The Mark Moss Show The Thanksgiving Story They Don’t Want You to Know
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Nov 27, 2025 Explore the lesser-known truths behind the Thanksgiving story and the challenges faced by the Pilgrims. Discover how their communal system nearly led to disaster due to lack of personal stakes. Learn about Squanto's miraculous help and the pivot to private plots that transformed productivity. Delve into how these historical lessons on incentives and responsibility remain relevant today. Finally, grasp the essential connection between freedom, morality, and national prosperity.
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Investors Imposed A Communal System
- The pilgrims signed a funding contract that forced communal ownership and control by London investors.
- That system coincided with a brutal winter and sickness that killed nearly half the group in the first year.
Disconnected Incentives Demotivate Work
- Communal ownership removed a direct link between effort and reward, which demotivated workers.
- Bradford records that extra labor "dispirited" those who saw no personal benefit.
Squanto's Unlikely Return And Role
- Squanto miraculously returned fluent in English after years in Europe and aided the pilgrims.
- He taught them local farming, fishing, and acted as an interpreter with tribes.