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 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.

Contents

Text of the ''Mayflower Compact''

Signatories

References

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

Signatories

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.^[3]
#John Carver
#William Bradford
#William Brewster
#John Alden
#John Howland
#Stephen Hopkins
#Edward Winslow
#Gilbert Winslow
#Myles Standish
#John Allerton
#Isaac Allerton
#John Billington
#Thomas Tinker
#Samuel Fuller
#Richard Clark
#Richard Warren
#Edward Leister
#Digery Priest
#Thomas Williams
#Peter Brown
#John Turner
#Edward Tilly
#John Craxton
#Thomas Rogers
#John Goodman
#Edward Fuller
#Richard Gardiner
#William White
#Edmund Margeson
#George Soule
#James Chilton
#Francis Cooke
#Edward Doty
#Moses Fletcher
#John Rigdale
#Christopher Martin
#William Mullins
#Thomas English
#Richard Bitteridge
#Francis Eaton
#John Tilly

References

1. John Quincy Adams' Orations, , John Quincy, Adams, Pennsylvania State University, 1802,
2. State Library of Massachusetts Online catalog
3. New England’s Memorial, , Nathaniel, Morton, , 1669,