Passenger of the Mayflower voyage, 1620 Governor of Plymouth Colony, re-elected

Passenger of the Mayflower voyage, 1620
Governor of Plymouth Colony, re-elected 30 times, total term of 33 years
Writes a famous history of the colonists’ experiences: Of Plymouth Plantation
Covers years 1620 (Mayflower landing) to 1646. Unpublished until 1856!
American
Exceptionalism: the theory that the United States is “qualitatively
different” from other states. Puritans believed God had made a covenant
with their people and had chosen them to provide a model for the other
nations of the Earth. One Puritan leader, John Winthrop (see “A Modell
of Christian Charity,” 380ff), metaphorically expressed this idea as a
“City upon a Hill”—that the Puritan community of New England should
serve as a model community for the rest of the world (p. 389, top; see
also Matthew 5: 14-15 “You are the
light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people
light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives
light to all in the house”). (Utopianism: An attempt to construct
an ideal community or society.) The “City on a Hill” metaphor is often
used by proponents of exceptionalism. The Puritans’ deep moralistic
values remained part of the national identity of the United States for
centuries, remaining influential to the present day.
Bradford’s history is not just a chronicle or a log of events. It is a history, an interpretation, a search for the meaning of these events, an argument for a particular theological explanation of events.
His
thesis: The Puritans’ story closely resembles the ancient Israelites’
story: first slavery/persecution, then Exodus, then wandering in the
wilderness, finally entrance to the “Promised Land”
Providence:
God’s intervention in the events of the world. A guiding concept for
Puritans. In its simplest terms, God rewards virtue with
blessing/prosperity, and God punishes wickedness with
hardship/poverty/illness. See the anecdote of the Profane Sailor (pg. 400). A kind of template for how events conform neatly to his beliefs and the Puritan utopian project.
Bradford is anxious about a certain