Second, comprehensive. In covering not just the voyage for the first few years, working philips war, all of which have recently been done, but in covering the entire story, allowing us, the readers, to enjoy the true benefits of history, which is the scope, to follow consequences of actions through generations. Narratives, because what nat does best is to tell a story. An adventure story, but in many ways, and unexpected adventure story. Look at the cover. I of course love it because it is our painting, the mayflower on her arrival in plymouth harbor. Thathat i really love is even though the book is entitled the mayflower, this cover doesnt put the mayflower front and center, it doesnt show a by waves. D that would be the expected adventure story. Instead, it focuses on this little group of pilgrims leaving the ship that has brought them through peril, headed off toward the shore on the verge of starting new lives. And it is there in the territory of these wideopen possibilities that the Real Adventure story begins. Story dealingture with mature themes like the nature of leadership, the establishment of respect with a widely varying culture, and then the disintegration of that respect. And this, of course, is why the pilgrims are relevant, it is why is why the, it mayflower tells a story of real people facing complex choices and a confusing time. People who had to make difficult decisions without knowing how the story would end. And so im very pleased to introduce to you our author, nat philbrick, an end who, through his book, has once again started the conversation about the choices that were made by those 17thcentury voyageurs, choices living in aus nation in a world that those mayflower pilgrims could not even begin to imagine. Nat philbrick. [applause] Nathaniel Philbrick well, thank you. It is a true pleasure to return to plymouth and particularly, pilgrim hall. It has been a very interesting month and a half going around the country talking about the book, but it really does seem like a homecoming to me not only in pilgrim hall, and for me, the thing about the painting is is on the cover. Doesnt that look a lot like a whaling boat . For me, it was a great continuity in books. Like a lot of americans, i first learned about the pilgrims in elementary school. I think it was third grade and it was thanksgiving time, and it was time for the pilgrim unit. The teacher divided us in half, half of us indians, half of us pilgrims. I wanted to be an interim, indian, but she made me pilgrim. And we learned about the story of how, in 1620, the mayflower sailed across the ocean, came to cape cod and then to plymouth harbor, came to the famous rock, they were greeted by the native americans, and then a year later, celebrated the first thanksgiving. And that was pretty much all of the learn about the pilgrims throughout my education not only in high school, but in college. But 20 years ago, i moved to nantucket island. I became fascinated with the place, having grown up in the Maritime Center of the world, pittsburgh, pennsylvania, i was a little overwhelmed by having all this water around me. And i was also overwhelmed because one of my most favorite books in the world was moby dick. It was as if i had stepped into the pages of my favorite novel. The more i learned about it, the more i began to realize that if i was ever going to write a book about the history of nantucket, i had to put it in the context of new england. I had to begin with the pilgrims. That story i assume i already knew. To look into 17thcentury new england and the more i looked into the stories, the more almost indignant i became. What i learned in third grade didnt do justice to the complexity and the real relevance of what happened in 17 entry new england. Because the story of the pilgrims does not end with the first thanksgiving. That is just the beginning of an intergenerational story that is truly epic in scope. Because yes, there was the first thanksgiving. And then for the next 54 years, there was a remarkable thing in Plymouth Colony. Re was people coexisting peaceful coexistence between the english and the indians in plymouth. And given the subsequent history of america, that is truly remarkable. But in 1675, 55 years after the sailing of the mayflower, war came to Plymouth Colony when his , philip led his people in a war against the sons and grandsons of this pilgrims known today as king philips war. It is a conflict which Many Americans know almost nothing about. Me, is what makes the story of the pilgrims all the more relevant. Because in just 14 months, what had been this remarkably bicultural colony saw a war of total annihilation in which there were military defeats and victories, and it looked as if the english might be driven to the sea during the first year of the conflict. Almost half the towns in new england were buried and abandoned. There was through fear that the english would be driven to the sea. But the war became a war not of military victories and defeat, but a war of attrition. In the spring of 1676, the indians were unable to plant their corn crops and that summer they began to starve. The english had the mother country to provide them with provisions and weapons and were able 12 last them and in august of 1676, philip was taken and killed and thus ended king philips war. But this was no victory for the english because for decades to come, they would be paying for this conflict. The war was by no means over, for the next century, there would be indian conflict after indian