Plimoth Plantation, by William Bradford, and the

¶ … Plimoth Plantation," by William Bradford, and "The Life of William Bradford," by Cotton Mather. Specifically, it will compare the two writings, discussing what similarities are noted about the writers' styles and how the culture and history of the time, place, and person(s) are portrayed. Cotton Mather and William Bradford lived in different decades, and yet their writings are eerily similar in content and cultural beliefs. Mather and Bradford were both absolutely convinced of their "rightness," and their writing illustrates this vividly.

Colonial Americans were devout, pious, righteous - they came to America because of their religious beliefs, and finally able to express them, they expressed them boldly and with great fervor. WILLIAM BRADFORD AND COLONIAL AMERICA Both intensely religious and devout men, the writings of William Bradford and Cotton Mather both embody this devoutness, even while they show quite an un-Christian attitude about anyone who does not believe in exactly what they believe.

Mather writes, "...where the people were as unacquainted with the Bible, as the Jews do seem to have been a part of it in the days of Josiah; a most ignorant and licentious people, and like unto their priest" (Mather). This shows the intolerance that marked these people, which is an oxymoron considering they fled England because of the same type of intolerance of their own religious beliefs. Just like Mather, Bradford had little tolerance for anyone who did not adhere to the strict Puritanical standards of the Plimoth Colony.

He quickly shunned freethinker Thomas Morton, who tried to establish a more moderate colony in Massachusetts in 1624. When Morton's colony erected a maypole for children, Bradford decried the event, because he felt it was the celebration of a pagan holiday. They allso set up a May-pole, drinking and dancing aboute it many days togeather, inviting the Indean women, for their consorts, dancing and frisking togither, (like so many fairies, or fiiries rather,) and worse practises.

As if they had anew revived & celebrated the feasts of ye Roman Goddes Flora, or ye beasly practieses of ye madd Bacchinalians (Bradford 285). Bradford's writing has little information about the man himself, he was more concerned with telling the story of Plimoth Plantation and the struggles the Colonists had to survive and thrive in the New World. Mather, on the other hand, holds up Bradford as a type of saint or apostle, and a great leader.

He wrote, "The leader of a people in a wilderness had need be a Moses; and if a Moses had not led the people of Plymouth Colony, when this worthy person was their governour, the people had never with so much unanimity and importunity still called him to lead them" (Mather). Bradford did indeed prove himself an able leader, and the colony thrived - so much so that other Pilgrims began to make the journey to America, and the country grew.

Both men were foundations upon which the new colonies were built, and their histories show the growth and culture of early America. Without either of their writings, modern readers would not really know the history of early New England, and how the people lived and worked. Mather's work is more a biography, but it shows how the Puritans were persecuted, and why they felt they had to leave England for a new land.

Bradford's work shows the hardships they faced, and ultimately shows their utter commitment to their beliefs, for them to endure in such harsh conditions. When they came here they had to start over from scratch, and that they survived and thrived is a testament to their.