Brian Griffith's Blog - Posts Tagged "eliminationism"
Keeping America "pure"
Here's a letter from 1682 by the Rev. Cotton Mather of Massachusetts Bay Colony, concerning the need to keep "his" America free from the corruption of less godly people.
To ye aged and beloved, Mr. John Higginson,
There be at sea a ship called "Welcome," which has on board 100 or more of the heretics and malignants called Quakers, with W. Penn, who is the chief scamp, at the head of them. The General Court has accordingly given sacred orders to Master Malachi Huscott, of the brig "Porpoise," to waylay the said "Welcome" slyly as near the Cape of Cod as may be, and make captive the said Penn and his ungodly crew, so that the Lord may be glorified and not mocked on the soil of this new country with the heathen worship of these people. Much spoil can be made of selling the whole lot to Barbadoes, where slaves fetch good prices in rum and sugar, and we shall not only do the Lord great good by punishing the wicked, but we shall make great good for his Minister and people.
Yours in the bowels of Christ,
Cotton Mather
The Hero With a Thousand Faces
To ye aged and beloved, Mr. John Higginson,
There be at sea a ship called "Welcome," which has on board 100 or more of the heretics and malignants called Quakers, with W. Penn, who is the chief scamp, at the head of them. The General Court has accordingly given sacred orders to Master Malachi Huscott, of the brig "Porpoise," to waylay the said "Welcome" slyly as near the Cape of Cod as may be, and make captive the said Penn and his ungodly crew, so that the Lord may be glorified and not mocked on the soil of this new country with the heathen worship of these people. Much spoil can be made of selling the whole lot to Barbadoes, where slaves fetch good prices in rum and sugar, and we shall not only do the Lord great good by punishing the wicked, but we shall make great good for his Minister and people.
Yours in the bowels of Christ,
Cotton Mather
The Hero With a Thousand Faces
