The Pilgrims, Driven towards Toleration

Introduction
2008 marks an important 400th anniversary in the history of liberty. In 1608 an unlicensed illegal emigration took place to Holland from near the estuary of the Humber River in Northeast England. This was the flight from persecution of a separatist group of about 100 persons, some of whom later became the Mayflower Pilgrims and settled the Plymouth Colony, arriving in 1620. These fleeing émigrés (some of whom were arrested and imprisoned in the effort) left England in flight from a situation of forced conformity in religious practice due to an established State Church. They sought a domicile providing them with the right of free religious exercise. In England they had been under threat of steep fines, imprisonment, and even execution for unauthorized religious assembly, unauthorized religious speech and unauthorized religious publication, and were denied redress of their grievances. Through their experience, every aspect of the First Amendment of the US Constitution (1791) can be seen in the context of the quest for religious liberty of these early settlers to lands that later became independent from Britain as the United States of America. The text of the First Amendment reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

In commemoration of this anniversary and the pilgrims historic struggle, the John Templeton Foundation invited Dr. Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, Director of the American Pilgrims Museum in Leiden, Holland, to the Philadelphia area to speak to Foundation staff and trustees on November 1, 2008. Questions and points of interest addressed by Dr. Bangs included:

The story of the Pilgrims & their search for freedom of worship
Their reasons for leaving Holland
Their decision to seek new land
Their view on how their beliefs would shape the working of the Mayflower Compact, and;
What debt do we as Americans owe to the Pilgrims?

Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock in 1620. 19th century by Currier & Ives. Credit: Giraudon / Art Resource, NY	Introduction 2008 marks an important 400th anniversary in the history of liberty. In 1608 an unlicensed illegal emigration took place to Holland from near the estuary of the Humber River in Northeast England. This was the flight from persecution of a separatist group of about 100 persons, some of whom later became the Mayflower Pilgrims and settled the Plymouth Colony, arriving in 1620. These fleeing émigrés (some of whom were arrested and imprisoned in the effort) left England in flight from a situation of forced conformity in religious practice due to an established State Church. They sought a domicile providing them with the right of free religious exercise. In England they had been under threat of steep fines, imprisonment, and even execution for unauthorized religious assembly, unauthorized religious speech and unauthorized religious publication, and were denied redress of their grievances. Through their experience, every aspect of the First Amendment of the US Constitution (1791) can be seen in the context of the quest for religious liberty of these early settlers to lands that later became independent from Britain as the United States of America. The text of the First Amendment reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. In commemoration of this anniversary and the pilgrims historic struggle, the John Templeton Foundation invited Dr. Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, Director of the American Pilgrims Museum in Leiden, Holland, to the Philadelphia area to speak to Foundation staff and trustees on November 1, 2008. Questions and points of interest addressed by Dr. Bangs included: The story of the Pilgrims & their search for freedom of worship Their reasons for leaving Holland Their decision to seek new land Their view on how their beliefs would shape the working of the Mayflower Compact, and; What debt do we as Americans owe to the Pilgrims?

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