Associated Locations:
- Austerfield, United Kingdom – Place of William Bradford’s birth
- Plymouth, Massachusetts
Associated Dates:
- March 19, 1590 – William Bradford born
- November 11, 1620 – Mayflower compact signed
- April 1621 – William Braford elected Governor
Providential Role in History
Magnalia Christi Americana
He was indeed a person of a well-tempered spirit, or else it had been scarce possible for him to have kept the affairs of Plymouth in so good a temper for thirty-seven years together…. The leader of a people in a wilderness had need be a Moses; and if a Moses had not led the people of Plymouth Colony, when this worthy person was their governour, the people had never with so much unanimity and importunity still called him to lead them.He was a person for study as well as action; and hence, notwithstanding the difficulties through which he had passed in his youth, he attained unto a notable skill in languages…. He was also well skilled in History, in Antiquity, and in Philosophy; and for Theology he became so versed in it, that he was an irrefragable disputant against the errors, especially those of Anabaptism, which with trouble he saw rising in his colony…. But the crown of all was his holy, prayerful, watchful, and fruitful walk with God, wherein he was very exemplary. 1
Resources
See his book, Of Plymouth Plantation, for further details
See also, Plymouth in the Words of her Founders
Learn about the early foundations of america in the DVD, For Our Day: Covenant on the Land
