Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford

Thesis:
In an excerpt from William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation although the puritans experienced hardship in their voyaga to America, in their initial arrival and in their dealings with the Indians, they still maintain their reverence to God and to one another.

Paragraph:
Being thus arrived at Cape Cod the 11th of November , and necessity called them to look out a place for habitation (as well as the master’s and mariners’ importunity); they having brought a large shallop with them out of England, stowed in quarters in the ship, they now got her out and set their carpenters to work to trim her up; but being much bruised and shattered in the ship with foul weather, they saw she would be long in mending. Whereupon a few of them tendered themselves to go by land and discover those nearest places, whilst the shallop was in mending; and the rather because as they went into that harbor there seemed to be an opening some two or three leagues off, which the master judged to be a river. It was conceived there might be some danger in the attempt, yet seeing them resolute, they were permitted to go, being sixteen of them well armed under the conduct of Captain Standish, having such instructions given them as was thought meet. They set forth the 15th of November; and when they had marched about the space of a mile by the seaside, they espied five or six persons with a dog coming towards them, who were savages; but they fled from them and ran up into the woods, and the English followed them, partly to see if they could speak with them, and partly to discover if there might not be more of them lying in ambush. But the Indians seeing themselves thus followed, they again forsook the woods and ran away on the sands as hard as they could, so as they could not come near them but followed them by the track of their feet sundry miles and saw that they had come the same way. So, night coming on, they made their rendezvous and set out their sentinels, and rested in quiet that night; and the next morning followed their track till they had headed a great creek and so left the sands, and turned another way into the woods. But they still followed them by guess, hoping to find their dwellings; but they soon lost both them and themselves, falling into such thickets as were ready to tear their clothes and armor in pieces; but were most distressed for want of drink. But at length they found water and refreshed themselves, being the first New England water they drunk of, and was now in great thirst as pleasant unto them as wine or beer had been in foretimes.

Reflection:
I like this paragraph because it is where they first land and find Indians, who run away; when they get lost and finally found water, it was as pleasant as wine or beer.

Diary Entry:

November 11

We have arrived at Cape Cod today. The ship needed repairs, and I, not being a skilled craftsperson, explored with some other men. I wasn't sure what we were looking for as we trudged though the woods. I saw a movement in the trees and walked towards it. In a clearing stood six Indians talking with a dog beside the tallest one. The other men came up behind me and the Indians heard the many feet trampling on the dry leaves. The quicky whirled around, looked at us for a minute, then fled into the forest. We dashed after them. Thickets were tearing at our sides but we were determined to find them. After a good amount of time, we admitted we lost them, and ourselves. By then we were thirsty, with the Indians on our mind we looked for water. We found a small pool of water by some rocks, for it pleased God for us to live.

Political Cartoon Paragraph:
This political cartoon and the story Of Plymouth Plantation portray the difference between invasion and immivasion. In the story, the puritans came to America and settled in the Indian's land; in the cartoon, it shows many immigrants coming into America. This shows how people think it's ok to merge with other groups of people without asking (illegally). However, like in the cartoon, invasion is when you use force to take over land; like when then puritans had to shoot at the Indians to drive them off. This furthermore shows the use of violence to control land. This This all shows how land can be overtaken, with or without force.