conflict revenue england and worst of all, from the standpoint of Plymouth Colony, soon after it would be absorbed by Massachusetts Bay and in the years after the war, new england, which had been remarkably independent as a mother country throughout the first halfcentury of the 17th century, there would be a royal governor, and that would really end an era. By fighting this war of annihilation with the native people after having stood by their side for so long, the children and grandchildren of the pilgrims had really destroyed their forefathers way of life. Of this take the arc story from the mayflower to king philips war, you begin to see that when i was a teenager, and my cynical teenage years in the 60s and 70s, i began to look at the pilgrims as irrelevant to america, as kind of stereotypes with buckles on their shoes who were trotted out for thanksgiving. This is not the case. When you put it in the context of what happened during those first six years, the story of the pilgrims is vital for showing us what america would become. Begins in thery popular view with the voyage of the mayflower, but then there really isnt much until 100 50 years later with the american revolution, the founding fathers. Well before the founding fathers, there were things happening that would determine in large respect where america would be headed. For whatever reason, the pilgrims have become of the founding myth of america. We are a recent people, we need a beginning. We owe it to ourselves to examine that beginning and to was,t as best we can as it rather than the legends and myths that have been passed to us. I would like to begin by reading a selection from my book, from , entitledchapter they knew they were pilgrims. And this is a quote from William Bradford from plymouth plantation, one of the great books of American History and literature. Bradford was a true rock upon which Plymouth Colony would be built. Without his leadership, the settlement was never a success. The pilgrims never referred to themselves of the pilgrims. This comes from a phrase bradford uses in plymouth plantation of plymouth plantation, and it is as good a term as any to refer to them, i omplexity of the c what was beneath that label. For 65 days, the mayflower has wandered through storms and headwinds. Her bottom shaggy with seaweed and particles, her leaky decks spewing saltwater underwear passengers devoted heads. 104 if you counted the two dogs. I was richly contacted by an owner who is a mastiff ownwer, she said she had to bring eight towel wherever she took her dog. Most of their provisions and equipment were beneath them in the hold. The primary storage area of the vessel. The passengers were in the between deck, a dank, airless space about 75 feet long and not even five feet high that separates the hold from the upper deck. Between decks is more of a crawlspace than a place to live, made even more claustrophobic by the passenger attempts to provide themselves with some privacy. Cabinss of thinwalled had been built, creating a series of rooms that overflowed with people in their possession. There was even a boat cut into pieces for Later Assembly doing temporary duty as a bed. They were nearly 10 weeks into a voyage that was supposed to have been completed during the balmy days of summer but they had started late and winter was coming on. They had long since run out of firewood, reaching the slimy bottoms of their water caps. With even greater concern, they were down to their last casks of beer. Due to the notoriously bad quality of the Drinking Water in 17th century england, beer was considered essential to a healthy diet and sure enough, with the rationing came the unmistakables kinds of scurvy. Bleeding g ums, listening teeth and foulsmelling breath. Butar, only two had died, if they didnt reach land soon, many more would follow. They had set sail with three pregnant mothers, the true heroes of the mayflower. Elizabeth hopkins, savanna white, and mary. Elizabeth had given birth to a son named oceanaus. Susanna and mary were both well along. A fierce wave had exploded against the top side, straining a structural timber until it had cracked like a chicken bone. The mayflowers master, christopher jones, had considered turning back to england, jones had to give his passengers there due. They knew next to nothing about the sea or the savage coast for which they were bound, but there was always unshakable. Despite all they had so far suffered, agonizing delays, seasickness, cold, the scorn and ridicule of the sailors, they had done everything in their power to help the carpenter repair the fractured beam. They have brought a screw jack to assist them in constructing houses in the new world and with the help of the screw jack, they lifted the beam into place and once the carpenter had hammered and a post for support, the mayflower was sound enough to continue on. And on they would go. Now, who were the people we referred to as the pilgrims . The motivating force behind this voyage came from a group of religious enthusiasts we will refer to as puritan separatists who had lived in exile for more than a decade. They believed that the church of england was not a holy church, they must separate from it and worship god as they felt god intended. Unfortunately, this was illegal in england at the time, savanna gone to holland. Necessarilyid not turned out the way they wanted in holland. They have been there for 10 years, their congregation had grown wonderfully under the guidance of John Robinson, their pastor. Forced tolgrims were work lowend, backbreaking jobs because they were foreigners. They would work literally dawn until dusk six days per week with their children by their side. A treaty with spain was about to go up, and there is fear that war might come to holland. But their biggest concern was that the children were becoming dutch. Despite the fact that they had left england, these people were fiercely proud of their english ancestry and they wanted to reconnect with her, but they couldnt go home. What to do. Well, go to the new world. Transplant the congregation. Where they can reconnect with her in which ancestry, but be free of the meddlesome reach of king james and his bishops. Sounds like a great concept. Unfortunately, like many great concepts, it proved very difficult to implement. The pilgrims were, like many people, they knew each other wonderfully well, but they had trouble relating to those outside of their circle, and they became the objects of people who saw this group of religious radicals, who wanted to go 3000 miles across the ocean to the new world, as a way to separate them from their money. Would be aon merchant from london who would tell them everything they wanted to hear. He had sympathy for their religious convictions, and he had the contacts that would provide them with the money they needed. Weston proved to be less than advertised. By 1620, he had not yet come up with a ship. The provisioning of the exhibition was in chaos, and more and more people began to worry that maybe this was not the right thing to do at this time. In fact, as more and more people drop out, they were going to come eventually, but not in this first batch, this created a problem for the investors. So they began to recruit people in london, people who did not necessarily share the pilgrims point of view. They would become referred to as the strangers. This created a division aboard the mayflower, almost from the beginning. And this is a troublesome, troublesome thing. Because their whole worldview with face on drawing a line between themselves and the rest of the world. And here, they were going to share space with these strangers. Just before their departure from holland, John Robinson would write in a very important letter, a farewell letter in which he would urge them not to prejudge the strangers, to try to make it work because the future success of the settlement depended on that. That would have a huge impact on making things eventually work. The mayflower would leave terribly late. They were supposed to go early in the season, so that they would arrive in the new world with 20 of time to build structures before winter came on, but it was september before the mayflower finally left with, england. It would be as i say in the passage, invisible voyage. Storm,fter storm after the mayflower would average in the neighborhood of 1. 5 miles per hour, as it made its way across the atlantic. It would take more than two months, and they were headed not for new england, for the hudson river. They could have been at first new yorkers. They were 200 miles off course, and they had come across but we never referred to as the backside of cape cod. Christopher jones headed south, for their intended destination, but there were no trustworthy charts of new england at this time and they ran smack dab into poligrip, not far from my home in nantucket. It is still today a frightening piece of water. They almost lost the ship. Remarkably, the wind does a 180 and starts blowing from the south. Jones says we aint going to the hudson river, we are going to cape cod. I need to get these people off my ship and get myself back to england. Knockoutad to what we now called provincetown harbor. This creates an uproar in the between decks of the mayflower because the strangers, who are roughly half the passengers, realized that their Legal Paperwork does not apply to a settlement this far north. They realize that the passengers aboard the mayflower are about to become americas first illegal immigrants. [laughter] if this is the case, why do we follow them . Why should we go . You guys can do what you want to do, we are going to do our own thing. This might mean the end of the voyage, the end of the settlement. If they divide this early on. This is a pivotal moment. What do they do . Well, they do a remarkable thing. Borrowing many of the words from John Robinsons farewell letter, they draft what we now refer to as the mayflower compact. Given the future course of it is testingry, to see it as the u. S. Constitution in utero. But it is not bad. Distill an extraordinary sides agreere both to listen to their duly elected leaders, and this is civil government. This really is the first step toward the ultimate success of Plymouth Colony. They arrive, finally, after having drafted the mayflower compact, at provincetown harbor. His side, and now they have a big question. What we have before us . They dont nothing about the coast upon which they have arrived. Their biggest concern is what about the native people . What is going to happen . I would like to now read from chapter three, into the void. With the other side of the story. Just a word of explanation, the pilgrims would refer to them as the pocono cans. We refer to them today is the wapo noag. About 60 miles southwest of provincetown harbor, in the vicinity of modern rhode island, the most powerful native leader in the region, he was in the prime of his life, about 35, strong, and imposing. With a quiet dignity that was expected. Vigor, hes personal presided over a people who had been devastated by disease. During the three years of the pilgrims had been organizing their voyage to america, the indians of southern england had been hit by what scientists refer to as the vergence oil epidemic, a contagion against which they had no antibodies. 