Why America Is Like It Is Today Series

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue. That is the line of a poem many of us know, that has helped some of us remember a few of our history lessons. It is true that Christopher Columbus was a flawed person, and he made many mistakes, but he had a mission and a purpose. According to his journals, Columbus believed it was his mission and purpose to carry the gospel around the world. That is one of the reasons Ferdinand and Isabelle agreed to finance his expedition in the first place.

Their country had been at war with the Moors for years, and at the end of 1491, when the Moors finally surrendered, and their last foothold in Europe was gone, the war-weary Christian soldiers wept and cried and gave glory to God. The king and queen looked for a way to express their gratitude to God. They considered building a cathedral, or making a pilgrimage, or erecting shelters for the poor; now Columbus was back with his proposal to discover new lands for the glory of God and His church, to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth, to perhaps discover new trade routes where they could make the money to finance a new crusade. Ferdinand and Isabelle agreed to finance Columbus’s trip.

Over the next 6 months, Columbus spent his time gathering a crew, his ships, and supplies. They set out. As Columbus and his crews traveled, each day found them further and further away from home in places man had never ventured before. The crews in the 2 other ships began fretting and wanting to turn back. They were at the brink of Mutiny. Columbus finally agreed to turn back, on the condition that they sail with him 3 more days.

At 2 am, on the morning of the 3rd day, the lookout shouted “Land!, Land!” They had crossed the Atlantic and found a land unknown in Europe.

On every island where they stopped, Columbus had his men erect a large wooden cross, “as a token of Jesus Christ our Lord, and in honor of the Christian faith.”

In later years, Columbus made mistakes, like many in our Bibles did in their last years, but the lands had been found by a man who, at least at first, had good intentions.

Next came soldiers and explorers who came to pillage and rob, but there were also monks and priests, many of whom were sincere, God-fearing folk, who sought to introduce the inhabitants of the new land to the Lord. Spanish priests and missionaries came in from the south. The French priests and missionaries came in from the north.

Fast forward a bit, and you find a group of folks heading to the new world seeking religious freedom. These new folks came seeking to live in a place where they could worship and serve the Lord, the way they believed He had called them to.

When they arrived in the New World, they did not land where they had planned, but ended up in a different area. They were amazed to find, an area that appeared to have been cleared for a town or community, with several streams of clean water nearby, so they settled there.

You know the accounts, of how difficult those early times were. Imagine, then, their surprise, when one Sunday morning an indian walks into the colony. He asks for a drink, which they give him. He spends the night, and leaves the next morning.

A month later Squanto showed up. He told them how he had been a member of a fierce tribe who had once lived where the Pilgrims were now living. They are the ones who had cleared the land the Pilgrims were now using. A number of years before, Squanto had been captured by a fishing ship off the New England Coast. He was sold as a slave back in England, where he learned English. Eventually a priest bought him and gave him his freedom.

Squanto returned to the new world and to his former home, only to find that while he had been away, disease had hit and wiped out his entire tribe, including his family. Being now alone in the world, he adopted the Pilgrims. He taught them. He taught them how to plant corn, and how and when to fish in the local rivers. Taught them how to tap maple trees to make maple syrup.

Fast forward again . . .

Many folks come to this new world, seeking opportunity and religious freedom.

Now, the Puritans were a very Bible-based group.  They believed that every man was responsible to understand the Bible. There was a religious controversy in the colonies so the Puritans in Massachusetts decided they would start a college that would train ministers to stay on the straight and narrow so they started Harvard College, the first institution of higher learning in what would become British North America. (Jones et al., Created Equal, 50). As a matter of fact, all of the first universities in the colonies, except 1, were started to train doctors, preachers and missionaries, and that one, was started by a preacher.