The New England Patriots
The Evolution of Voting Rights in Colonial America
William Bradford and the Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact prior to landing at Cape Cod.
November 25, 2015 - On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots will travel to Denver to take on the Broncos. Nearly 400 years before that game kicks off, William Bradford and the New England Pilgrims dropped anchor at Cape Cod before coming ashore from their ship, the Mayflower.
In 1620, the Pilgrims, aka the Puritans, aka the Nonconformists (a lesser used term that makes them sound like an indie rock band) weren’t the first European settlers in North America, and they certainly weren’t the most successful. Their very arrival in modern-day Massachusetts was an accident because they were actually bound for the warmer climates of Virginia. The legendary meal that provides the origin of the Thanksgiving holiday is actually a tale of weary migrants who were helped out by the Wampanoag people.
However, while the Pilgrims may not have known how to farm successfully, they were well prepared to govern themselves. The Mayflower Compact bound the 101 settlers into a self-governing colony. It was signed by the 41 adult freemen who were over the age of 21. There were also 60 women, children, and indentured servants who were bound by the Compact, though they were not eligible to sign. A similar criteria was placed on voting rights, and those same 40 men were the only ones to vote in the yearly elections for Governor.
The above-mentioned Bradford was governor during the first Thanksgiving and also when the colony instituted mandatory voting. A 3-schilling fine was issued to any eligible voter who failed to vote, and a much larger fine of 20 pounds was levied against anyone who was elected to office and refused to serve (which leads one to think that it must not have been much fun to be in office).
While the Plymouth Colony was struggling to feed itself and fine its absent voters, a far more successful colony was taking root in Boston. The Massachusetts Bay Colony held yearly elections for a governor, deputy governor, and 18 magistrates, and their most famous governor was John Winthrop. Winthrop had left England after Charles I ascended to the throne and took Henrietta Maria, a Catholic, as his queen. This insult to his Puritanical values made Winthrop track down the nearest ship headed to America and inspired him to write his famous sermon promising to establish in the New World a “city on the hill” that would be prosperous, free, and if at all possible, free of Catholics.
In 1620, the Pilgrims, aka the Puritans, aka the Nonconformists (a lesser used term that makes them sound like an indie rock band) weren’t the first European settlers in North America, and they certainly weren’t the most successful. Their very arrival in modern-day Massachusetts was an accident because they were actually bound for the warmer climates of Virginia. The legendary meal that provides the origin of the Thanksgiving holiday is actually a tale of weary migrants who were helped out by the Wampanoag people.
However, while the Pilgrims may not have known how to farm successfully, they were well prepared to govern themselves. The Mayflower Compact bound the 101 settlers into a self-governing colony. It was signed by the 41 adult freemen who were over the age of 21. There were also 60 women, children, and indentured servants who were bound by the Compact, though they were not eligible to sign. A similar criteria was placed on voting rights, and those same 40 men were the only ones to vote in the yearly elections for Governor.
The above-mentioned Bradford was governor during the first Thanksgiving and also when the colony instituted mandatory voting. A 3-schilling fine was issued to any eligible voter who failed to vote, and a much larger fine of 20 pounds was levied against anyone who was elected to office and refused to serve (which leads one to think that it must not have been much fun to be in office).
While the Plymouth Colony was struggling to feed itself and fine its absent voters, a far more successful colony was taking root in Boston. The Massachusetts Bay Colony held yearly elections for a governor, deputy governor, and 18 magistrates, and their most famous governor was John Winthrop. Winthrop had left England after Charles I ascended to the throne and took Henrietta Maria, a Catholic, as his queen. This insult to his Puritanical values made Winthrop track down the nearest ship headed to America and inspired him to write his famous sermon promising to establish in the New World a “city on the hill” that would be prosperous, free, and if at all possible, free of Catholics.
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It would be no small trick to dislike Catholics and still get elected Governor in Massachusetts today, but in the 17th century, Winthrop was clearly in the main stream. In addition to disliking his Queen's religion, he was also no fan of the electoral process that made him Governor. Winthrop famously opined that “democracy is, amongst most civil nations, accounted the meanest and worst of all forms of government.” He put his money where his mouth was quickly after being elected Governor. When no one was looking, he locked the colony’s charter away, and, from then on, the 18 magistrates decided who should be the governor. By a strange coincidence, the magistrates kept re-electing Winthrop year after year. Winthrop’s long rule was interrupted when an increasing number of new settlers arrived in Boston and became curious about what had happened to the town charter. Caught red-handed, Winthrop had to bow to pressure and re-introduce yearly elections by secret ballot. Suffrage was limited to the freemen who were over 21, owned property, were white, and members of the Puritan church. However, the good citizens of Boston weren’t satisfied with this. A number of “heretics” began circulating a petition calling for the toleration of other faiths and allowing non-Puritans the right to vote. The Antinomian Controversy (another good band name) broke out, leading Winthrop and the Puritan church to excommunicate some and banish the others. |
Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop is carried across the Mystic River. The gun presumably is to chase off any Catholics who were trying to gain the right to vote.
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One of those banished, Roger Williams, had never liked the religious restrictions on voting rights that the other colonies maintained. He also had the revolutionary idea that the settlers should pay for the land they took from Native American tribes. For both of these reasons, Winthrop and the other Puritans were glad to be rid of him. Williams moved west and paid the Narragansett people for a spot of land that would become Rhode Island. He removed the requirement that voters had to be members of the Puritan church, and, consequently, Quakers, Anabaptists, and Jews flocked to his colony. However, women and non-whites were still out of luck, as were indentured servants. Additionally, the otherwise religiously tolerant Williams still believed that “Roman Catholics shall not enjoy the rights of freemen.”
So, as we sit around the Thanksgiving table this year, crossing our fingers that the football game kicks off before our Donald-Trump-supporting uncle and our Bernie-Sanders-loving cousin start throwing mashed potatoes at each other while arguing about immigrant rights, racism, and gender equality, we should remember that these issues have been with us since our first Thanksgiving. Let’s be thankful for how far we’ve come and be ready and willing to keep improving on our hard-won franchise.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Along with women, people of color, non-Puritans, indentured servants, Native Americans, and single men; turkeys did not enjoy voting rights in early Colonial America.
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Had turkeys gained the right to vote, Thanksgiving dinner might have turned out very differently.
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