Rick Simone: The Pilgrims, Our First Entrepreneurs

Rick Simone: The Pilgrims, Our First Entrepreneurs

There are numerous legends about the first Thanksgiving. The stories many of us learned in school talk about how the Pilgrims came to America for greater religious freedom. However, our Pilgrim ancestors also brought to this continent the entrepreneurial spirit that is such an important part of the United States’ economic and cultural consciousness today.

The Plymouth Colony was the start of America and the birth of its pioneering, entrepreneurial spirit. The settlers who arrived on the Mayflower sought freedom and opportunity by building a new home in the wilderness. They had to have a sense of adventure, a tolerance for risk, and the drive to create something new—entrepreneurial skills that are valued in the marketplace today.

The value of perseverance

The hardy group of English Separatists, later known as the Pilgrims, settled the Plymouth Colony in what is now the Cape Cod, Massachusetts, area in 1620. But they weren’t the first Europeans to arrive on North America’s shores. The Spanish and French were already here. The English, who had arrived in 1607 to populate the Virginia Company’s Jamestown settlement, suffered numerous setbacks.

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The first winter in the Plymouth Colony was hard, and more than half of the Pilgrims perished from illness or malnutrition. They continued to face meager harvests and hunger, rescued only by long-awaited supply ships from England.

We don’t have many facts about the first Thanksgiving but we do know that it celebrated a good harvest, and that the meal eaten by the Pilgrims and Native Americans was very different than today’s Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, and sweet potatoes. Back in 1621, they feasted on seafood, venison, and corn.

Pay it forward

The Pilgrims demonstrated that the more you learn about production and the marketplace, the more you can achieve with an entrepreneurial spirit. Entrepreneurship is still an important tenet. There is a great need for resourceful entrepreneurs at this moment in U.S. history, and they require business skills to create and run successful enterprises.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, please consider supporting local entrepreneurship education programs, such as those offered by nonprofit organizations like Junior Achievement, to inspire America’s future entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship still is the foundational rock of capitalism, just as solid as Plymouth Rock.

 

Richard V. Simone III is vice president of Events and Special Projects at Seven Swords Media and chairman of the board for Junior Achievement of Rhode Island, which reaches more than 10,300 students annually in grades K-12. For more information, visit www.jarhodeisland.org.