Instead of judging the Pilgrims and early settlers , why not ask what you would have done under those circumstances?

Would you have been content to live under rulers who forced you to follow a religion you did not believe was correct?

Would you have been brave enough to speak out in public or private when things were going against your beliefs?

Would you have risked jail or hanging to follow your beliefs?

Would you have loaded your family and belongings into a sketchy wooden boat to cross the stormy ocean to unknown lands for freedom?

Would you have been willing to work without pay or property ownership or the freedom to pursue your own dreams because you were not born into the right class?

Would you have been brave enough to leave an established community to go to an undeveloped wilderness, strong enough to build your own house, organized enough to start a farm and government, determined enough to survive a winter without government support?

When others spoke of doing these things, would it have started a fire in your belly for freedom and self-determination, or would you have said, no way, that’s rebellion, that’s dangerous, that’s not for me?

The world was already changing at this time. The Pilgrims and early settlers were not the only ones moving from one place to another and seeking a better life. They are just the ones that happened to come to North America. Explorers had already been here two hundred years before. This is what people do. They try to improve their lives. Time does not stand still. You cannot go back.  Whether you want to accept that fact is up to you. If not the Pilgrims, it would have been someone else. Maybe someone not interested in freedom for all. Maybe someone interested in controlling and using other people for their purposes. Maybe someone who thought that they were smarter than the majority of people and knew what was best for them. Maybe a small group of people who want to take over the control of this country and the world, for the best interests of …. ? Let’s not let those people get into power. We won’t be able to go back.