Well first of all William Bradford was a Pilgrim, which is a branch of Puritanism. Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, not Puritans (Divine). Just like not all Catholics are Christians, not of all of the Pilgrims followed strict Puritan guidelines. Puritans wanted to "purify" the Catholic Church, where the Pilgrims want to "separate" from the Catholic Church. That is why they went to America to start a new life. Pilgrims, like William Bradford, were also tolerant of members of the Catholic Church. "Presbyterians and maverick non believers" were living in Plymouth without being forced to practice the religion of the majority of the colony which is a testament to the tolerant Pilgrim faith (Bradford 62). Other Puritan colonies would have nothing to do with non Puritans. They even kicked people like Anne Hutchinson out because her beliefs did not match up with Puritan beliefs (Divine). Pilgrims and Puritans do share similar beliefs as the Pilgrim belief was derived from Puritanism.
The first excerpt from Bradford's writings showed the Puritan "Providence of God" quality. Bradford gives an example of a sailor who berated the Pilgrims and told them how he would enjoy "casting half of them overboard" (Bradford 15). That sailor was the first to succumb to disease and the Pilgrims helped throw him overboard. Bradford believed that was a sign from God showing the Pilgrims that God is among them and is watching out for his children. That sign is one of the first feasible sign that I have read about in Puritan writings so far. Having your house burn down and saying it was a sign from God is a little to far fetched from the pessimistic non-believer in me. Having a man who says that he hates you and can not wait until you die so he can dispose of your body, be the first one to die of sickness? Now that is a sign from God. Or the Pilgrims had really, really good karma. Either way, that helped the Pilgrims in their difficult times ahead as they could pull from that fact to keep a strong faith as God was looking out for them.
The second excerpt from "of Plymouth Plantations" continued four entries from different points in the colony's early years. Bradford's writing format is a journal which is consistent of Puritan writings. But he writes with a historical viewpoint, not just the traditional religious view. That is what made "Plymouth Plantations" such a success. The writing could be taken as unbiased from that time period because all of the other writers were influenced by religion and their writings were one sided. Bradford talked about the Indians without mentioning generalizations of the Indians fed to arriving colonists by early explorers. When he originally mentioned the Indians, Bradford acknowledged the opinion of the early settlers and explorers (Bradford 65). But later he told about meeting Samoset and Squanto with much joy as the two "savages" saved the Pilgrims from certain death (Bradford 67).
Just like Mary Rowlandson, William Bradford believed that having people of the same faith taking care of a sick person or person in need, allowed them to recover quicker and have faith in God. When more than half of the Pilgrim population at Plymouth died during the Starving Time, there was "six or seven sound persons" who took care of everyone in Plymouth (Bradford 65). Those six or seven never got sick and "the Lord so upheld these persons" (Bradford 66). They received a sign from God that told them how good of people they are and they were rewarded by not dieing or getting sick when everyone else around them died. The Pilgrims were doing something right as God showed His approval of their colony and the Pilgrims are still talked about 400 years later.
Bradford, William. "from of Plymouth Plantation." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 15, 62-67. Print.
Cline, Duane A. "Pilgrims, Not Puritans." Sail 1620. Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Web. 03 Sept. 2011.
Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams, H. W. Brands, and Ariela J. Gross. America Past and Present AP Edition. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.
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