1619, what may have been the phonic plague introduced by european fishermen bubonic plague spread south. Asen, in some cases, as many 90 of the regions inhabitants. So many died so quickly that there was no one left to bury the dead. Portions of coastal new england that had once been as densely populated as western europe were suddenly empty of people, with only the whitened bones of the dead to indicate that a Thriving Community had once existed along these shores. In addition to disease, what were described as civil dissensions and bloody wars erupted throughout the nation. The poconocans had been particularly hard hit. Before the play, they had numbered about 12,000, enabling 3000 fighting men. After three years of disease, is force have been reduced to a few hundred warriors, making it even worse for him that the plague had not affected their neighboring enemies to control the western portion of the bay and numbered about 20,000 with 5000 fighting men. Tenants warriors had suffered the humiliation of. G forced disease, the powerful and proud enemy, the pocono cans were in a desperate struggle to maintain their existence as a people. But massachusetts to the north, and cape cod shared. Prevent him from attempting to use his alliances with other tribes to neutralize the threat to the west. A man shall often see this small bird pursue and vanquish and put to flight the crow and other birds far bigger than itself. They might feel that they were now the poconocans masters. Because what you would do is rather than look to the pilgrims, who did many things not to necessarily ingratiate himself to the local population in those first steps, he would say, wait a minute. Perhaps an alliance with this small group of engagement could provide my people with a kind of parity, and he would forge an alliance. There were other factors at work. Member squanto . Squanto, heed about was still a generous interpreter who took the pilgrims by the hand and top and taught them how to plant corn. Turns out he had an agenda of his own from the very beginning. Squanto was born right here in plymouth harbor, known as patuxent to the native americans. Just a few years before the arrival of the pilgrims, he was abducted biting was explored, made his way back to europe, and will eventually end up in london, where he learned the english language. It would return to his native home as the interpreter of yet another english explorer and find patuxent empty of people and at some point, he began to see this as a possible opportunity. Squanto had envisioned to become the next because he realized that if ever there should be a significant English Settlement in this area, he would be in a unique position. What tell nasa s he wanted them to think the english were saying, and he could tell the indians what he wanted and think the english were saying. It would take a year before both began to realize that he had been telling indians in the region that the pilgrims ossessed the plague in a barrell and buried underneath one of their houses, and they could unleash at will. And that he, given his relationship with the pilgrims, was the one who had the power that the indians in the region should come to him rather than. His ambitions of were revealed, he demanded literally the head of the interpreter. But bradford had become dependent on him and was reluctant to give him up. This almost brought down the end of the alliance, gradually things would settle down, in large part because squanto would die suddenly, unexpectedly, perhaps poisoned, we will never know, about a year later. Once again, relations between the two peoples, the pilgrims were back onns track. But it was not a benign embrace between two cultures, it was a harrowing, often disturbing giveandtake between two peoples. Three years after the arrival of send wordms, he would to them that there was a conspiracy against Plymouth Colony, that the massachusetts just to the north of plymouth were part of a conspiracy and were about to descend on the pilgrims and wipe them out, man, woman and child, and it was advised that they send a group up to snuff out this plot. Bradford decided to send military officers with about half a dozen pilgrims up to what was known as was a gusset. There was a warrior there that he had not like for a long time. They would arrive and invite us warrior and some others into a house, close the door, and as they sat down to eat, he would reach over to the warriors chest and grabbed the knife suspended by a string around his neck and stabbed him to death with it. Pilgrims on the other site of that did the same to another indian. By the time they were done, half a dozen indians had been killed, and standish and the others returned with the head of that warrior wrapped in a piece of white linen. His head would be placed on the roof of the fort in plymouth where they worship every sunday. Thew months after this, in summer of 1623, bradford would celebrate his marriage. His wife had died like so many others during that first winter. During that first winter, 55 of 102 die. But in the summer of 1623, bradford was celebrating his wedding in one of his wives was invited over, and it became a celebration of not just the wedding, but the power of the