Analysis: To His Loving Friends, the Adventurers for New-England

Date: December 12, 1621

Author: Cushman, Robert

Genre: letter; address; sermon

Summary Overview

In November of 1621, one year after the arrival of the Mayflower, Robert Cushman arrived in Plymouth aboard the Fortune. A member of the same Puritan congregation to which the first settlers belonged, Cushman had personally negotiated with financial supporters in London toward the establishment of the new colony. Devoted to his faith, he saw America as the solution to the persecution Puritans suffered at home, and he believed God had sent the colonists on a mission to propagate their reformed version of Christianity. As the colony’s agent in London, Cushman stayed in Plymouth only a few weeks before returning to report on its progress and secure ongoing financial support. Because tensions between the colonists and their distant investors then ran high, Cushman was caught in a difficult position. Just before he set sail for England, he addressed the colonists in an effort to unite the two sides around their common goals. Published anonymously in London the following year, Cushman’s “sermon” included an epistle dedicatory—a dedication to the investors.

Document Analysis

The printed version of Robert Cushman’s 1621 address to the settlers at Plymouth included this introductory letter dedicating the publication to the London-based financiers of the colony, the Merchant Adventurers. Placing the address in context for the reader, the epistle demonstrates the ongoing challenges Cushman faced as an agent of and negotiator for the Plymouth Pilgrims. The letter reveals Cushman’s struggle to balance the competing religious and secular interests that threatened relations between the settlers in Plymouth and the investors in London.

As Puritan Separatists began to plan their transatlantic migration from Leiden, they framed their journey in religious term as “God’s Providence.” As they saw it, their “removal” from Holland and war-stricken Europe would fulfill a divine plan to establish a foothold for Puritanism within English dominion. Yet, this religious endeavor required financial resources that were beyond the congregants’ means, and they had to look for financial backers in the secular world. Leading negotiations with potential investors, Cushman had initial success in balancing spiritual and secular agendas. His efforts proved crucial to the sailing of the Mayflower and the establishment of Plymouth. In the years that followed 1620, however, Cushman’s balancing act became more difficult to sustain. Forced by circumstances to expand his role as the London agent for the fragile colony, he struggled to unify the religious and secular agendas that drove the colonizing project.

Contract between the Pilgrims and Merchant Adventurers

Cushman was not a minister, and his December 1621 “sermon” at Plymouth was actually an address aimed at easing tensions between the colonists and their investors. At the center of these tensions was the unsigned contract between the two groups. After a few false starts, the basic agreement with the Merchant Adventurers proved acceptable to the Separatists, and more than one-third of the congregation prepared for pilgrimage. Others, including their minister John Robinson, pledged to follow once the colony was established. As the first cohort disposed of their property and prepared for departure, they faced many anxieties about life in an unknown land. Simultaneously, other uncertainties struck the investors. While Puritanism was well represented among the Merchant Adventurers and they therefore had personal interest in supporting a religious mission, most investors aimed to make a profit. As the departure of the Pilgrims neared, the Adventurers made contract revisions that shifted risk toward the colonists and decreased their own financial gamble.

Faced with last minute changes to the contract, Cushman felt compelled to accept the new terms. The contract was not ideal, but to reject it would have meant finding new investors, and delaying departure for new negotiations could take years. Supplies had been purchased and were ready at docks, and would-be Pilgrims, who were now homeless and jobless, were ready for departure. Under such circumstances, Cushman offered preliminary acceptance of the new arrangement. At departure, however, his fellow Pilgrims refused to sign the contract. Committed to facilitating divine providence and setting humble congregants to sail, Cushman was forced to defend the secular world of financial investment, which he had only entered on behalf of his congregation. As a result of his decision, the deacon became resented by people on both sides of the Atlantic.

That the terms of the new contract favored the investors added to the building anxiety of the Pilgrims. As a result, dampening enthusiasm decreased the participation rate of the Leiden group. Interested in sending the largest contingent possible, the Merchant Adventurers arranged for dozens of non-Puritans to fill available berths on the ships. Separatists deemed these new voyagers as “Strangers.” The number of Leiden Separatists making the journey was further lowered by a leaky ship. When the Speedwell, which was to accompany the Mayflower, was forced to return to port, many of its anxious passengers opted to return to Leiden.

Importantly, in addition to being Pilgrims and “Strangers,” those who soon formed Plymouth Colony were also stockholders and employees of the Merchant Adventurers. Required to work for the company for seven years, they agreed to send furs, fish, lumber, and agricultural goods back to England to cover the debt incurred for passage. In Plymouth, all property was to be held in common until the end of the contract, when it would be divided among stockholders on both sides of the Atlantic. The last-minute revision to the contract, however, changed the equation for liquidating property in the colony at the conclusion of the seven years. It reserved up to half of that property—improved land and buildings—for the Merchant Adventures in England. Also eliminated was the original concession that settlers could have two days to work for themselves toward building homes and improving individual fields. Under the disputed terms, all time, excepting the day of worship, was company time. These new conditions meant that houses and fields the colonists built would not be their own at the end of the contract. Offered little incentive for personal gain, they refused to sign the agreement. Cushman, who had been on board the leaky Speedwell, was left to sort out the contractual issues in England as the Mayflower continued on its voyage.

