Plymouth Colony | eBook | AudioBook

About this Book

Plymouth colony, also called New Plymouth, was a 16th century English Colony located at the fringe of Massachusetts Bay. Often known as the first settlement of Europeans on English terrain the formation of this colony (starting from 1620) has a story of its own. The story starts when a bunch of English Separatist Church congregants caught up to Plymouth Rock after months of sailing. With the help of neighbouring tribes these people were able to successfully establish an economy of their own.

But more than its economic significance the reason why a settlement this old continues to interest historians is its strong religious influence on European, English and American folklore revolving around John Robinson, the pioneer of English separatists.

Plymouth colony was determined not to be a monarchy state which led to the formation of the democratic Mayflower Compact consisting of 41 original separatists. It became a foundation to any further governmental decisions and legislations. Most laws were inspired from the English common law. A general code of conduct was devised using the Bible.

The governor was considered as the supreme authority.

All the religious beliefs of the people of Plymouth colony were centred about strong supernatural faith. They objected to any transmutations in Bible and believed that Bible should be sole foundation of a man’s philosophy and any attempts to digress from this philosophy was highly vilified.

There are instances of severe discrimination between men and women of the colony owing to the fact that Robinson believed that men and women had different social responsibilities and women were the weaker sex. Due to this women were not even granted citizenship and they were seen as subordinates to the men.

The colony which was initially set to be a promising economy it gradually declined due to attacks from foreign Native Americans which resulted in most of the original inhabitants forming smaller groups. Although the colony disappeared in the late 16th century the Mayflower Compact continued to influence the dynamics of future colonies.

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