Why would an entire generation of English men, women, and children—an estimated 80,000 souls over 20 years—give up their lives and livelihoods, their homes and hearths, their families and friends, their country and community, forsaking all that they knew and took solace in, to travel for months at sea on a slow, arduous journey, devoid of any material comfort or worldly pleasure, where sickness and malnutrition were near certainties, where death and disease were real probabilities, to go to a land unmapped and untamed, where no city or town existed, where no supply of bread or wine awaited, where neither roof nor chimney would protect and warm them, where wild beasts were more populous than the “savage” natives, both of which were rumored to be hostile to English settlers?
“The Landing of the Pilgrims” by Henry Bacon, 1877. Public Domain
The following is an excerpt from the introduction to “Puritans, Pilgrims & Prophets,” Michael Wilkerson’s latest book in the “Why America Matters” series.
Michael Wilkerson
Author
Michael Wilkerson is a strategic adviser, investor, and author. He's the founder of Stormwall Advisors and Stormwall.com. His latest book is “Why America Matters: The Case for a New Exceptionalism” (2022).