One year later, Cushman arrived in Plymouth aboard the Fortune to resolve the unsigned contract. While he intended to join those at Plymouth permanently, until contract issues were settled he had little choice but to return to London. His stay in Plymouth was a brief few weeks. Convinced that the success of the colony depended upon the contract, his goal was to secure the colonists’ agreement to its latest terms. At Plymouth, however, Cushman found a vulnerable colony. Half of the Mayflower voyagers had died in the first year. Though the colony had begun to stabilize and the recent harvest had been good, Plymouth remained a fragile experiment. Relations with the local native populations had been positive since arrival, but uncertainty remained. Winter was about to begin, and that season brought greater uncertainty. Having watched family and friends die during the past year, basic survival remained a priority for many in the group. Settlers feared that the colony was on the brink of collapse. Not surprisingly, resentment of the Merchant Adventurers remained strong. Many viewed the rigid contract of the investors as a serious threat to individual survival.

Cushman’s Sermon

Cushman addressed the colonists in their common house on December 9, 1621, just weeks after arriving and days before his departure on the returning Fortune. Given his task of securing signatures to the contract and recognizing harsh conditions in the colony, the address emphasizes common goals and sacrifice over individual pursuits. Attempting to refocus the settlers around a common mission, Cushman’s sermon decries self-love (or self-interest) as the “bane of all societies.” Arguing that they needed to look past the short-term and take a longer view, he reminds colonists that they were laying a foundation not for themselves but for those who would follow. He frames the mission as religious and draws upon gospel passages that extol the virtues of working for the common good. Given the role he was forced to assume, Cushman understood that various agendas—religious, financial, and personal—clashed at Plymouth. Among both colonists and investors, many embraced the task of facilitating God’s providence; they desired the growth of Puritanism under English dominion and hoped to Christianize the “heathen” American Indians. Yet, such work would only be possible if the Merchant Adventurers and the Plymouth-based stockholders made profit on their investment. Failure of the company would mean dissolution of the colony. Thus, religious goals were dependent on secular realities.

Complicating the balancing act between spiritual and financial goals were the individual goals of the settlers. In difficult times, basic survival was at the forefront, but in the long run securing land and livelihood was paramount. Dissention within the colony and resentment toward the Merchant Adventurers had grown under the stresses of settlement. Over time, these stresses were exacerbated by divisions between Pilgrims and other Plymouth colonists. Thus, Cushman needed to appeal for unity around a common agenda. The colonists, he argues in the address, had made a contract with God, with the English king, and with the Merchant Adventurers. Christians were obligated to abide by each of the contracts and work together for the common good. In order for the all of the various agendas to be fulfilled, the colony had to be placed on firm financial, spiritual, and political ground. Colonists had only to look south to the contemporary failures at Jamestown to recognize the dangers of disunity. Cushman’s appeal before the gathering of colonists had the desired effect, and colonists affixed their signatures to the revised contract before he returned it to the investors in London.

Cushman’s address at Plymouth first appeared in print in London in 1622. Marketed as a sermon because of its religious content, it was titled “A Sermon preached at Plimmoth in New-England.” Consistent with the rejection of self-love that was at the center of his argument, Cushman published the address and epistolary anonymously: “I have not set down my name, partly because I seek no name, and principally, because I would have nothing esteemed by names.” Combined with the epistolary, the sermon was later given the title The Sin and Danger of Self-Love. Anonymous publications fuel historical debates about authorship, yet there is little doubt that the published address was the one originally delivered by Cushman. Firsthand observations penned by English settlers at Plymouth resolve any questions regarding the author’s identity. No paper trail exists for the epistle dedicatory, but most scholars agree that it was written by Cushman.

The content of the speech served a different purpose on either side of the Atlantic. At Plymouth, the oral address was an attempt to quell dissention and convince colonists of their obligation to their investors. The printed version circulated in England served a broader aim. Removed from the palpable tensions at Plymouth, the sermon was not interpreted as a plea for unity in a fractious community; instead, it was read as the philosophy that unified that distant settlement. With the skillful use of the epistle dedicatory as an introduction, Cushman redirected the address at the Merchant Adventurers whose continuing support was essential, at factions within English society who questioned the Englishness of the Pilgrim Separatists, and at Puritans in the general public who might consider joining the colony.

