The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1920-06-17


safety, encourage their growth Never has 1t
been more important for TO teach the lesson
of liberty through law, of sacrifice for common
gain, of righteousness for its own sake"
Mr.. Luce, in his remarks during debate
brought out this noteworthy point:
"One feature of their first year or two here
that is not commonly known would be of especial
value to- bring to the knowledge of all the people
of the land by this commemoration They at
tempted q communistc settlement. Communism
the cry of the hour by so many radicals-commu-
nism at the very outset of the foundation of New
England had its full and fair test, and communism
failed Only when they had abandoned the COM
munistic idea and secured agreement that each
should enjoy the fruits of his labors, that what
each might wrench from the stubborn soil should
be the reward of his efforts that their fields and
homes should no longer be held In common, only
then was the colony put upon basis of possible
permanence."
mistake commonly made by people who
should know better is that they make distinc-
ton between Pilgrims and Puritans. There Is all
the difference in the world. Mr.. Fess Of Ohio
touched upon this difference when he said:
II want to note general in history
when the conduct of early New England is
matter of discussions We usually speak of the
persecution that was exercised In this part of
the country, especially In Massachusetts, and we
identify Ii with this particular Massachusetts, set
Element. That is not accurate. That Is not his
toric. The persecution that caused q good many
persons to leave the Massachusetts colony was
not by the Pilgrims. The Massachusetts colony
Of 1923 was not identical with the Pilgrims of
1920. The persecution by the Puritans, and
the historian will not make the mistake of con-
fusng the Pilgrim with the Puritan, although
the latter term generally applied to all the
people who landed However, they were two
tirely different peoples"
Mr.. Tess might have gone farther and made the
difference between the Pilgrims and the Puritans
more plain: The main distinction Is religious,
and is aptly illustrated by the old saying, 1.-THE
Puritan's fell first upon their knees and then upon
the aborigines."
Which is to say: The Pilgrims came to Amer
lea to worship after their own fashion and cared
nothing how others might worship. The Puri-
tans came here to worship after their own fash
ion and to make everybody else worship after
that fashion.
Moreover: The Pilgrims came first In 1920
They never were very many They did little colo
nizing They are not the people who settled New
England. They were passive rather than aggres-
sive. They "separatists." They had sepa-
rated from the Church of England and had no
farther concern with the established church of
their native land.
The Puritans began to arrive in 1880. In the
next decade they came by tens of thousands. The
Puritans never separated from the Church of Eng
land. Instead they boosted that they brought II
with them to reform II. Hence the persecution"
of which Mr.. Fess speaks. The Puritans would
have who would not worship as they them
selves did. They converted the Indians They
executed and whipped Quakers and drove out
Baptists, Episcopalians and others. Their per
secutions" drove Roger Williams to Rhode Island
to found Providence, and Hooker and Davenport
TO Connecticut to found Hartford and New Haven
They even split up among themselves about every
generation church would find itself divided into
factions, whereupon one faction would leave and
found new town and church.
1t is from the Purtans that we get the Gel
ebrated Puritan conscience; not from the Pill
grms.
However, from political viewpoint the in
fluence Of the Pilgrims and Puritans was the
same. The Pilgrims politically represented what
the Puritans furthered Out OF these church set
Elements grew the town meeting and local self
government and later the constitutional suprema-
cy idea Of government.
In contrast with the Plymouth idea Is the
jamestown idea-out Of which ultimately came
the doctrine Of state rights.
1t is interesting to note that today the state
rights doctrine Is by no means confined to the
south, while the Capitalization of government
idea is probably stronger in the south than In the
north.