Read the passage and answer the question.
What could now sustain them but the Spirit of God and His grace? May not and ought not the
children of these fathers rightly say: "Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great
ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard
their voice and looked on their adversity, etc.
What might be the central idea of the passage above?
1. the differences the Pilgrims had with the Church of England
2. the hardships faced by the Pilgrims
3. the importance of faith
4. the beauty of the new world

This excerpt was spoken by William Bradford who was a puritan. Two types of Christian English settlers came to America, they were Puritans and Pilgrims. Puritans were radical and they had political background.

They were conventional Christians who believed that ecclesiastical reformations are required in North America and their main aim was to settle in new world and spread Christianity. Pilgrims were simple and poor Christians and they were merely traders. These two different sections of people came in a ship called mayflower and anchored in Plymouth.

Due to storms, the food supply depleted and puritans claimed that they had all liberty to own the ship as it belonged to Britain, Pilgrims rejected this claim. They did not want lose their lives in a battle against each other and both were driven by the desire to explore the new world; hence they signed a peace contract which stood as the base for the US constitution.