After a year’s time, the colonists had yet to produce anything close to the volume of trade goods expected by the Merchant Adventurers, and many were growing impatient. Thus, the epistle dedicatory explicitly—and the sermon implicitly—asks the Adventurers to stay the course. The work at Plymouth had only just begun. Though the first year of the venture had been difficult, Cushman projects optimism about current and future conditions. Balancing secular and religious interests, he reminds the investors that they had contracted with Puritans and, as such, had made a commitment to establishing religion “before profit or popularity.” Echoing the sermon it introduces, the epistle directs the Adventurers to focus on the long run and reject short-term self-interest. Cushman argues that they should continue to “honor God with [their] riches” and to recognize that “no labor is lost, nor money spent which is bestowed for God.” Articulating a view that was popular among Separatists, Cushman argues for expediency in supporting the venture because God’s judgment day was “not far off.”

While Cushman’s appeal targets those Puritans who were prominent among the Adventurers, he also addresses the non-Puritan investors. The colony would continue to need their financial support, and it also needed new settlers. In appealing to all investors to send “godly men” to join the colony, Cushman makes subtle reminders of the benefits of contracting with religious dissenters; because Puritans were often persecuted at home, they demonstrated greater enthusiasm than others for settlement abroad. At a time when few Englishmen were willing to sail into the unknown, sending Puritans made the most sense. They were community-oriented and prepared to make sacrifices. For those investors and for Puritans who might be convinced to emigrate, Cushman lays bare the reality of life at Plymouth. Work would be difficult with no allowance for comforts. Men seeking “great riches, ease, pleasures, dainties, and jollity” should remain at home.

At the time of the sermon’s publication, criticisms of the Separatists were circulating in the London press and among influential social and political sectors. Having abandoned England for Holland and then America, the Pilgrims’ English identity was openly questioned. Their loyalty to the Crown was suspect, and they were mocked as uneducated simpletons. How could such people retain Englishness surrounded by wilderness and savagery? Conscious of the value of public relations in an increasingly literate world, the epistle directly counters such charges. Cushman celebrates the Plymouth Pilgrims as plain Englishmen who honored their contract with God, King, and fellow countrymen. Though Separatists, they had enthusiastically returned to English dominion, and while the colony was removed from England proper, it was like home in many ways; its geography was English geography. Compared to low-lying Holland, New England was familiar and its climate differed only in extremes. Clearly, after just one year, the finer geographic contrast had yet to be understood and ignorance prevailed. New England, for example, was not, as Cushman suggests, an island. Still, the broad geographic comparison defined Pilgrims as Englishmen on English soil.

During the early colonial experience, concerns for retaining English identity were common among both the critics of the Separatist Puritans and those who were considering joining them in New England. At the core of such anxieties were fears of American Indians and the influences of “savage” cultures. Criticizing Spain’s brutal treatment of American Indians in its own American colonies, many questioned whether Englishmen would revert to similar savagery when living among the “heathen.” Recognizing that such fears were obstacles to investment and migration, Cushman presents a rosy portrait of Pilgrim–American Indian relations at Plymouth and dispels concerns over mistreatment. Pilgrims were facilitating God’s providence, and to the extent that the American Indians were involved or affected, Cushman considers this part of God’s design. Upon arrival, Pilgrims found American Indian communities in decline: “very much wasted by late, by reason of a great mortality that fell amongst them three years since . . .” Not understanding that European diseases had already traveled northward from earlier settlements in Virginia, Cushman interprets abandoned villages as God’s hand in clearing the region for the Pilgrims’ entrance. While those who survived remained heathens to the settlers, the experiences of the first year suggested to Cushman that the natives might soon “prove serviceable to God and man.” In his optimistic view, American Indians would readily cede territory and authority to the English king. Acknowledging how Wampanoags extended assistance to the Pilgrims during their difficult first year, Cushman finds no reason for fear. Compared to American Indians, he explains, “many christians are not so kind, nor sincere.”

Cushman’s epistle and sermon demonstrate his struggle to balance competing interests that converged in the settlement of Plymouth. Negotiating and sustaining the trans-Atlantic venture required the humble wool comber and deacon to strike an uncomfortable balance between religious and secular worlds.

Bibliography

Bangs, Jeremy Dupertuis. Strangers and Pilgrims, Travelers and Sojourners: Leiden and the Foundations of Plymouth Plantation. Plymouth, MA: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2009. Print.

Bradford, William. Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation: 1606–1646. Ed. William T. Davis. New York: Scribner’s, 2005. Print.

Cushman, Robert. The Sin and Danger of Self-Love Described, in a Sermon Preached at Plymouth, in New England, 1621. Boston: 1846. Print.

Lovejoy, David S. “Plain Englishmen at Plymouth.” New England Quarterly 63.2 (1990): 232–248. Print.

Lovejoy, David S. Religious Enthusiasm in the New World: Heresy to Revolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1985. Print.

Young, Alexander, ed. Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth from 1602–1625. New York: Da Capo, 1971. Print.