Common Thanksgiving Myth

Do you know the real reason the Pilgrims came to America?

It is a commonly thought that the Pilgrims left England to come to America for their religious freedom. This is incorrect! The Pilgrims left England to go to Holland for their religious freedom. While they had their freedom in Holland to worship as they desired, after awhile they saw a disturbing trend.

I'll let the words from the journal of Governor William Bradford of the Mayflower Pilgrims explain the problem:

But still more lamentable, and of all sorrows most heavy to be borne, was that many of the children, influenced by these conditions, and the great licentiousness of the young people of the country, and the many temptations of the city were led by evil example into dangerous courses, getting the reins off their necks and leaving their parents. Some became soldiers, others embarked on voyages by sea and others upon worse courses tending to dissoluteness and the danger of their souls, to the great grief of the parents and the dishonour of God. So they saw their posterity would be in danger to degenerate and become corrupt.

~William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation

The Pilgrims had their religious freedom, but their children were being corrupted by the Dutch "worldliness". They came to America to raise their children in godliness--without being tainted by others who did not have the same standards. They desired to shelter their children. We should do the same.