{"id":270,"date":"2014-01-24T20:35:11","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T20:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stampingamericanmemory.org\/?page_id=270"},"modified":"2016-06-30T16:43:27","modified_gmt":"2016-06-30T16:43:27","slug":"pilgrims-and-origins","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/revisions\/shaping-national-identity-with-commemoratives-in-1920s-1930s\/pilgrims-and-origins\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilgrims and Origins"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new era in commemorative stamps began in 1920 with the Pilgrim Tercentenary, as the variety of commemorative subjects expanded beyond promotions of world\u2019s fairs to include significant anniversaries, military victories, and heroic individuals. The Pilgrim Tercentennial celebrated the landing of religious separatists on Cape Cod and their eventual settlement in the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. From December 1920 through the summer of 1921, towns in many states organized pageants and parades to commemorate this anniversary. The stamp series created for this event was not the first to represent America\u2019s founding mythologies (see the Columbians, <\/a>1892-93, and the Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition,<\/a>1907); the series was significant because it sparked interest from many citizens to ask the USPOD to highlight their community’s history and connections to America’s origins on stamps. ((For examples of states planning activities see, Benjamin Roland Lewis, Pageantry and the Pilgrim Tercentenary Celebration (1620-1920) with Sample Pilgrim Pageants,suggestions for Programs, Bibliographies, Etc., for the State of Utah<\/em> (Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah, 1920), available, from Hathi Trust: http:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/loc.ark:\/13960\/t6vx0qb15<\/a>. For reporting of the events, see Chronicling America, http:\/\/chroniclingamerica.loc.gov\/search\/pages\/results\/?date1=1836&rows=20&searchType=basic&state=&date2=1922&proxtext=pilgrim+tercentenary&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1&sort=relevance <\/a>)) As a reflection of contemporary politics, elected officials and patriotic-hereditary groups invoked the legacy of Plymouth pilgrims both to assert the primacy of Plymouth as America\u2019s birth place, and to speak to local and national anxiety over immigration in the 1920s.<\/p>\n

Organized after World War I during a time when many US citizens were in favor of severe restrictions on immigration, the Pilgrim Tercentennial events highlighted perceived differences among good and bad immigrant groups. Poems and speeches glorified the legacy of the Massachusetts pilgrims as nation builders and model immigrants, in contrast with a widely-held belief that immigrants in the twentieth century tore apart an imagined American fabric. Plymouth was proclaimed to be the \u201ccorner stone of the Nation,\u201d by Mayflower descendant Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, who detailed how the pilgrims\u2019 success against adversity allowed for America to grow into a great nation. ((Charles A. Merrill, \u201cUrges Revival of Pilgrims\u2019 Faith,\u201d Boston Daily Globe<\/em>, December 22, 1920, 1.)) Vice President Thomas Marshall also touted the achievements of the \u201cpilgrim fathers\u201d who \u201cprepared the way\u201d for \u201cthe birth of a new and mighty world.\u201d He used the opportunity to argue for immigration restrictions advocating that contemporary immigrants needed to follow the example set by pilgrims and commit to staying in US rather than merely coming to work and returning home. According to Marshall, the pilgrims came to America \u201cto worship God and to make homes, determined never to return to Europe.\u201d ((\u201cUrges Bar on Aliens,\u201d Washington Post<\/em>, February 20, 1920, 10.))<\/p>\n

The stamp designs commemorating the celebration promoted the pilgrims\u2019 cultural legacy as America’s first founders. Interestingly, none of the three postage stamps printed in the series contained the identifying words, \u201cU.S. Postage,\u201d which all other stamps prior and since carried. This cemented the story of the pilgrims\u2019 landing at Plymouth as quintessentially American, as it needed no marking as US postage. Even the U.S. Mint\u2019s commemorative anniversary coin imprinted the words \u201cUnited States of America\u201d on the front of the half-dollar coin. ((Brody, \u201cPilgrim Tercentenary Issue.\u201d To view an image of the commemorative coin, see <http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Pilgrim_tercentenary_half_dollar_commemorative_obverse.jpg>))<\/p>\n\"Image<\/a><\/span>Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/small><\/span>\n

Philatelists noticed this omission, concerned\u2014and interested\u2014that it might be an error in the printing, but the USPOD did not recall the stamps because the design was intentional. Editors of American Philatelist<\/em> were disappointed with the series, claiming that the 2- and 5-cent issues were far too crowded with figures and decoration to be enjoyed. ((Editor, \u201cNew Issue Notes and Chronicle,\u201d The American Philatelist<\/em> 34 (January 1921): 150.))<\/p>\n

Mayflowers, fittingly, flanked each stamp\u2019s scene, and like the Columbians, the Pilgrim Tercentenary series formed a short narrative. The story began on the 1-cent stamp with the Mayflower sailing west across the ocean on its journey with no land in sight\u2014origin or destination.<\/p>\n\"Pilgrim<\/a><\/span>Pilgrim Tercentenary, 1-cent, 1920 (Photo, National Postal Museum Collection)<\/small><\/span>\n

