Thanksgiving: A celebratory feast, flee from old laws

Admittedly, since the days of middle school history, we have not spent much time considering the history of Thanksgiving or its origins. If you are like us, then a quick refresher is needed. In 1620, a small ship, the Mayflower, departed England headed for the New World.

The 102 passengers included men, women and children all seeking a new life in a new land. The journey to modern day Massachusetts was treacherous and the first year saw hard times for the passengers, with malnutrition and illness. 

 

By November 1621, following the first successful harvest, Gov. William Bradford organized a celebratory feast — hence the first Thanksgiving. There is evidence of prior autumn celebrations and feasts by Native Americans and other settlers, but 1621 is recognized as the first Thanksgiving.

 

Against that backdrop, we thought it interesting to explore the legal reasons the Mayflower passengers and later colonists took such a risk and sailed literally off into the sunset. The Pilgrims were a group of people aboard the Mayflower seeking freedom from the strong and prevailing religious laws of the Church of England. The remaining Mayflower passengers were of various trades and backgrounds, including merchants, craftsmen, servants and orphaned children. Each passenger chose to leave family and friends behind in search of a better way of life in the New World. (Maybe like many of us on Daniel Island, present company included.)

 

As mentioned above, the New World offered freedom from English religious laws. The New World also presented a fresh economic and legal start. The years prior to 1620 had not been financially beneficial for the Mayflower passengers and many were in poverty. Thus, several trading and expansion companies based in England enticed passengers with promises of economic wealth and profits. Compared to the prospect of time in a debtor’s prison in England, some passengers jumped at the opportunity. This fact led to the basis of our country’s long-standing stance against a debtor’s prison.

 

In addition to criminal penalties for failure to pay civil debts, England’s legal system was built around aristocracy and land ownership. Thus, in early colonial society there was not an aristocratic social order. Likewise, colonial religious beliefs replaced the importance of land ownership.  

 

Needing to establish new laws and policies, colonists quickly (sometimes before literally getting off the boat) took pen to paper and set forth civil and criminal laws to govern their new society. An example of one such effort by the colonists was the Mayflower Compact.

This self-governance process set the tone for what would come to be one aspect of American democracy. Couple this with regularly scheduled votes to elect governors and other officials, and one other aspect of American democracy was born.

 

During your Thanksgiving celebration this year, you now have a more complete appreciation for how the holiday came to be. Many of the laws and freedoms we enjoy each day can be traced back to those colonists, the risks they took and insightful democratic ideas they advanced.

 

Chris Mingledorff and Michael Patterson are attorneys with Mingledorff & Patterson LLC on Daniel Island. For more information, go to mptrial.com.