Background

Main article: Pilgrim Fathers

The Pilgrims were Brownist English Dissenters; they sought a version of the Christian religion without
things they deemed nonessential, such as bishops or Christmas. They differed from the Puritans; the
Pilgrims were stricter, and instead of seeking to reform the Church of England from within, sought to
separate themselves from it.[1] They had left England for the Netherlands because in 1608, King James I
began to persecute Separatists. Among those who fled then was William Bradford.[2]

Things became more difficult for the Separatists in the Netherlands in the late 1610s as the Dutch
government moved towards alliance with England.[2] They had few opportunities in the Netherlands as
they were limited to manual labor by the guilds' refusal to accept them, and they feared that their
children were straying from their language and religion. Investors led by Thomas Weston agreed to
finance an expedition to North America, and the ship Speedwell was sent to fetch Separatists from the
Netherlands, then join the larger Mayflower to form a two-ship expedition. After transporting the
Separatists, the Speedwell proved unseaworthy for the ocean voyage. The Mayflower's passenger list
was formed from some Separatists who had gone to the Netherlands and some who had stayed in
England, as well as a scattering of others. Some would-be pioneers had to be left behind because of the
problems with the Speedwell. The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, in South West England, on
September 6, 1620, with 102 passengers and a crew of 47.[1]

So they left that goodly and plesante citie, which had been their resting place near 12 years; but they
knew they were pilgrimes and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens,
their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits.

William Bradford on the Pilgrims' departure from Leiden[1]

The expedition sighted Cape Cod on November 9, 1620, and landed at what is now Provincetown,
Massachusetts. Two days later, the men signed the Mayflower Compact, wherein all agreed to submit
themselves to the will of the majority—one of the foundation documents of American democracy. They
established a settlement at Plymouth Colony (today Plymouth, Massachusetts), but they had expected
to land further south and were ill-equipped for a Massachusetts winter. Half died before spring came.
There had been few Native Americans in the area, but in 1621, the settlers were approached by a group,
including two, Samoset and Squanto, who spoke some English. Squanto taught the Pilgrims indigenous
methods for cultivating corn (maize), a plant native to the New World with which the emigrants were
unfamiliar. This knowledge helped the Pilgrims gradually become established. The Pilgrims grew in
population relatively slowly over the first generations in America, and became a minority among settlers
in the area. In 1691, Plymouth Colony became part of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Bradford's
wife had died while the ship was in Provincetown Harbor; after Governor John Carver perished during
the first winter, Bradford was elected in his place, and served 15 two-year terms. He guided the colony
from the communal economy necessary at first, to privatization, greatly increasing the harvest in the
process. His diaries were published as Of Plymouth Plantation and constitute the major source of
information concerning the Pilgrims' daily lives.[3][4]

In 1920, the government did not sell commemorative coins. Congress, during the early years of
commemorative coinage, usually designated a specific organization allowed to buy them at face value
and to vend them to the public at a premium.[5][6] In the case of the Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar,
the enabling legislation did not name an organization,[7] but it was the Pilgrim Tercentenary
Commission; profits from the coin were to go towards financing the observances in honor of the 300th
anniversary of the Pilgrims' arrival.[8]