colony in Carolana, they took the priests and prostitutes with them. The hurricane pretty nearly wiped them out (hence the ferocious anger they had at the unarmed Huguenots they proceeded to murder).

Few of the survivors returned to St. Augustine preferring, instead, to go someplace else as soon as possible.

BTW, the Texas deal was in an existing permanent community that's still there, so I count it.

100 posted on 11/24/2009 5:55:06 AM PST by muawiyah (Git Out The Way)
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