(wind blowing)

- 2020 is the 400th anniversary

of the founding of Plymouth.

I think that's a huge milestone,

it's some of the greatmilestone in human history.

- [Paul S.] Christian historian

Jerry Newcombe'sdocumentary, "The Pilgrims,"

looks at how those 51 pilgrims

not only survived theirfirst Massachusets winter,

but went on to influencetheir future nation.

- This small, small groupcast a very large shadow.

- [Paul S. S.] From the documentary.

- Did you know that today,10% of the population

of the United States, areMayflower descendants?

30 million people from 51.

- The pilgrims founded America,

for all intents and purposes.

- [Paul S. S.] In thosedays, England demanded

all citizens belong tothe church of England,

and conform to its beliefs,or face harsh punishment.

- You will worship asthey say you worship.

And so to do this illegallymeant you could be arrested.

- [Paul S. S.] Or even put to death.

So the pilgrims fled.

- They just wanted to worship Jesus,

in the purity of the gospel.

And the king wouldn't let them do that.

He was ruling it over their conscience,

and that's why they fled.

- [Paul S. S.] They'd come to believe

in radical ideas they found in the Bible,

like they had rights given by God,

and that he wanted them to be free,

to govern themselves from within.

- [Paul J.] The Mayflowerwas a cargo ship,

but the most precious cargo

that was carried across the Atlantic,

were the ideas in thehearts of the pilgrims,

that were drawn from the Bible.

- [Paul S.] And after unexpected winds

blew them off course, awayfrom any governing authority,

they made a covenant between God and man,

for a new form of government.

- The pilgrims gave usthe Mayflower Compact,

which was an agreement forself-government, under God,

which was really the first step

in the creation, ultimately,

of the Declaration of Independence,

and of the U.S. Constitution.

- It was a polarity changein world government.

Instead of top down, ruled by these kings,

that keep getting more andmore powerful, it's bottom up.

It's the people themselves deciding

what laws are gonna pass, andagreeing to submit to 'em.

- [Paul S.] It made freedomthe cornerstone of America,

as shown by the words on the Liberty Bell.

- It says, "Proclaimliberty throughout the land,

and to all the inhabitants thereof."

- [Paul S.] Some studentsare wrongly taught

the pilgrims stole from the Indians,

and treated them horribly.

The record shows the opposite was true.

- The pilgrims were kind to the Indians.

They showed them love. Theyshowed them compassion.

They showed them the godly way to live.

- [Paul S.] They didtake some buried corn,

in cold New England, but only because

they were literally starving.

- And they even said, whenthey later came into contact

with the Native Americans, they said,

"Find out whose corn thatis so we made repay them."

- [Paul S.] They didn'tsteal land in Plymouth.

It had been abandoned by the Indians.

- There was a plague that occurred

three years before thevoyage of the Mayflower.

And it wiped out about 95% of the Indians

in that particular region.

- They wouldn't come back onit, because of the plague.

The pilgrims took land nobody wanted.

- [Paul S.] And they showed the Indians

they treat them as equals.

- There was even a situation

where a pilgrim killed an Indian.

The pilgrim was put on trial.

- [Paul S.] The Indians expected.

- A mock trial, go through the motions,

get it over with, let him go.

After all, all theydid was kill an Indian.

- And that's not what happened.

They found the pilgrim guilty,and he was hanged for murder.

- Everybody was equal under the law.

Now the Indians could trust the pilgrims.

- [Paul S.] The pilgrimsshowed future Americans

a God blessed cause wassomething worth suffering for,

even dying for.

The Mayflowers CaptainJones offered to rescue them

from the first deadly winter they faced.

- Half their number died.

This is not what theysigned up for at all.

And Jones says,

"Anybody who wants to comeback to England with me,

I will take them."

Not one of them went.

- [Paul S.] The pilgrim'smade living by the Bible,

and loving it, a very American habit.

- And their textbook was the Bible.

- The Bible was the key book,for the first 200 years.

- [Paul S.] The foundingfathers brought America

an enlightened revolution.

- And above all, they quoted the Bible

four times more than theyquoted any human author.

- [Paul S.] It gave them the go-ahead

to throw off Britain's ungodly tyranny.

- They recognized thatthere is a higher law,

the law of God, and that God presides

over the affairs of nations.

- You are to obey the lawful authorities.

But if the lawful authorities

take too much authority unto themselves,

and they violate God's laws,

then obedience to God meansresistance to tyrants.

- So the pilgrims who had fledEngland for their freedom,

laid the foundations that shaped America,

and eventually its freedom.

Paul S. Strand, "CBN News," Washington.