The Lord of Misrule and the First Book Banned in America

When one pictures the first British settlers coming to what would become the United States, it’s generally of a group of religiously oppressed, rigidly pious individuals, such as the famed now named “Pilgrims” separatist group in their black and white clothing and top hats featuring giant buckles- a group who the Native Americans saved by sharing food and teaching them how to farm certain things in the region in their first year in Massachusetts, all culminating in the first Thanksgiving in America. But, in truth, the clothing style often depicted in paintings of the Pilgrims bore little resemblance to what the Pilgrims actually seemed to wear. For example, we know from ship manifests that the Pilgrim’s garb was extremely colorful, and buckles were both expensive and not yet fully in fashion as they would become later in the 17th century when paintings of the Pilgrims started to be made, leading us all astray on what they typically wore. Further, while the Pilgrims did receive a measure of aid in the early going from the native americans in the region, they did not celebrate the first Thanksgiving in America and the event today the modern holiday is supposedly based on wasn’t even the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving day in America, Nor did they initially think to invite the Native Americans to the event in question, though a group of them, probably attracted by all the noisy games like shooting contests, did ultimately join the party. Even popular perception of what they supposedly ate during said event is less based in history and more mostly thanks to Sarah Josepha Hale, author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and one of the most influential women in American history who, through her highly circulated editorials laid out a partially mythical and romanticized version of the events most know today and popularized it. She also is a huge reason Thanksgiving is a national holiday in the U.S. in the first place from her decades long efforts to make it so. But we’re not here to discuss Sara Hale and her massive influence on United States culture that still echoes through today. Nor even the separatist group now called the Pilgrims per se, though William Bradford and his cohorts, along with the non-separatist Puritans later do come into play. No, today we are going to discuss someone who came over to the future United States around the same time as these groups and had a rather different view of the world than his puritanical compatriots. And presents yet another poignant example in several ways of the fact that how we view these early settlers in popular history is riddled with myths, misconceptions, and a whole lot of nuance thrown in. As ever, the devil is in the details, so let’s dive into it all, shall we? Author: Daven Hiskey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices