and barnstable document he remained a member of the church there. he just thought that quakers deserved liberty of conscience. thoserobinson was one of rare 17th-century englishmen, concerned not just with his own liberty, but with the liberty of others. with himto begin partly because he is a local falmouth story, but also because his life connects to the theme of liberty that is at the heart of my book, and what i will talk about this evening. so what do we make of the pilgrims and the colonies they founded, after 400 years? since the early 19th century, when americans first began to lionize the pilgrims, many americans have credited the pilgrims with bringing religious and political liberty to the shores of the new world. they weren't like the nasty, intolerant puritans around massachusetts. hangedere the folks who quakers and killed suspected witches,-- suspected and they weren't like the greedy, gold-hungry settlers down here in virginia. maybe they didn't have the best fashion sense, but the pilgrims were solid men and women who came to new en