THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT

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THE MAYFLOWER COMPACTEdited By Bill BaileyThe Federalist Papers Projectwww.thefederalistpapers.org

The Mayflower CompactThe Mayflower CompactThe Mayflower Compact was signed on November 11, 1620, (O.S.) in what is nowProvincetown Harbor near Cape Cod. The Pilgrim Fathers used the Julian Calendar which, atthat time, was ten days behind the Gregorian Calendar, signing the covenant "ye .11. ofNovember" (literal).Having landed at Plymouth (so named by Captain John Smith earlier), many of the Pilgrimsaboard realized that they were in land uncharted by the London Company. For this reason theMayflower Compact was written and adopted, based simultaneously upon a majoritarian modeland the settlers' allegiance to the king.The Mayflower carried 102 passengers. Of these, 41 were Pilgrims seeking a new environmentwhere they could practice their religion in the manner they chose. The remainder of thepassengers, called "Strangers" by the Pilgrims, included merchants, craftsmen, skilled workersand indentured servants, and several young orphans.William Brewster and other Pilgrim leaders organized the voyage and gathered these “strangers”to increase the chances of the colony's success. The voyage lasted more than two months. Whenthey finally sighted land the captain of the Mayflower knew right away that they were far northof their destination so headed southward. This proved too dangerous and they were forced to turnback and drop anchor in a harbor at the tip of Cape Cod.Unrest started immediately. William Bradford later wrote that several “strangers” made“discontented and mutinous speeches.” Bradford went on to explain that the “Strangers” did notwant to follow rules because “none had power to command them.”The Pilgrim leaders, with staunch determination to establish a colony amidst the brewingrebellion, knew they needed a temporary government authority. In England, such authority camefrom the king but in remote America it could only come from the colonists themselves. Whilestill aboard the Mayflower, the Pilgrims and "Strangers" made a written agreement or compactamong themselves.It is assumed that William Brewster, who had a university education, wrote the MayflowerCompact. The pattern of church self-government used by the Pilgrims to establish theirSeparatist churches in England and Holland served as a model for political self-government inthe Mayflower Compact. Almost all the adult male colonists, including two of the indenturedservants, signed the document.www.thefederalistpapers.orgPage 2

The Mayflower CompactBy signing the Mayflower Compact, the colonists in no way intended to declare theirindependence from England. The opening line of the Compact refers to both Pilgrims and"Strangers" as "loyal subjects" of King James. The document is very short. It simply united thesigners into a "Civil Body Politic" for the purpose of passing "just and equal Laws for thegeneral good of the Colony." However, those few words conveyed the idea of self-governmentfor the first time in the New World.From its crude beginning in Plymouth, the idea of self-government in New England evolved intotown meetings and gradually spread into larger local governments in colonial America. TheMayflower Compact was all but forgotten by the time of the Constitutional Convention, but theidea of self-government was still powerful. Therefore, even though the Mayflower Compact wasquickly written out of necessity, it set a historic precedent toward the creation of a newdemocratic nation.The original document was lost, but the transcriptions in Mourt's Relation and WilliamBradford's journal Of Plymouth Plantation are in agreement and accepted as accurate. Bradford'shand written manuscript is kept in a special vault at the State Library of Massachusetts.Bradford's transcription is as follows:In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of ourdread sovereigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, France, andIreland king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory of God, andadvancement of the Christian faith, and honour of our king and country, a voyage to plantthe first colony in the Northerne parts of Virginia, doe, by these presents, solemnly andmutually in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselvestogether into a civil body politick, for our better ordering and preservation andfurtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enacte, constitute, and framesuch just and equall laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time,as shall be thought most meete and convenient for the generall good of the Colonie untowhich we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we havehereunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd the 11. of November, in the year of theraigne of our sovereigne lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland, theeighteenth, and of Scotland the fiftie-fourth. Anno. Dom. 1620.www.thefederalistpapers.orgPage 3

The Mayflower CompactThe list of 41 male passengers who signed was supplied by Bradford's nephew Nathaniel Mortonin his 1669 New England's Memorial. There are no surviving first-hand accounts of thisinformation.John CarverEdward TilleyDigery PriestWilliam BradfordJohn TilleyThomas WilliamsEdward WinslowFrancis CookeGilbert WinslowWilliam BrewsterThomas RogersEdmund MargesonIsaac AllertonThomas TinkerPeter BrowneMiles StandishJohn RidgdaleRichard BritteridgeJohn AldenEdward FullerGeorge SouleSamuel FullerJohn TurnerRichard ClarkeChristopher MartinFrancis EatonRichard GardinerWilliam MullinsJames ChiltonJohn AllertonWilliam WhiteJohn CrackstoneThomas EnglishRichard WarrenJohn BillingtonEdward DotyJohn HowlandMoses FletcherEdward LeisterStephen HopkinsJohn GoodmanThe original document does not survive. It first appeared in Mourt’s Relation, a pamphlet aboutthe first year of settlement at Plymouth. In 1669 Plymouth’s town historian, Nathaniel Morton,reprinted the agreement in his book, New England’s Memorial. Interestingly, he included apossible list of the men who signed it, even though these men’s names were not included inearlier copies of the Mayflower Compact. According to Morton, the document was signed by 41of the male passengers – all but one of the freemen, three of the five hired men, and two of thenine servants.www.thefederalistpapers.orgPage 4

The Mayflower CompactWhen creating the Mayflower Compact, the signers believed that covenants were not only to behonored between God and man, but also between each other. They had always honoredcovenants as part of their righteous integrity and agreed to be bound by this same principle withthe Compact. John Adams and many historians have referred to the Mayflower Compact as thefoundation of the U.S. Constitution written more than 150 years later.America was indeed begun by men who honored God and set their founding principles by thewords of the Bible. They lived their lives with honesty, reliability, and fairness towardestablishing this country “for the sake of its survival.” A great many of America’s FoundingFathers have been quoted in regard to living by Biblical values.www.thefederalistpapers.orgPage 5

The Mayflower CompactNOTESwww.thefederalistpapers.orgPage 6

They lived their lives with honesty, reliability, and fairness toward establishing this country “for the sake of its survival.” A great many of America’s Founding Fathers have been quoted in regard to living by Biblical values. The Mayflower Compact www.thefederalistpapers.org Page 6 NOTES .

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