After some days' search, a
suitable site for a settlement was found, work was begun on houses and
fortifications, and the place was named New Plymouth.
Jonathan Carver had been chosen the first governor and guided the colony
through the horrors of that first winter; the story of Jamestown was
repeated, and by the coming of spring, more than half the colonists were
dead. Among them was Carver himself, and William Bradford was at once
chosen to succeed him. There can be no doubt that it was to Bradford's
wise head and strong hand the colony owed its quick rally, and its
escape from the prolonged misery which makes horrible the early history
of Virginia. He seems to have possessed a temper resolute, but
magnanimous and patient to an unusual degree, together with a religion
sincere and devoted, yet neither intolerant nor austere. What results
can be accomplished by a combination of qualities at once so rare and so
admirable is shown by the work which William Bradford did at Plymouth,
over which he ruled almost continuously until his death, thirty-seven
years later.
Bradford's success lay first in his courage in doing away with the
pernicious system by which all the property was held in common. In doing
this, he violated the rules of his company, but he saw that utter
failure lay the other way.
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