The Real Story of Thanksgiving

       Jamestown, Virginia 1611: Colonists arrived in 1607 and found fertile soil and an abundance of seafood, game, fruit and nuts. Yet within 6 months all but 38 died – most from starvation. In 1609 another 500 settlers arrived and 6 months later 440 died, again mostly of starvation. People ate dogs, cats, mice and even resorted to cannibalism. The survivors gave up and headed back to England. As they sailed out of Chesapeake Bay they encountered three ships with new settlers and decided to give it one more try.

     On the ships was Sir Thomas Dale, the new Governor. Before Dale, everything went into a common store owned by everyone and hence no one. There was no direct connection between work and reward. Like socialism everywhere, people starved in the midst of plenty. Dale’s first action was to give each man 3 acres while requiring them to work one month for the common wheal – equivalent to a flat tax of 8.33%.

     Overnight, the colony began to prosper; people became industrious and inventive. Indians, who had regarded the settlers as inept, suddenly gained respect for them. John Rolfe, husband of Pocahontas who was an ancestor of Elizabeth Warren, wrote that the colonists engaged in “gathering and reaping the fruits of their labors with much joy and comfort” If Jamestown colonists had gathered to give thanks for their first harvest of abundance, it would have been in 1611 and as a direct result of private property.

     Plymouth, Massachusetts 1621: When the Pilgrims landed in 1620 they were governed by the Mayflower Compact which established communal property ownership. All benefits from farming, trade and fishing went into a common stock and were withdrawn as needed. Women washed clothes and dressed meat for everyone and not their own families. This was pure communism: from each according to his ability; to each according to his need. When everyone is entitled to everything, no one is responsible for anything. Soon they were eating rats and 50% had died.

     Just as Dale had done in Jamestown, Governor Bradford took action. He instituted individual property rights, granting parcels of land to each family. In Bradford’s words:
“This led to very good success, for it made all hands industrious. Much corn was planted; the women now went willingly into the fields and took their little ones with them to set corn which before would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.” At harvest in 1621 there now was an abundance resulting in the first Thanksgiving.

     United States of America 2016: The story of Jamestown and Plymouth is identical to the experience of all socialist, communist and utopian experiments throughout recorded history; i.e. starvation amidst plenty. They all fail because they are opposed to human nature and they break the link between work and benefit. In contrast, private property and self interest always have worked through the millennia.

     The Thanksgiving narrative today is merely a verisimilitude, a warm, fuzzy, politically correct, feel-good, multi cultural tale. Not one in 100 children in America today knows the real story of Thanksgiving. Readers owe it to their children and grandchildren to acquaint them with the real lessons of Jamestown and Plymouth, i.e. if you want turkey and enough to share with others, only private property can produce it. Socialism brought only unspeakable horrors and privation, starvation amid plenty.