pilgrims alliance. It was decided that a flag should be raised. P would go that bloodsoaked piece of wood go that bloodsoaked piece of linen. This is not the story that i learned in third grade. It is a story that in the many ways, the next 50 years of peace was very different from that snapshot we nash it was a difficult, often harrowing time of this giveandtake, but it worked. They worked very hard in trying to get through their differences. The indians and english did not necessarily like each other. They did not necessarily understand each other, but they both realized that their mutual existence was dependent on the other. But there were pressures building in new england. In the beginning, the native americans have the fur trade to provide them with the means to purchase western goods. Guns and things like this upon which they became dependent. But as beavers and other animals became scarce, their source of goods dried up and the only thing that had the english valued was their land. The pilgrims were averaging between seven and nine children per family. John would have the need for many grandchildren, so the need for land was insatiable. By the middle of the 17th century, much had changed in new england. The Second Generation had a very different attitude from the first. The young englishmen began to covet what land the native Americans Still possessed. The natives were asking, what good are these english to us . They had taken their birthright. Both sides began to see the other as an impediment to survival. This created a real increasing tension in the colony. And yet, when war broke out in june of 1675, it was not inevitable. In fact, it struck most people in the colony native and english alike by total surprise. There was a real crisis in leadership on both sides going into this. For one thing, philip, son of and the son of Edward Winslow and governor of plymouth other did not like each very much. Josiah had distinguished himself as one of the more unscrupulous persons using death to get vast tracts of land. When violence broke out in june of 1675, both leaders were loath to use a diplomatic solution. As a consequence, what was an isolated outbreak of violence in Plymouth Colony began to spread rapidly. There were english men, women, and children killed, their bodies mutilated. Suddenly, the english were wracked with fear and anger and began to look to all the native americans that had once been their friends as potential foes. As the war broke out, there was someone who was among the english who was uniquely situated. Where bradford is the focus of the first half of the book, Benjamin Church is the focus of the second half. Church lived in little compton, rhode island at the outbreak. He was the only english settler amid several hundred indians. By necessity, he had gotten to know them well, was a very good friend of the female sachem. As this war was building, he realized most of the indians in the region wanted no part of it. In fact, some were even willing to fight on the english side, but among the english, as with the first atrocities, the hatred and anger and the racial nature of this became such that all indians became the enemy. Early on in the fighting, several hundred native americans gave themselves in the vicinity of modernday new bedford. They thought this is what we have to do if we want to stay out of this. Josiah winslow and other leaders of Plymouth Colony would crowd them into ships and sailed them to the caribbean, where they were sold as slaves. If you had told me that slavery was an issue in the history of Plymouth Colony, i would have been very surprised, but its true. In this 76year span, you see so much of what will be issues in america in this very confined space. When church heard about this enslavement of the indians, he was outraged. He said, look, if we do this, this means no indian in his right mind will surrender to us. This will only prolong the war, and that is exactly what would happen. Native groups throughout new england that wanted no part of the war began to say that they may be right, and the only alternative we have is to fight. It became a selffulfilling prophecy. So half the towns in new england , would be burned and abandoned. In that first year, it was just a terrifying time for everyone. This is a war about which most americans know very little. If you look at the losses, its truly horrendous. There were 70,000 people in new england in 1675. About 20,000 indians, 50,000 english. 5000 would die in this war. With three quarters of those losses native american. The english losses alone, it was twice as bloody as the american civil war, the war that most of us think of as the worst in our history. For the native americans, it was much, much worse, and thats not counting 1000 slaves sent to the caribbean and beyond during this time. The fear was such that even those indians that were clearly loyal to the english, the praying indians, who lived in a series of christian towns, were headed to internment camps in Boston Harbor and plymouth clarks island, and towards the end of that first year, people began to say this was crazy. Perhaps native americans hold the key to helping us turn the tide in the store. 