Ron Livingston: Playing Jon Carver | Saints & Strangers

Hi, I'm Governor Cover. You speak English?

English, yes. John Carver, he was the first governor of the Plymouth colony. The Pilgrims were English separatists; they thought that the Church of England was unworthy and they needed to strike out on their own. Under King James, they saw some persecution and had to actually go to Holland for a couple of years. But I don't think they quite found themselves in Holland. They didn't really like it there.

They were looking for a piece of ground that they could call their own, make their own, and still be English citizens. So, they signed up to go to America, which at the time had one colony already on it: Jamestown. It's really interesting about John Carver, is that he was part of that sort of movement away from hierarchy.

The Pilgrims were really part of that, moving from the idea of bishops, you know what I mean? And priests who would sort of tell you what to believe and make all the decisions. How many only this day, breathing with the Lord; they are all audibly there. There were men of conscience, you know, and they really believed that God would communicate right and wrong sort of directly to you.

So, if you'd listened in word, you would know what that was. Welcome, you king masasa wheat. He, me, Tony book would see kings. I, myself, as a leader of the colony, it was a much more sort of egalitarian, sort of utopian experiment. He was a bit of a leader without necessarily always leading.