Thanksgiving in America - 2011

From "American Thinker". So what he's saying is that William Bradford (my 12th great grandfather) started out as a communist?

In large part, the first Thanksgiving Day, which was celebrated in 1623, was a celebration of the abundance arising from the pursuit of individualism and incentives associated with free markets, amazing as that may seem.

The background for understanding Thanksgiving Day is found in records kept by the governor of the Plymouth colony, William Bradford. He informs us that the colonists' English sponsors had arranged for all crops and goods to be held "in the common stock," from which they would be supplied to each family according to its needs (sound familiar?).

As with many other recorded instances of collectivism in the history of mankind, there were disastrous results. Governor Bradford wrote that this experiment reflected a belief of his that common ownership of property would allow the colony to flourish. Instead, it was soon found that communal sharing resulted in unintended consequences. The colonists, as many others have discovered over time, found that individuals work harder within an incentive system that allows them to maintain and enjoy the fruits of their own labor.

Read more:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/thanksgiving_in_america_2011.html#ixzz1ed0PFpZf

William Bradford from "The Plymouth Plantation"

William Bradford was the Governor of the Plymouth Colony (and my 12th great-grandfather). He wrote a history of what happened and while he doesn't mention the first Thanksgiving he does talk about the bounty of that first harvest.

But first an excerpt about that first devastating winter-

But soon a most lamentable blow fell upon them. In two or three months time half of their company died, partly owning to the severity of the winter, especially during January and February, and the want of house and other comforts; partly to scurvy and other diseases, which their long voyage and incommodious quarters had brought upon them. Of all the hundred odd persons. scarcely fifty remained and sometimes two or three persons died in a day. In the worst distress there but six or seven sound persons who to their great commendation be it spoken, spared no pains night and day, but with great toil and at risk of their own health, fetched wood made fires, prepared food for the sick, made their beds, washed their infected clothes dressed and undressed them - in a word, did all the homely and necessary services for them which dainty and queasy stomachs cannot endure to hear mentioned; all this they did willingly and cheerfully, without the least grudging, showing their love to the friends and brethren...

But the next fall-

They now began to gather in the small harvest they had, and to prepare their houses for winter, being well recovered in health and strength, and plentifully provisioned; for while some had been thus employed in affairs away from home, others were occupied in fishing for cod, bass and other fish, of which they caught a good quantity, every family having their portion. All the summer there was no want. And now as winter approached, wild fowl began to arrive, of which there were plenty when they came here first, though afterward they became more scarce. As well as wild fowl, they got an abundance of wild turkeys, besides venison etc. Each person had about a peck of meal a week, or now, since harvest, Indian corn in that proportion; and afterwards many wrote at length about their plenty to their friends in England- not feigned but true reports.

Happy Thanksgiving