As my dad used to say “April Showers bring May flowers ... and mayflowers bring pilgrims.” I remember through the years my perception of them changed. In 2nd grade, we did a play where I dressed up as a pilgrim. I used to think that the pilgrims were the heroes with Thanksgiving, where they had a celebratory feast with the Native Americans. However, it is more likely that the native Americans weren’t invited. But in the defense of the Pilgrims, there wasn’t too much conflict with the native Americans, as they had other things to deal with, mainly the harsh climate and disease. However, after a harsh winter and disease killed off many colonists, they changed and adapted. In the move to the new world, the pilgrims were forced to govern themselves, and after a harsh winter and malnutrition killed off many colonists, they changed in learning new methods to survive the climate, grow food, grow new food, and hunt new animals.

The Separatists’ journey to the Americas was a long one, and when they arrived they sure weren’t expecting Massachusetts. They had used up a decent amount of supplies on the Journey, and were preparing to stop and replenish their supplies with bountiful resources of the Americas. Unfortunately for them, Massachusetts was an icebox. Many died due to not having proper shelter, leaving them exposed to the common temperature of 0 degrees Celsius or colder. With that temperature, you could easily die. My biology teacher taught that mammals are warm-blooded animals, which means that we use ATP (Adenine Triphosphate) to keep ourselves warm. So by being exposed to such low temperatures for a long amount of time, we would use up all of our ATP, meaning we wouldn't have a source of energy and die. And die they did. About half of the Colonists died. In fact, my ancestor, John Alden, married Priscilla Mullins after all of her family died. Life didn’t seem to be good for the pilgrims, as the harsh climate wasn’t the only big reason why many people died.

Many pilgrims also died in the Americas as they had some food-related issues. When they arrived, they had used up a lot of their food on the journey. Scurvy was a big problem for the Separatists. According to the mayo clinic, scurvy is characterized by easily bruising (capillaries rupturing), slow wound healing/no would healing. This lead to bleeding gums as well, which is really terrible since the bleeding most likely never stops. Anemia is also common. Anemia is where you have less blood cells than normal, and it worsens over time. The type of Anemia that they developed was Vitamin deficiency anemia. Your body needs folic acid to produce healthy red blood cells, and they most likely didn’t have access to fruits or other foods to provide it, leading them to develop anemia. Getting anemia could result in heart problems, fatigue, or death. Scurvy is known to be fatal when untreated, often due to an opportunistic infection or loss of blood. In order to survive they had to find a new source of vitamin C. And a way to obtain it. Thanks to the help of the Native Americans, they were.

The Separatists learned to adapt with help from Squanto. Most colonists and Native Americans didn’t get along, as the colonists were stealing their land. But the nearby tribes didn’t really care, as they were all dying off due to a plague spread from the settlers. The Pilgrims were also busy trying not to die. With the help of Squanto, they learned to plant new plants, such as corn and squash. These plants allowed them to overcome scurvy, as the provided vitamin C. One summer squash is enough to provide 30% of the needed Vitamin C in a diet. They also needed meat, as the plants available may have not provided enough protein, and Squanto taught them how to hunt animals. Now that they were set to survive in the new environment, they had to figure out their society.

The original core government values of the Separatists was monarchy that was the government system that had existed for a long time, and to many seemed like the only option. But the Separatists had left for that very reason. They didn’t want to be persecuted for having religious beliefs different from the monarchy-endorsed one. So they left to be away from all that. When they arrived, they realized they heeded to set up a new government or chaos would follow. So they decided to set up a democracy, or at least as democratic as it could get back then. They created the Mayflower Compact, which is known as a very important document for the role in which it plated in American Democracy. It was created for fear few the colony falling apart. It lase until the colony merged with the Massachusetts bay colony. It was originally created to quell a possible rebellion-in-the-making among the passengers. My ancestor, John Alden, along with 42 others signed the compact. The Mayflower Compact detailed that they would still be loyal subject to King James (probably in a more metaphorical sense, as King James wasn’t too fond of them, as they weren’t officially licensed), they would live in accordance to Christianity, the Separatists would work together for the good of the society, and the colonists would have laws and everyone had to abide by them. And while this was a great achievement, it wasn’t perfect. It didn’t have separation of church and state, and it was only meant to be a temporary measure. But principles outlined would later be used in the constitution, thanks to the separatist’s need to adapt.

The Separatists arrived into unfamiliar territory. Tired of what the had, they decided to leave. But their old values and ideals weren’t going to work anymore. In the new land, they had to adapt. To learn to survive. To learn to thrive. After learning new skills and setting up a new government, the separatists ended up creating a major impact on the US that is still visible to this very day.