Mayflower Compact

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(1620) Document signed by 41 male passengers on the Mayflower before landing at Plymouth (Massachusetts). Concerned that some members might leave to form their own colonies, William Bradford and others drafted the compact to bind the group into a political body and pledge members to abide by any laws that would be established. The document adapted a church covenant to a civil situation and was the basis of the colony's government.

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Mayflower Compact, signed aboard the May-flower on 11 November 1620 by the ship's forty-one free adult men, served as the basis for Plymouth Colony's government throughout its history. As the Mayflower's passengers had settled in New England, their patent for establishing a colony in Virginia was useless. The Pilgrim colony thus had no legal foundation, and some non-Pilgrim passengers talked of striking out on their own, ignoring Governor John Carver's now ambiguous authority. If the Pilgrims were to have a colony at all, they needed to establish a government based on some sort of consensus, and they turned to the model of their own congregational churches for guidance. The colonists would form a "body politic," which would select and wholly submit to leaders chosen by the majority, just as members of Pilgrim congregations each elected their own ministers and governed themselves. Thus, in the name of King James I, did the settlers "Covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation." The compact was put into practice when John Carver was confirmed as the colony's first governor.

The Mayflower Compact provided Plymouth with a simple constitution. The "General Court" of all freemen (nearly all adult men, excluding servants) met several times a year, elected the governor and his assistants, and passed laws for the colony. Voting directly in assembly or through representatives, asserted as fundamental right of Englishmen in the colony's 1636 legal code, also carried responsibilities. Freemen were expected to attend all General Court sessions, and those who did not faced heavy fines. Since the General Court was an assembly of citizens that was not in regular session, the governor dominated Plymouth's politics until the General Court was transformed into a representative assembly. Because the colony's expansion into several settlements made meetings of all freemen impractical, the 1638 General Court voted to allow freemen to assemble in individual towns and select deputies to attend General Court sessions in Plymouth town. All freemen were still expected to meet in Plymouth town for the June session, at which the governor and his assistants were chosen, but the General Court voted to allow colony wide proxy voting in 1652, finally doing away with colony wide meetings of all freemen. A now formal representative assembly holding regular sessions, the General Court stole the initiative from the governors. While the governor remained a powerful figure, charged with executing laws and having powers of arrest, the General Court claimed the sole right to tax, declare war, and frame legislation.

Voting rights became more restrictive as the colony grew and diversified. By 1670 property requirements excluded about 25 percent of adult men from voting, but the franchise still remained relatively open. Plymouth's governmental system was modified as the colony grew and the population changed, but the basic foundation established by the Mayflower Compact—that Plymouth would have self-government based on majority rule—remained intact. The colony never did receive legal recognition or a royal charter from England, apart from two patents issued by the Council for New England in 1621 and 1630. Failure to obtain a charter eventually led to Plymouth's annexation by much larger and more populous Massachusetts in 1691.

Bibliography

Bradford, William. History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–1647. Edited by Samuel Eliot Morrison. 2 vols. New York: Russell and Russell, 1968.

Cushing, John D., ed. The Laws of the Pilgrims: A Facsimile Edition of The Book of the General Laws of the Inhabitants of the Jurisdiction of New Plymouth, 1672 and 1685. Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazer, 1977.

Langdon, George D. "The Franchise and Political Democracy in Plymouth Colony." William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 20 (October 1963): 513–526.

———. Pilgrim Colony: A History of New Plymouth, 1620–1691. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1966.

Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., and David Pulsifer, eds. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England. 12 vols. 1855. Re-print, New York: AMS Press, 1968.

In 1620 the ship Mayflower departed from England for the New World. Many of those on board were religious dissenters, known then as Separatists and later as Pilgrims or Puritans, who preferred to separate altogether from the Church of England rather than try to change the church as other dissenters attempted to do. The passengers also included emigrants who were not members of the Separatist congregation. The combined group of Separatists and "strangers," as they were called by the Separatists, had obtained a charter from the Virginia Company of London, giving them permission to settle within the boundaries of the colony of Virginia.

The Mayflower, however, did not reach Virginia. Instead, it arrived off the coast of what is now Cape Cod, Massachusetts, which was not within the boundaries of any established colonial government. The strangers asserted that they would not be bound by any laws, but William Bradford, the Separatists' leader, insisted that all male passengers sign an agreement to abide by the laws that the colonial leaders would establish at the colony they called Plymouth.

On November 21, 1620, forty-one adult male passengers signed the Mayflower Compact. The compact served as a device to preserve order and establish rules for self-government. The signers agreed to combine themselves into a "civil Body Politick" that would enact and obey "just and equal laws" that were made for the "general good of the colony." This commitment to justice and equality would be reiterated in many later documents, including the U.S. Constitution.

