History
behind the
Mayflower
Compact
and
The Mayflower
Compact
The Mayflower Compact was signed on 11 November 1620 on board the Mayflower
which was at anchor in Provincetown Harbor. The Mayflower Compact was drawn
up after the London and Leyden contingents started factionalizing, and
there were worries of a possible mutiny by some of the passengers.
The primary argument was over the fact the Pilgrims were supposed to
have settled in Northern Virginia, near present-day Long Island, New York.
Northern Virginia was governed by the English. But if the Pilgrims settled
at Plymouth, there would be no government in place there. The Mayflower
Compact established that government, by creating a "civil body politic".
In a way,
this was the first American Constitution, though the Compact in practical
terms had little influence on subsequent American documents. John Quincy
Adams, a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Alden, does call the Mayflower
Compact the foundation of the U.S. Constitution in a speech given in 1802,
but he meant in principle more than in substance. In reality, the Mayflower
Compact was superseded in authority by the 1621 Peirce Patent, which not
only gave the Pilgrims the right to self-government at Plymouth, but had
the significant advantage of being authorized by the King of England.
The Mayflower Compact was first published in 1622 in Mourt's Relation:
A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. William Bradford wrote a copy of
the Mayflower Compact down in his History Of Plymouth Plantation which
he wrote from 1630-1654. Nathaniel Morton in his New England's Memorial,
published in 1669, was the first to record and publish the names of the
signers, and Thomas Prince in his Chronological History of New England
in the form of Annals (1736) recorded the signers names as well, as did
Thomas Hutchinson in 1767. It is unknown whether the later two authors
had access to the original document, or whether they were simply copying
Nathaniel Morton's list of signers.
The original Mayflower Compact has never been found, and is assumed
destroyed. Thomas Prince may have had access to the original in 1736, and
possibly Thomas Hutchinson did in 1767. William Bradford's History, Letter-book,
Register, and possibly the Mayflower Compact may have all fallen victim
to Revolutionary War looting. Bradford's History was found in 1854 in
London, England; his Letter-book in 1796 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The
Register and Mayflower Compact have never been located.
The term "Mayflower Compact" was not assigned to this document until
1793, when for the first time it is called the Compact in Alden Bradford's
A Topographical Description of Duxborough, in the County of Plymouth. Previously
it had been called "an association and agreement" (William Bradford), "combination"
(Plymouth Colony Records), "solemn contract" (Thomas Prince, 1738), and
"the covenant" (Rev. Charles Turner, 1774).
The Mayflower
Compact
In ye name
of God, Amen. We whose names are underwriten, the loyall subjects of our
dread soveraigne Lord King James by ye grace of God, of Great Britaine,
Franc, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith, &c.
Haveing undertaken,
for ye glorie of God, and advancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour
of our king & countrie, a voyage
to plant ye
first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents
solemnly & mutualy in ye presence of God, and
one of another,
covenant & combine our selves togeather into a civill body politick;
for our better ordering & preservation &
furtherance
of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof, to enacte, constitute, and
frame shuch just & equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions, &
offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient
for ye generall good of ye Colonie: unto which we promise all due submission
and obedience. In witnes wherof we have hereunder subscribed our
names at Cap-Codd ye .11. of November, in ye year of the raigne of our
soveraigne lord King James of England, France, & Ireland ye eighteenth,
and of Scotland ye fiftie fourth. Ano: Dom .1620.
Subscribers
of the Mayflower Compact
