Editing Pilgrims (Plymouth Colony) (section)

==Etymology==

===Bradford's history===
The first use of the word ''pilgrims'' for the ''Mayflower'' passengers appeared in [[William Bradford (Plymouth Colony governor)|William Bradford]]'s 1651 ''[[Of Plymouth Plantation]]''. In recounting his group's July 1620 departure from Leiden, he used the imagery of [[Hebrews 11]] ([https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews+11%3A13-16&version=GNV Hebrews 11:13–16]) about  [[Old Testament]] "strangers and pilgrims" who had the opportunity to return to their old country but instead longed for a better, heavenly country.
<blockquote>
So they lefte goodly & pleasante citie, which had been ther resting place, nere 12 years; but they knew they were pilgrimes, & looked not much on these things; but lift up their eyes to y<sup>e</sup> heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits.<!-- Direct quote; please do not change spelling. --><ref name="bradford_1_7" />
</blockquote>

There is no record of the term ''Pilgrims'' being used to describe Plymouth's founders for 150 years after Bradford wrote this passage, except when quoting him. The ''Mayflower's'' story was retold by historians [[Nathaniel Morton]] (in 1669) and [[Cotton Mather]] (in 1702), and both paraphrased Bradford's passage and used his word  ''pilgrims''. At Plymouth's [[Forefathers' Day]] observance in 1793, Rev. Chandler Robbins recited this passage.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|(1915)|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=47gMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA356 356–359].|Ref=Matthews_1915}}</ref>

===Popular use===
[[File:1920USstamp2centPilgrimTercentenaryLanding.jpg|thumb|right|1920 U.S. stamp celebrating the Pilgrim Tercentenary]]
The name ''Pilgrims'' was probably not in popular use before about 1798, even though Plymouth celebrated [[Forefathers' Day]] several times between 1769 and 1798 and used a variety of terms to honor Plymouth's founders. The term ''Pilgrims'' was not mentioned, other than in Robbins' 1793 recitation.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|(1915)|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=47gMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA297 297–311], [https://books.google.com/books?id=47gMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA351 351].|Ref=Matthews_1915}}</ref>
The first documented use of the term that was not simply quoting Bradford was at a December 22, 1798, celebration of Forefathers' Day in [[Boston]]. A song composed for the occasion used the word ''Pilgrims'', and the participants drank a toast to "The Pilgrims of Leyden".<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|(1915)|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=47gMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA323 323–327].|Ref=Matthews_1915}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
| title = Toasts Drank at the Celebration of Our Country's Nativity
| work = Massachusetts Mercury
| location = Boston
| pages = [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:EANX&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=10AEDEE4944F7680&svc_dat=HistArchive:ahnpdoc&req_dat=0F418C809CE5EA70 2], [http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:EANX&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=10AEDEE592F83B50&svc_dat=HistArchive:ahnpdoc&req_dat=0F418C809CE5EA70 4]
| date = December 28, 1798
}}
</ref>
The term was used prominently during Plymouth's next Forefather's Day celebration in 1800, and was used in Forefathers' Day observances thereafter.<ref>{{harvnb|Matthews|(1915)|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=47gMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA312 312–350].|Ref=Matthews_1915}}</ref>

By the 1820s, the term ''Pilgrims'' was becoming more common. [[Daniel Webster]] repeatedly referred to "the Pilgrims" in his December 22, 1820, address for Plymouth's bicentennial which was widely read.<ref>{{cite book
|last=Webster |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Webster |editor=Edward Everett |title=The Works of Daniel Webster |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bGIOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR1 |access-date=November 30, 2008 |edition=8th |volume=1 |year=1854 |publisher=Brown, Little & Co. |location=Boston |pages=lxiv–lxv, 1–50
|no-pp=true }}</ref> [[Harriet Vaughan Cheney]] used it in her 1824 novel ''A Peep at the Pilgrims in Sixteen Thirty-Six'', and the term also gained popularity with the 1825 publication of [[Felicia Hemans]]'s classic poem "The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers".<ref>{{cite book
|editor-last=Wolfson |editor-first=Susan J. |title=Felicia Hemans |year=2000 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=978-0-691-05029-4 |pages=416–417 }}</ref>