Similar to the Columbians, the landing occurs in the 2-cent stamp–the most commonly-used stamp to mail a letter and remained the standard rate of first-class postage until 1932. ((Jane Kennedy, \u201cDevelopment of Postal Rates: 1845-1955,\u201d Land Economics<\/em> 33, no. 2 (May 1957): 96.; and Andrew K. Dart,\u201cThe History of Postage Rates in the United States since 1863,\u201d September 26, 2008 (http:\/\/www.akdart.com\/postrate.html<\/a>). First-class postage temporarily increased to 3-cents from 1917-1918 during American involvement in World War I.)) This stamp\u2019s engraving makes the landing look harsh, unexpected, and jolting for the party at Plymouth Rock. Men, women, and children huddled together illustrating that family units migrated to the New England coast. Although this image suggests that struggles lie ahead for the settlers, the rock is what grounded the travelers, and is the object that grounded those celebrating the anniversary in the past. Plymouth was the ceremonial ground in 1920 and provided the physical connection to the past events.<\/p>\n\"Pilgrim_2-cent\"<\/a><\/span>Pilgrim Tercentenary, 2-cent, 1920 (Photo, National Postal Museum Collection)<\/small><\/span>\n

The journey\u2019s symbolic end revealed itself in the 5-cent where the Mayflower Compact was signed indicating permanence, and showed the first document of self-governance in what would become the United States. Copies of the Compact were printed and distributed for the Tercentenary. Divine right blessed this settlement as the central figure pointed towards the light illuminating the signing. Drawn from a painting by Edwin White, the signing image illustrates families migrating together even though only men signed the document. ((One effort to circulate the Compact was by the descendants: George Ernest Bowman,The Mayflower Compact and Its Signers, with Facsimiles and a List of the Mayflower Passengers (<\/i>Boston: Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1920): https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/mayflowercompact00bow#page\/n19\/mode\/2up. The 5-cent, \u201cSigning of the Compact\u201d stamp, is a miniature engraving based on an Edwin White painting from 1858. William Bradford may have been the main figure in this painting, since he is pictured in the U.S. Mint\u2019s half-dollar commemorative coin also issued for this anniversary. White specialized in American historical painting, including Washington Resigning His Commission which was commissioned to hang in the Maryland State House. To see a copy of Washington Resigning his Commission, see http:\/\/www.msa.md.gov\/msa\/speccol\/sc1500\/sc1545\/e_catalog_2002\/white.html<\/a>.)) The scene emphasizes that there was a community, comprised of family units, who crafted the Mayflower Compact and pledged to work together.<\/p>\n\"Pilgrim_5-cent\"<\/a><\/span>: Pilgrim Tercentenary, 5-cent, 1920 (Photo, National Postal Museum Collection)<\/small><\/span>\n

At the time of the anniversary, New England preservationists and genealogists argued that the Plymouth pilgrims were the true first Americans because family units arrived together to form a permanent settlement through signing the Compact, unlike the commercially-mind individuals who sailed to Jamestown. By representing this scene, the Tercentennial committee reiterated their argument and wanted all Americans to consider Plymouth as the birthplace of the America.<\/p>\n

Virginians and New Englanders regularly argued over the true origins of the American story and which settlements contributed more to the development and character of the United States. Post-Civil War regional tensions can be read in written evidence found in newspapers and journals such the William and Mary Quarterly (WMQ)<\/em>. In 1909, shortly after the tercentenary celebration of Jamestown\u2019s founding, Virginia historians refuted declarations published by members of the New England Historic Genealogical Society that there were \u201cradical differences of character and influence\u201d between Mayflower descendants and Jamestown settlers, because Plymouth \u201csubordinated the commercial spirit (of Jamestown) to that of securing ecclesiastical and political freedom for themselves\u201d\u2014seen in the 5-cent. WMQ<\/em> responded that those charges were \u201cso gross, so unprovoked, so untrue,\u201d and the statement of such freedoms and strength of character in the north were exaggerated. ((\u201cJamestown and Plymouth,\u201d The William and Mary Quarterly<\/em> 17, no. 4 (April 1909): 305\u2013311. Interestingly, this piece ends with a nod of middle ground by specifically pointing to the \u201cpresent enlightened North\u201d who condemned the \u201cruinous\u201d policies of Reconstruction, signaling that there was hope in settling these sectional disputes around the fictional \u201cnatural law\u201d of white supremacy\u2014made visible in many cultural articles in post-Reconstruction US.))<\/p>\n

Rivalries die hard, and Virginians did not let the Pilgrim Tercentenary pass without reminding Americans of their claim to the origins and contributions to American politics and governance. One address given at the College of William and Mary noted that Virginia\u2019s contributions to the forming of the United States were far greater than any other state, but that Massachusetts came in second place. During the national celebration of the New England pilgrims, this effort reminded Americans that the \u201cfirst\u201d settlement was at Jamestown. ((Alton B. Parker, \u201cThe Foundations in Virginia,\u201d The William and Mary Quarterly,<\/em> 1, no. 1 (January 1, 1921): 1\u201315. )) No one at this time, recognized other colonial settlements in the western U.S. or acknowledged that the original residents of \u201cAmerica\u201d were native peoples who were displaced, attacked, manipulated, and feared by European colonizers.<\/p>\n

Virginians and New Englanders weren\u2019t the only ones wrestling over founding stories publicly, through representation on stamps, as descendants from other European “pilgrims” argued successfully for their stories to be told on commemoratives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new era in commemorative stamps began in 1920 with the Pilgrim Tercentenary, as the variety of commemorative subjects expanded beyond promotions of world\u2019s fairs to include significant anniversaries, military victories, and heroic individuals. The Pilgrim Tercentennial celebrated the landing of religious separatists on Cape Cod and their eventual settlement in the town of Plymouth, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":191,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-270","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9B6tX-4m","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/revisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/revisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/revisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/revisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/revisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/revisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":805,"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/revisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/270\/revisions\/805"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/revisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stampingamericanmemory.org\/revisions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}