Mayflower Compact

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, &c. Having undertaken for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and the honor 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 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 do enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and officers, 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 hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the reign of our sovereign lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland, the fifty-fourth, anno Domini, 1620.¹

An agreement reached by the Pilgrims on the ship the Mayflower in 1620, just before they landed at Plymouth Rock. The Mayflower Compact bound them to live in a civil society according to their own laws. It remained the fundamental law of their colony of Plymouth until the colony was absorbed into Massachusetts in the late seventeenth century.

This bas-relief depicting the signing of the Mayflower Compact is on Bradford Street in Provincetown directly below the Pilgrim Monument.

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 religious freedom. It was signed on November 11, 1620 (O.S.) in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod. The Pilgrims used the Julian Calendar which, at that time, was ten days behind the Gregorian Calendar, signing the covenant "ye .11. of November" (literal). Having landed at Plymouth (so named by Captain John Smith earlier), many of the Pilgrims aboard realized that they were in land uncharted by the London Company. For this reason the Mayflower Compact was written and adopted, based simultaneously upon a majoritarian model and the settlers' allegiance to the king. Many of the passengers knew that earlier settlements in the New World had failed due to a lack of government, and the Mayflower Compact was in essence a social contract in which the settlers consented to follow the rules and regulations of the government for the sake of survival. The government, in return, would derive its power from the consent of the governed.

The compact is often referred to as the foundation of the Constitution of the United States,^[1] in a figurative, not literal, way, although is often mistakenly thought to be the first Constitution in America. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut actually hold this honor. As a side note, the 'dread soveraigne' referred to in the document used the archaic definition of dread; meaning awe and reverence (for the King), but not fear.

Text of the Mayflower Compact

Bradford's transcription of the 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.^[2] Bradford's transcription is as follows

In y^e name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwriten, y^e loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord King James by y^e grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of y^e faith, e&
Haveing undertaken, for y^e glorie of god, and advancemente of y^e Christian faith and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to plant y^e first colonie in y^e Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly & mutualy in y^e presence of God, and one of another, covenant & combine our selves togeather into a civill body politick, for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance of y^e ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances, Acts, constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient for y^e generall good of y^e Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witnes wherof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd y^e ·11· of November, in y^e year of y^e raigne of our soveraigne Lord King James, of England, France, & Ireland y^e eighteenth, and of Scotland y^e fiftie fourth. Ano: Dom. 1620.^[3]

Signatories

Signing of the Mayflower Compact, a painting by Edward Percy Moran, which hangs at the Plymouth Museum.

The list of 41 male passengers who signed was supplied by Bradford's nephew Nathaniel Morton in his 1669 New England's Memorial. There are no surviving first-hand accounts of this information.^[4]

1. John Carver
2. William Bradford
3. William Brewster
4. John Alden
5. John Howland
6. Stephen Hopkins
7. Edward Winslow
8. Gilbert Winslow
9. Myles Standish
10. John Allerton
11. Isaac Allerton
12. John Billington
13. Thomas Tinker
14. Samuel Fuller
15. Richard Clark
16. Richard Warren
17. Edward Leister
18. Digery Priest
19. Thomas Williams
20. Peter Brown
21. John Turner
22. Edward Tilly
23. John Craxton
24. Thomas Rogers
25. John Goodman
26. Edward Fuller
27. Richard Gardiner
28. William White
29. Edmund Margeson
30. George Soule
31. James Chilton
32. Francis Cooke
33. Edward Doty
34. Moses Fletcher
35. John Rigdale
36. Christopher Martin
37. William Mullins
38. Thomas English
39. Richard Bitteridge
40. Francis Eaton
41. John Tilly

References

1. ^ Adams, John Quincy (1802). in Manis, Jim: John Quincy Adams' Orations (PDF), Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved on 2006-09-17. 
2. ^ State Library of Massachusetts Online catalog
3. ^ Bradford, William (1898). "Book 2, Anno 1620", in Hildebrandt, Ted: Bradford's History "Of Plimoth Plantation" (PDF), Boston: Wright & Potter. Retrieved on 2006-06-01. 
4. ^ Morton, Nathaniel (1669). "2", in Rhys, Ernest: New England’s Memorial. 

External Links

• The Mayflower Compact

Historical statements of 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) · FDR's Infamy Speech (1941) · Kennedy's Inaugural Address (1961) · King's "I Have a Dream" (1963) · Reagan's First Inaugural Address (1981) · Reagan's "Tear Down this Wall!" (1987)

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