o sung wu,

You have to keep in mind that david f is not a historian, anthropologist, sociologist, archaeologist, or someone who has knowledge of those things so for him it's all a bit grey and fuzzy so you need to take whatever he says with a grain of salt.

Dear o sung wu,

There were two conflicting tendencies in colonial America. The Pilgrims came to America not for religious freedom but to establish a theocracy. Originally they fled England for the Netherlands. In the Netherlands they had complete religious freedom, but that was not what they wanted. They saw the Indians as 'creatures of the devil' and did their part in exterminating them. Roger Williams was a notable exception to New England bigotry. Massachusetts had a state church until 1838.

In contrast the Virginia colony had religious freedom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Statute_for_Religious_Freedom#:~:text=The%20Virginia%20Statute%20for%20Religious%20Freedom%20was%20drafted,Thomas%20Jefferson%20in%20the%20city%20of%20Fredericksburg,%20Virginia.

Those two opposing tendencies still exist in the current USA.

Hi there, David F. As usual, you've given me a very abridged version of American history, to which I'll defer. I realise your knowledge is far superior to mine in most things, save for contemporary policing methods, which we've discussed many times before. I was always under the impression the Pilgrim Father's were a very (harmonious) religious group that tried hard to live peacefully though quite separately from the many indigenous tribes that lived near them during that time. Thanks, David F., for again putting me straight, as it were.

Hi there Mr OPINION... Thank you for that; I understand DAVID F. is not a historian per se, rather he's a very talented mathematician, with an immense font of general knowledge, far, far, greater than mine. It's, for this reason, I will generally defer to him whenever he makes a carte blanch statement, rather than when he's just offering an opinion. Many thanks for your comment though.

Dear o sung wu,

The Pilgrims were not the first white English settlers in North America. They landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620 while the English Virginia colony was founded in 1607.

Spaniards were in North America before the English. In 1565 the Spaniards established a fort in Florida which was later to become part of the United States.

The following links may be of interest:

http://www.brittannika.com/place/Lithuanian/History

http://www.lietuva.lit/100/en/discover-lithuania/history