Hello and welcome to a history of the United States.

Episode 18 Theology cast, The Reformation and the Puritans.

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link. It's as easy as that. Who would true valise see, let him come hither? One here will

constant be, come wind, come weather. There's no discouragement shall make him once relent, his first

avowed intent to be a pilgrim. Who'd so best him round with dismal stories, but do themselves

confound his strength the mores? No lion confide him, he'll with a gallant fight, but he will have a right

to be a pilgrim. Hobgoblin, nor foul fiend can daunt his spirit. He knows he at the end

shall life inherit. Then fancies fly away. He'll fear not what men say. He'll labour night and day to be a pilgrim.

The Pilgrim by John Bunyan, 17th century poet.

Some of this poem is used to start chapter four of the penguin history of the USA by Hugh Brogan, The Planting of New England,

1604 to Circa 1675. This book was the catalyst for this podcast, and so far I've been

broadly following its overview, so I decided to start chapter two of our podcast in the same manner.

Today, we begin covering the second strand of American life. The first was the Virginia

colony centred on tobacco with its origins in Anglo-Spanish rivalry, but the second came from somewhere both very different and very

familiar. This is the story of the pilgrims, their voyage on the Mayflower to found Plymouth

and what would become New England. This colony would have a very different culture and history to that of

Virginia, and so, in a lot of ways, we need to go back and restart the podcast. Remember the first

episode, which didn't really have a straightforward narrative, we're going to need to do that again.

But don't worry, we'll get through it. We just need to lace some groundwork first.

If I started the first introduction with Columbus sailing across the Atlantic in 1492, this thread

...