William Bradford Essay

In the late sixteenth century, Puritanism, which was a religious reform movement, arose within the Church of England (“Puritanism”). It all began when William Bradford and the Puritans were displeased with the Church of England. As a result of them being unsatisfied, they fled England and traveled to Holland and later America in hopes of creating a purified religious community. “Persecuted by the established Anglican Church in England, the Puritans immigrated to the New World seeking the freedom to practice their faith” (Stine 487). The Puritans felt as if the Church of England was filled with hierarchies and worldly rituals. The choice of the Puritans to flee was unusual because they didn’t try to reform the church from within giving them the name “Separatists”. The Puritans ran into many obstacles along their way to America, but never gave up while trying to accomplish their goals. The challenges the Puritans faced, the various roles William Bradford played, and the strong beliefs of the Puritans influenced William Bradford to

Bradford was known as one of the founders of Plymouth Colony, its second governor, and its chronicler (Goldstein 27). The significant roles that Bradford played allowed him to experience life-changing events that he felt he needed to write about. According to Goldstein, Bradford began his history known as “Of Plymouth Plantation”, which was about ten years after the Pilgrim’s arrival and he continued to write for two decades (27). The experiences at Plymouth were both good and bad for William Bradford and he felt the need to write about both. For example, the bad experiences would include the incident at Merrymount with Thomas Morton and the sickness and disease they experienced along the way. The good experiences would include coming to the New World and surviving the obstacles that were thrown at them enabling them to create their