1676, the early part of church would be given a Small Company of primarily native americans, with a few of his english friends, and in the spring of 1676, they would begin bringing in more captives than all of new england and native americans combined. In churchs narrative, written many decades after the war with the help of his son, he is the hero of every incident, such is the way of war memoirs. It is interesting that those puritan historians who would write the history of king philips war within months of the conclusion of the war corroborate just about many of what seem like outlandish things that church claims, and theres a wonderful letter written by William Bradfords son, william jr. He is very much his fathers son. He is one of the captains involved in the war. In the summer of 1676, church is out there, hes reckless, brazen, everything a pilgrim should not be. And in his letter, bradford says Benjamin Church is driving him a little crazy, but he says, this is not the way i conduct myself, and he says but without the , benjamin forces, we might not all be here. You see that church would be a key factor in this war. He is like the forest gump of king philips war. He was there, and it would be his group who would take philip, almost in the shadow of his symbolic home in rhode island in august of 1676. This was not a war that stopped the fighting. This was not a war that freed new england of the native threat. It really increased the threat for decades to come, and i think that is what makes the story ultimately a tragedy because there was Something Special in Plymouth Colony for that first halfcentury. It was not a utopia, but two very different peoples found a way to peacefully coexist, and i think in the world today, where this is a global scene full of competing nations, religious groups, ethnic groups that do not necessarily like or understand each other, but if we dont find a way to peacefully exist, the alternatives are not good for anyone. I really feel that first pilgrims had many lessons from which we can still learn. In closing, i would like to read a brief passage that speaks not only to the bicultural nature of what went on during that first halfcentury in Plymouth Colony, you know, where the pilgrims wanted to keep the indians at an armslength, but inevitably, they were deeply influenced by their native neighbors, not only in foodways, but in their understanding of the land that was Plymouth Colony. Native americans embraced the western goods. In some cases, their religion. This is a passage that also speaks to the nature of history. What is history . Is the past so remote from us today that there are nothing that those people were so different that there is a figurative pane of glass between us and maybe we can study it through a microscope, but ultimately has little meaning to us today . It is hard to do much better than the native americans look at not only the past but the present and the future that was revealed to the pilgrims in the early years of Plymouth Colony in this passage. Because history is not just about us, we humans. Its about the land on which we live. The land that was there in the past, is here now in the present, and will be here in the future. Early on, they have just forged the alliance with massasoit and bradford determines the need to visit massasoit at his home. He sends out a delegation, including Edward Winslow, who had become massasoits best friend among the pilgrims, and stephen hopkins, a stranger who appears to have been in jamestown prior to boarding the mayflower and had some experience with native americans. At this point, squanto is still alive. He goes with them, walking the hardpacked native trails that crisscross new england at this time. It is about a 45mile walk from plymouth. They head out. There are no horses yet in Plymouth Colony, so they had just left the settlement when they come across a group of native americans who had been collecting lobsters in plymouth harbor. They began to talk. As they conversed with their new englishman englishmen learned that to walk across the land in southern new england was to travel in time. All along, this narrow hardpacked trail, where circular, footdeep holes that occurred were anything remarkable had occurred. It was to inform fellow travelers what had happened in that place so many things of great antiquity are fresh in memory. Winslow and hopkins began to see that they were traversing a mythic land, where a sense of community extended far into the distant past, so that a travelers journey would be less tedious and made so by the discourses related to him. In closing, my only plea is that we keep the memory alive. Thank you very much. [applause] i would be happy to try to answer some of your questions. Any questions . Yes . And if you could wait until the microphone comes over, that would be great. I love your story that you just repeated, but i was fascinated with your almost 100 pages of notes and bibliographies. The details that you found, like the indians were expert at burning and creating an open forest. Can you talk a little bit about how you go to find all these details to put this story together . Mr. Philbrick thank you. It makes my heart feel warm when i hear that someone has read the notes, because i labor very mightily on them. [laughter] so thank you. For me, writing a book is at bare minimum a threeyear process. The first is learning everything i can about the topic, throwing out the net, developing a bibliography, and getting a sense of where i think the book is going to go. The next two years are realizing that all those plans were totally wrong and as i begin to work chapter by chapter, i am writing and researching simultaneously. That is where i end up going down those avenues i had never expected, and in some cases, finding things for me, it is a continual act