Mayflower Compact

The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was drafted by the Pilgrims who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower, seeking the freedom to practice Christianity according to their own determination. It was signed on November 11, 1620 (OS)^[1] by 41 of the ship's more than one hundred passengers^[2], in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod.

Contents 1 Reasons for the Compact 2 Text of the Mayflower Compact 3 Signatories 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

Reasons for the Compact

The Mayflower was originally bound for the mouth of the Hudson River, in land granted in a patent from the Crown to the London Virginia Company. The decision was made instead to land further north, in what is now Massachusetts. This inspired some of the "strangers" (colonists who were not members of the congregation of religious dissenters leading the expedition) to proclaim that since the settlement would not be made in the agreed-upon Virginia territory, they "would use their own liberty; for none had power to command them...."^[3] To prevent this, many of the other colonists decided to establish a government. The Mayflower landed at Plymouth (so named by Captain John Smith earlier) in December 1620.

The Mayflower Compact was based simultaneously upon a majoritarian model (even though the signers were not in the majority) and the settlers' allegiance to the king. It was in essence a social contract in which the settlers consented to follow the compact's rules and regulations for the sake of survival.^{[citation needed]}

Text of the Mayflower Compact

The original document was lost, but the transcriptions in Mourt's Relation and William Bradford's journal Of Plymouth Plantation are in agreement and accepted as accurate. Bradford's hand written manuscript is kept in a special vault at the State Library of Massachusetts.^[4] Bradford's transcription is as follows:

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.^[5][3]

The 'dread sovereign' referred to in the document used the archaic definition of dread; meaning awe and reverence (for the King), not fear.

Signatories

The following list of 41 male passengers who signed was supplied by Bradford's nephew Nathaniel Morton in his 1669 New England's Memorial.^[6] There are no surviving first-hand accounts of this information.^{[citation needed]}

John Carver William Bradford Edward Winslow William Brewster Isaac Allerton Miles Standish John Alden Samuel Fuller Christopher Martin William Mullins William White Richard Warren John Howland Stephen Hopkins

Edward Tilly John Tilly Francis Cooke (sic) Thomas Rogers Thomas Tinker John Ridgdale Edward Fuller John Turner Francis Eaton James Chilton John Craxton (sic) John Billington Joses Fletcher (sic) John Goodman

Digery Priest (sic) Thomas Williams Gilbert Winslow Edmund Margeson Peter Brown Richard Bitteridge (sic) George Soule Richard Clark (sic) Richard Gardiner John Allerton Thomas English Edward Doten (sic) Edward Leister

The same list in the same order but with some corrections is provided by Thomas Prince in his 1736 A Chronological History of New-England in the form of Annals.^[7] Prince added the title Mr. to ten names, which he found in a list at the end of Governor Bradford's folio manuscript: Carver, Winslow, Brewster, Isaac Allerton, Samuel Fuller, Martin, Mullins, White, Warren, and Hopkins. He attributed the lack of Mr. Bradford to Bradford's modesty. He also added Capt. to Standish. He corrected the spelling of five names: John Crackston, Moses Fletcher, Degory Priest, Richard Britterige, and Edward Dotey. In addition, he spelled Francis Cook and Richard Clarke.

See also

• Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1638)
• Instrument of Government (1653)

References

External links

• The Mayflower Compact — Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of North Carolina

v • d • e Historic statements relating to the United States Documents Mayflower Compact (1620) · Declaration of Independence (1776) · Federalist Papers (1787-88) · Constitution (1788) · Bill of Rights (1791) · Emancipation Proclamation (1862) Speeches Washington's Farewell Address (1796) · Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (1863) · Wilson's "Fourteen Points" (1918) · Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)'s First Inaugural Address / "Fear Itself" Speech (1933)  · FDR's "Four Freedoms" (1941) · FDR's "Infamy" (1941) · Kennedy's Inaugural Address (1961) · Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" (1963) · King's "I Have a Dream" (1963) · Reagan's "Tear Down this Wall!" (1987)

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