Capitalism was the Pilgrims’ first discovery. Having only a few hundred people, there was no economic powerhouse to delay a failing policy’s consequences. For them, surviving required prospering. But, embracing prosperity wasn’t their challenge.
As “Saints” among non-Bible-thumping “Strangers”, as they were both called, the Pilgrims had to learn work. God wouldn’t just make food spring up out of the ground, not since Eden. Perhaps they missed that lesson from Genesis.
Coming from Feudalism’s tyranny, economically speaking, the Pilgrims were children. Communism seemed good to them. But, the lesson of Capitalism is simple: We can share, but only after prospering.