The losses we have experienced because of COVID-19 help us better understand the Pilgrims. Their courage and faith to give thanks despite their hardships can encourage us to give thanks in 2020.
The Puritans were neither 21st-century liberal democrats nor intolerant theocrats, but created republican political institutions critical to the Founding.
While the Pilgrims gave us the first Thanksgiving, which we celebrate each year, they provided us with an even more important legacy to be celebrated, the Mayflower Compact.