Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-08-24
PiIorim and Puritan,

| the cornerstone of the great monu-
| ment which is to mark the spot where
| the Pilgrims first landed. has brought
| about an interesting discussion of the
differences between the Pilgrims and
the Puritans. These two terms have
often been used INTERCHANGEABLE in
later years, but when SO used it is
either the result of carelessness or it
| shows lack of knowledge Of Ameri-
can history. Even President Roose-
welt in his address at Provincetown
frequently used the word Puritan
where he meant Pilgrim, and when his
attention was called to this matter he
readily granted that the joke was on
him and that being a New Yorker he
was not so well posted on the fine dis
tinctions of early New England history
as he ought to be.
The differences between the Pilgrims
and the Puritans were great CROUCH 50
that no descendant of our New Eng
land forefathers ought to be in any
doubt in the matter. The Pilgrims
who came to Provincetown and
Plymouth in 1920 were seeking above
all else the cherished privilege of re-
ligious liberty, free dom to worship
Cod as Mrs Hemans expresses it i'll
her immortal verses. The Puritans
who came to Massachusetts Bay a
decade later and founded Boston IN
1880 under the leadership of John WIN
throp, were men of more property ana
greater social Importance in England
They We're very strict and stern Ill
their religious creed and While they
came to this country to found home
where they might have political ana
religious liberty, they also came win
the idea of accommodating wealth IN the
New World. They were business men
as we'll as rigid sectarians and they
succeeded in both their great aims.
The Pilgrims were men of less
wealth than the Puritans and possibly
were Of a lower class of English So
ciety. They were decidedly lacking
in the business instinct and their ig-
norance Of practical affairs was shown
by their starting on their voyage III
the autumn with the result that they
landed on this bleak New England
shore in midwinter. There We're no
such scenes of hardship. privatlon and
sacrifice attending the founding of the
Puritan colony on Massachusetts, Bay
as characterized the early years OF the
struggling settlement at Plymouth.
The Pilgrims were far more tolerant
in their religious views than were the
Puritans of whom over 800 came from
England to Boston and vicinity during
the summer months of 1880.
The Pilgrims did not prosecute those
who differed with them in religious
belief. There was no hanging OF
heretics or burning of witches at
Plymouth. while the cold and intol-
Grant Puritans of Massachusetts Bay
in turn drove Wheelwright into exile
in New Hampshire, Roger Williams to
Rhode Island and Ann Hutchinson and
her followers to Connecticut. The
intolcrant Puritans hanged Quaker
ess On Boston Common and put to
death the witches in Salem. There
was also a great difference between the
two colonies in their treatment of the
Indians The Pilgrims concluded an
honorable peace with MasSasoit while
a little later at Boston the Puritans
cast the son of MaSsasoit into prison
and brought upon New England the
horrors of King Phillips war. The
Puritans had their virtues, to be sure,
but tolerance was not one of them.
Later. the Puritan colony absorbed the
Pilgrim colony and from the mixture
came New England and the New Eng
land influence which was such pow
crful factor in the winning Of the West
and in the development and progress OF
the whole country.