of discovery. I write narrative nonfiction, so i am trying to tell a story, but i am also trying to do Due Diligence when it comes to the scholarship, and that is a true challenge, is distilling the scholarship while maintaining a narrative that is as true as we can be to what actually happened. Yes . If you could just yeah. In learning about the pilgrims and the process of dispelling the pilgrim myth, what was the most surprising fact that you learned in this whole process . Mr. Philbrick yeah, this book was a series of surprises. A couple of things. One thing i was astonished to learn that the level of suffering that first year in Plymouth Colony i mean, i had written a book called in the heart of the sea so i thought i was pretty to these tales, but i was surprised to find out what happened in that year. Both cultures had been effectively, over the process of those years, broken down and had to be put back together. And i think that building together process made possible the next 50 years of peace. For me it was it really renewed my understanding to see that the pilgrims did not come as empire builders. Their ambitions were very humble. They wanted to transplant their congregation to the new world. They were never successful in doing that. Pastor robinson would die before he made it, and not everyone would come over. That initial vision was never fully realized. You see bradford very depressed toward the end of his life as plymouth expands, town after town. You would think that a success, but for bradford, that was defeat. What he wanted was that congregation recreated, and as people like winslow and standish moved to duxbury and beyond, bradford saw this as a diminishment of what they should be, so that was a true surprise. The other side in the second half of the book was the impact of king philips war. I was acquainted with king philips war, but you have to read there are dozens if not hundreds of letters, many of them unpublished, about the war. An incredible treasure trove of information, not only narratives from the churches, but also mary rowlandsons narrative, and there are very strong women in the story. Mary rowlandson would invent the indian captivity narrative. She would have several meals a cap for hisnit son and provide firsthand information about what was going on. And yet, it is a very harrowing family saga, too. With all of this it is for me, it is a process of trying to connect as best we can with the people who lived this and a process by which, for me, with each chapter, i was continually surprised and ultimately amazed. Yeah . I have read that massasoits philosophy when the english were to throws basically them back to the sea, and then when the disease came in, he was forced to change his plans and strategy and form the alliance. Was that true . Mr. Philbrick thats a little bit of an oversupplication. There is, for example john smith , of pocahontas fame explored new england in 1614 and seems to have met with philip and his brother and had a fairly good conversation with him, but also had some flareups of violence. One of the other surprises, just to get back to your first question, was that when we are often taught the story, it is as if the indians had never seen the english before and the english had never seen the indians before. The indians had vast experience with europeans at this point. Fishermenbeen arriving for years along the coast of new england up to maine. There had been explorers coming. But this was different. These were people not only men but women and children who were moving here, and that is what made it different. Yes . What first got you into writing . Mr. Philbrick what first got me into writing . Writing was something i did when i was your age. I was scribbling a lot. Nothing i saved. Poetry some really bad in middle school, really embarrassing to think about it. I read a lot of books and i would get so excited about what i read, it may be want to write. When i began to realize is, the more you write, like anything, the more you write, the better you get at it, but you have to do it a lot. I was scribbling things in middle school and in high school. In college, i was an english major and writing papers and things like that, and worked as a sailing journalist at a sailing magazine for four years. And after moving to nantucket, became very interested in history and followed that course ever since. Writing for me is if i dont write something during a day, i really feel as if i have cheated myself in some way. I try to keep at it. Thank you. Yes . Any more questions . Over here . As you have traveled around the country now on your book tour, i know you have been from new england, to chicago, to san francisco, to dallas have you noticed any regional differences, either in the way people look at the book or ultimately the way they think about the pilgrims . Mr. Philbrick yeah. The question for those of you that did not hear it is i have been on this book tour that has taken me across the country and what has been the response and the regional differences in that response . Every place i have gone, there has been a generous portion of the audience who are mayflower descendents. It has shown me that this is a story that has a vital connection with who we are. Getting back to the surprises, one of the surprises for me was to learn that to be a descendent of the mayflower passengers is i sort of assumed it was an elite club, but, no, 10 of the American Population more than 34 Million People are descended from the passengers