#85 The Pilgrims Confront the Enemies Within

It is the fall of 1621. After the show of force at Nemasket, the cementing of relations with Massasoit, and the three day feast we now regard as “the first Thanksgiving,” the Pilgrims confront enemies within. The Pilgrims did not yet know it, but for the next year and a half they would battle perfidy, betrayal, and enemies within who would threaten them existentially.  The perfidy would come from Thomas Weston, the same investor who changed the terms of their deal at the last minute back in London, forcing them to sell critical supplies in order to make up for Weston’s unfulfilled promises, and a new batch of settlers who would shortly arrive in Plymouth at Weston’s behest. The betrayal would come, sad to say, from Tisquantum, who would play both sides against the middle and disrupt the alliance with Massasoit just when it was most important. 

Before we do any of that, though, I talk about the topic of presentism, which became a social media kerfuffle in the last week or two following an opinion piece by Professor James Sweet, the current president of the American Historical Association, and his rapid apology after a backlash.

[Addendum added 12/4/2022: For a well-written and balanced recap of the Sweet controversy, including thoughts on why he provoked such a strong reaction among “very online” historians, you might read “What AHA President James Sweet Got Wrong—And Right“.]

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Selected references for this episode

James H. Sweet, “Is History History?” and appended apology.

Lynn Hunt, “Against Presentism.”

[Commission earned on sales through the following links]

Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower: Voyage, Community, War

John G. Turner, They Knew They Were Pilgrims: Plymouth Colony and the Contest for American Liberty

Nick Bunker, Making Haste From Babylon: The Mayflower Pilgrims and Their World: A New History

William Bradford and Edward Winslow (presumed), Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth

Edward Winslow, Good News From New England