In 1863 Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the 26^th of November as a National Holiday, ‘Thanksgiving’

In the 16^th and 17^th Century most Europeans were of the Christian faith but divisions were drawn within the Christian Faith over personal beliefs and religious leadership. One such group were the Brownian’s named after Robert Brown who’s religious beliefs were based on his Puritan teacher Thomas Cartwright. Puritans were strict Protestants and believed that the Church of England was still too close to the Catholic Church. They were incredibly devout and lived life to very strict religious rules. Puritans also had no tolerance for other religious ways of life and wanted to purify both the Church of England and English people seeking to force others into living the same devout life they led (this led to many hundreds of thousands leaving when the English crown began introducing more religious tolerance and was a major issue in the English civil war).

A large group of Brownists left England to escape the growing political turmoil and settled in the Netherlands (another protestant nation in Europe who were saved from the religious intolerance of Catholic Spain by Queen Elizabeth I). The Brownists felt smothered in the Netherlands and wanted to create a society in which they could live their ‘purist’ life and not have to tolerate those they saw as heretics or simply non puritans (it is a common myth that the pilgrims sought religious tolerance).

They sought investment to start a settlement in the America’s (just as other Englishmen had done in Jamestown in 1607) and they found investment from English backers.

Two ships, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, left the port of Southampton, England on the 15^th of August 1620 but the Speedwell sprung a leak shortly after departure and the ships had to return. It soon became apparent that the speedwell was not sea-worthy and so all 120 passengers would have to travel on the overcrowded Mayflower.  Finally on the 16^th of September 1620 the Mayflower left Plymouth, England towards their new home in present day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. They arrived on the 11^th of November 1620 just in time for winter. Without shelter on land the women and children were forced to stay on board the Mayflower while the able-bodied men would build shelter on land. Many died from disease and supplies were very low but the pilgrims were given hope when Native Americans from the Wampanoag tribe gave the newcomers food. One such Native American was Named Squanto and he was familiar with the English having already been taken by an earlier discoverer, Captain George Weymouth, and taught English so he could serve as a guide and interpreter. Squanto proved invaluable to the pilgrims, teaching them to catch fish and grow corn.

The following year only 53 pilgrims had survived but those pilgrims had successfully established their settlement. When they had gathered their first harvest they celebrated with a three day feast with 90 of the Native Americans that had aided them.  This feast is now celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday in November and is known as the ’Thanksgiving Feast’.