William Bradford
Mayflower passenger, governor
William Bradford was an English Separatist who became the longtime governor of Plymouth Colony, serving for over thirty years.
He helped lead the Pilgrims' voyage on the Mayflower in 1620 and signed the Mayflower Compact.
His chronicle *Of Plymouth Plantation* remains a primary source for early American colonial history.
- Mayflower1620 colonial transport vessel
- Atlantic crossingSea voyage between continents
- PuritanismProtestant reform movement
- PilgrimsPlymouth's founding English colonists
- governorState's chief executive
primary source · Leiden · Wampanoag · American identity · descriptive prose · Calvinism · Plymouth Colony · historiography · Native Americans · first winter · Protestant Reformation · Thanksgiving · New World · compact · religious freedom · self-governance · historical narrative · Massachusetts
- Plymouth ColonistsJohn Goodman
- Colonial Americanacolonial laws, almanacs, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Mayflower Compact
- colonial faithPilgrims, Puritans, Calvinism, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony
- Colonial SettlersPilgrims, Puritans, Dutch settlers, indentured servants, freemen
- Colonial WritersBenjamin Franklin, John Smith
- Marine Painters