400 years ago on November 11, 1620 the Pilgrims landed in American at Plymouth, Massachusetts, marking November 11, 2020 the 400th anniversary of the pilgrims landing.
Among the historical resources describing those years preceding and after, Monumental is a great documentary to gather the context of the Pilgrims landing. Monumental is available on DVD or Youtube (pre-release full version):
The Monument documentary by Kirk Cameron uses the Pilgrims Plymouth, MA monument as the central concept to explain. The Monument to the Forefathers or Matrix of Liberty stands strong and tall in Plymouth, MA today since 1889.
The statue purposely points to the heavens declaring God as the sole hope and focus in life and civilization. The remainder of the monument explains how God impacts society, especially the main categories at the bottom where the figures are seated: Morality, Law, Education, and Liberty. The monument sits within a simple neighborhood, often overlooked by tourists and education groups.
Pilgrims and their beliefs are key to the founding of the United States of America. Their Mayflower voyage 400 years ago continued on land through perseverance, belief in God, and community in the midst of terrible difficulty and threat.
Senator Tom Cotton took time to deliver a 15 minute speech on the United States Senate floor summarizing the pilgrims 400th year anniversary of their arrival to America and providing unique details from business backers, the Mayflower, the Mayflower Compact, and to people's historical viewpoints (Churchill, Eisenhower, etc.).
Pilgrims are not perfect, but they brought a deep conviction of how to live life for God's sake while enduring evil as well as pursuing good that would benefit and bless generations thereafter. Their convictions were displayed both by their coming to America as well as in written form as a social and civil legal document to agree how to interact with one another known as the Mayflower Compact. They immediately created the Mayflower Compact upon arrival that first winter day November 11th, 1620:
In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc.
Having undertaken for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together in a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.
The pilgrims begin the first Thanksgiving in America by 1621 as a 3 day celebration of thankfulness for God's provision, even though they had endured death, disease, and damming allegations by the England and the Church of England. The pilgrims endured for a cause they believed was worth pursuing and enduring regardless of the outcome.
In 1870, my uncle and 18th president, Ulysses S. Grant, declared Thanksgiving an American federal holiday.
We can, with conviction, wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!
Learn about Mr. Nate Books' Thanksgiving Book:
Mr. Stuffer Stuffed the Turkey: The Thanksgiving grandma never expected!
Comments