he
Plymouth laws were all freemen and persons "admitted inhabitants" of a
town. They elected the deputies of the general court and the numerous
officers of the town, and had the authority to pass local ordinances
of nearly every description.[33]

During the early days, except for the short time of Lyford's service,
Elder William Brewster was the spiritual guide for the people. For a
long time they kept the place of minister waiting for Robinson, but
when he died they secured, in 1628, the services of Mr. Rogers, who
proved to "be crazed in his brain" and had to be sent back the
following year. Then, in 1629, Mr. Ralph Smith was minister, and Roger
Williams assisted him. Smith was a man of small abilities, and after
enduring him for eight years they persuaded him to resign. After
Smith's resignation the office of minister at Plymouth was filled by
Rev. John Rayner.[34]

The educational advantages of the Plymouth colony were meagre, and the
little learning that existed was picked up in the old English way by
home instruction. This deficiency was due to the stern conditions of a
farmer's life on Cape Cod Bay, where the soil was poor and the climate
severe, necessitating the constant labor of the whole family.

Nevertheless, the Plymouth colony was always an example to its
neighbors for thrift, economy, and integrity, and it influenced to
industry by proving what might be done on a barren soil. Its chief
claim to historical importance rests, of course, on the fact that, as
the first successful colony on the New England coast, it was the cause
and beginning of the establishment of the other colonies of New
England, and the second step in founding the great republic of the
United States.

[Footnote 1: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 112.]

[Footnote 2: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 114-117.]

[Footnote 3: Mass. Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 4th series, II.,
158-163.]

[Footnote 4: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 130-133; Winslow,
"Relation," in Young, _Chronicles of the Pilgrims_, 280-284.]

[Footnote 5: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 149-168; _Cal. of State
Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 40.]

[Footnote 6: Gorges, _Description of New England_ (Mass. Hist. Soc.,
_Collections_, 3d series, VI., 80).]

[Footnote 7: _Cal. of State Pap., Col._, 1574-1660, p. 33.]

[Footnote 8: Bradford, _Plimoth Plantation_, 170.]

[Footnote 9: Maine Hist. Soc., _Collections_, 2d. series, VII.,
73-76.]

[Footnote 10: Adams, _Three Ep