Singing] narrator in england in the 1600s, there was a band of people who call themselves separatists, and they wished only to worship in their own way. [singing] nocking] open up in the name of the king. Open up, you heretics. Open up. [singing continues] when we remember the, lord silence. Silence, i say. Master brewster, be warned the king of england knows of your sins. And we of his, i warrant. Enough. You shall disperse to your homes. You shall meet no more, either in secret or in public to worship in this heretical way. You object to your priest wearing this clerical garb question mark you object to kneeling when you receive the holy sacrament, you object to idolatrous trappings, you object and object. Captain, we desire above all to have the word of god freely preached. That you shall not have. The king of england is the Supreme Authority in matters of religion as well as matters of state. You shall conform to the kings religion. If you do not, we shall her you out of the land. Whosoever shall smite the on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. William . Yes. Are you ready, master brewster . Master brewster aye, we are ready. William the kings guards will soon be on their rounds. We will leave this building as if we were still here. As though we didnt have to leave our homes to live with strangers in a strange land. To live free in a free land. But how . As we did here, strange as the lorders, wills, so shall we live. Come. It is time. And so began our pilgrimage. In the darkness of night, like thieves, some 200 others took leave of our homeland and pursued freedom elsewhere, making our way to the only friendly land we knew, the low country behind the dyke, holland. The dutch were good people and were kind to us, yet we were strangers among them. Our life was not easy. For 12 years, we did all willingly but in the end, it was the suffering of our dearest children which so moved our hearts, so oppressed were they by the heavy labors which our poor conditions laid upon them. More than this, we feared they were becoming strangers to us, their loving parents. What we might do we did not know , but do something we must. How should we sing the lords psalm in a strange land . It is quite possible, master brewster, it is quite possible the new world may well be the place for your people. And so two of our elders traveled to london to consult with a mr. Weston. You understand, gentlemen that our gracious king has granted our company a patent to settle the virginia wilderness, but we are merchants. Our aim is to make a profit for our stockholders. Have your people any resources . We are very poor in worldly goods, master weston. Master weston yes, i see. Well, suppose we did this, suppose a group of merchants including myself subscribe say six or seven pounds, form a joint Stock Company between merchants and to settle here, providing that each share in the company be of 10 pounds value. If you would, a little slower, please, sir. Master weston yes, course. Simply put, it comes to this, we finance your pilgrimage, you work for us and we take the profits of your labor, trade, fishing, farming, whatever you find they are apply yourselves for for seven years. Seven years. Your terms are hard, master weston. Seven years, what are they, master brewster . Does not the bible tell us jacob waited twice seven years for the hand of rachel . We will of course have to discuss this with our people. Naturally, and i with mine. Mind you, i am not sure we can do this. It is a risk. We shall be risking a great deal of money. Very true, master weston. And we shall be risking our lives. And the lives of our children. Master westons conditions were hard, but at length and length, an agreement was reached and our people left holland forever and embarked for southampton, england. Here you are. Thank you, very much. Brewster . Reverend brewster i am the reverend, brewster. Ish, captain myles standish. Master carver. I am at your service, gentlemen, although i doubt what service i can be of you. We have doubts on that as well. As well you may, tinkers, weavers, preachers, carpenters going to a desperate wilderness, to a land of wild beasts and wild savages. Do you know where you are leading yourselves . We know only where the lord is leading us, captain standish. That is sufficient. I know nothing of that. I know tinkers and weavers know little of wilderness or danger or starvation. Or fighting. Can any of you fire a musket . Can any of your kind fire a stove . Captain standish, you are a soldier. We are tinkers, weavers and preachers. You have been a companion to wilderness and danger. We have not. We need your help. I am not of your faith. There will be many strangers with us on this home or courage tell this tell muggeridge pilgrimidge. Not only 35 of us from leiden. Make up a sufficient others, we had to recruit others from london. Yes, strangers. We call all men strangers who are not of our religion. May not these strangers, as you call them, stir up trouble . We must put our trust in god. Master brewster, i will go with you if you will so have me. August 5, departed southampton with an ill looking vessel at best. August 17, they set sail a second time. The speedwell is unseaworthy. But back to plymouth. September 6, 1620, the mayflower sails alone. [wind and waves crashing] [singing] they had no friends to welcome them, nor inns to entertain or refresh their weatherbeaten bodies, no houses or towns to seek succor. As for the season, it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness full of wild beasts and wild men, and what multitudes there might they knew not. As for themselves, they numbered 102 souls, but only 35 true pilgrims. The rest, strangers to their faith. As captain standish had foreseen, this was to threaten the very purpose of the pilgrimage. [knocking] enter. Master carver, these men have a grievance. What is it . Master carver, when we came on this voyage, we understood your group had a patent with the Virginia Company to settle in virginia. So we have. Then command us now, master carver. What is your meaning . Our meaning is this, this ship was blown off course. The land out there is not virginia, but new england, so your patent is worthless. You have no power to command. We have the power to command this pilgrimage given us by god, and ye be strangers. Command us, master carver. What say you, captain standish . I say this our landfall is some 200 miles north of the limit of your patent of that, there can be no doubt. As for the other matter, these men are strangers to your am i, but i would remind you, in the land from which you fled, you, yourselves were considered strangers. You were called heretics, disbelievers and worse. Now we are lying off an unknown land, a wilderness and unless we wish to leave our bones rotting on this shore before winter is over, i say we better dwell together in unity. We whose names are underwritten allow the subject voyageakinen a to a colony in the new world come together. By virtue of that, to enact such just and equal laws i should think are most convenient for the general good of the colony. Is this agreed by all present . Aye aye agreed. Say of the labors of those precarious months . To find a site for our colony, to fashion simple, rude shelters, and how to describe that cruel first winter, when we were plunged into that wilderness, all unknowing and ignorant. Of savages, we saw few. And except for a first skirmish in which our captain standish acquitted himself bravely, we suffered not from that source, but from another source, we suffered most grievously. William, where are you . Here at your side, my dear. William, we should not have come. We should not have come. Hush. We should not have left england so many years ago. So many. It was the lords will. So many dead, nearly half. It is the lords punishment. We should have never left. Two more dead, my own wife. Your wife . Lord, hear my voice. Does he hear us, standish . Do we bury our dead tonight . Yes, it is a dark night. We will not be seen. And during that first terrible winter, we buried more than half our number. Leveling the graves to conceal our losses from the indians. Spring, sowing them with grain. But the winter passed, and spring came and life embraced us back. We few, we very few who were spared found help from an ourter, help from those very savages we had so feared. Sow them we learned how to our crops, how to work long fish. Where to hours, men andn women, children and stranger. And at last, the harvest came. With it, our thanksgiving. When we left our homes, we embarked on an uncertain pilgrimage. We thought to find hardships, and these we found, and we thought to find no friends here to help us, but we were wrong. We did find friends here. We did not think to lose half of our number, but they lie now in this earth, in this newfound land. But stranger and true believer alike, they lie now as planted seed, a precious seed from which will grow this colony we call new plymouth. For as one small candle mate like a thousand, so the light here shall shine unto many. Sort to a whole nation. [singing]