of the mayflower. Talk about a living legacy. It is everywhere in this country. One reader who i spoke to in i think it was milwaukee was part cherokee indian and part mayflower descendent, and she said she really feels like she is the living embodiment of what this country is about in many ways, and i think that is true. It was very interesting. In texas, of all places, i found a really strong response to this story. For me, the story anticipates so much about what would happen in the 19th century. We think of the indian wars as a 19thcentury story, americas remorseless push west, and yet, in the 17th century, in this 76year span, you see that dynamic unfold in a very essential way. This is a story that i think does have relevance to all americans, no matter where you live. Yes . I will preface my remark with i have just begun your book, so perhaps the answer lies further than i have read. The war, do you see that as an anomaly in that period . Mr. Philbrick the war is very interesting. The puritans were the ones that arrived in boston decade after the sailing of the mayflower and quickly took over new england. In one year, Plymouth Colony goes from being the only English Settlement in the region to being a backwater. As what is now known as the great migration brought thousands into the boston area and they quickly spread not only through massachusetts and maine and new hampshire, but also to connecticut. It was the puritans that were really the motivators behind the pequot war. Plymouth colony, their soldiers did not arrive in time to be part of the conflict, and that may have been intended. I see that conflict sort of being the puritan version of wes version of wessagusset conflict that would radically , a change the balance of power, particularly among the natives of the region, and would anticipate in many troubling ways what would happen next because the scale of what happened was different. Hundreds of men, women, and children would be massacred at a fort in what is now mystic, connecticut, and this brought a level of violence and brutality that was not a part of native warfare. This was a real wakeup call to the stakes of any kind of conflict that might spread beyond something that was very local. Thank you very much. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] you are watching American History tv, covering history cspan style, with event coverage, eyewitness accounts, archival films, lectures in College Classrooms and visits to historic places. All weekend, every weekend on cspan3. The Constitutional Convention began in 1787 philadelphia. Then event hosted by Colonial Williamsburg foundation, James Madison and george mason debate issues from the bill of rights to slavery. Here is a preview. Audience toge this contemplate these two questions over the course of our debate. First and foremost, how have the articles of confederation failed in guaranteeing the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness . Second, how will this proposed constitution perfect this system of government . I encourage you through the debates not to hearken to the a natural voice that tells you the people of america lived together as they are, cannot be members of the same family, cannot be the mutual guardians of their mutual happiness, cannot be children of one flourishing empire. Hearken to the voice that tells you the system is a novelty in the political world and has no instead, ladies and gentlemen, i invite you over the course of this discourse to bring your mind, raise your curiosity, together as a singular people, we may aspire to the proper course for america. I must say, they taught me in law school that you were a softspoken speaker and i see you now give the lie to the characterization. You should see my writing. [laughter] p. Mr. Mason, please people of america, i do not disagree with mr. Madison. The endeavor of this last year and a half has been to find our way forward. A constitution a written constitution that the people might debate is the best course for future. However, this is where i counter the gentleman in this document is one that must be ratified. I say nay there are too many problems, this is uncharted territory to be certain. Reason,hat for that we must endeavor the revolt against great britain, it is nothing compared to what lies before us now. We have an opportunity to create a government not in the time of war but in the time of peace. Those articles of confederation will woefully woefully be insufficient for cause. We must recognize now, we have a system before us that is better than what is before, it does not make it close enough to what the people of america deserve. Watch the full Program Sunday at 9 00 p. M. Eastern, 6 00 p. M. Pacific here on American History tv. If you like American History tv, keep up with us during the week on facebook, twitter, and youtube. Learn about what happened this day in history and find previews of upcoming clips and programs. History. S cspan Millersville University history professor Francis Bremer discusses William Bradford, one of the first governors of Plymouth Colony. He focuses on how perceptions of bradford and the pilgrims have changed in the 400 years since their arrival in north america. The Boston Public Library and New England Historical and Genealogical Society hosted the event and provided the video. Kristen please join me in morse,ng journal of ginerva our cohost from the New England Historical and Genealogical Society. Welcome. Ginerva thank you, kristen. I am honored to be here and