The Signing of the Mayflower Compact
On
November 11, 1620: "Land Ho!" The quiet and calm daybreak
was interrupted by the excited passengers joyously trying to get a glimpse
of the newly-sighted land in the morning light. At 6:55, the sun began to
peer over the east horizon; the day was calm, and the wind was fair. Christopher
Jones and his pilots identified the land they were approaching as Cape Cod.
The Mayflower rounded Cape Cod and entered it's massive bay. She then tacked around the hook of the Cape and dropped her anchor in a harbor that was wide, fine, and circular in shape.
The change of course from Virginia
to New England angered some of the passengers, however, especially those the
so-called London Contingent that boarded the Mayflower in London expecting
to be transported to Virginia. Some of them even began to threaten mutiny,
claiming that because they were no longer in Virginia, there was no government
authority over them, and they could do whatever they wished.
To counter this, on
November 11, 1620, the famous Mayflower Compact was drawn up and signed. It
was the first document in history to provide for self-determination in government
for a people. It declares that the Pilgrims would be combined together as
a civil body, to preserve their goals and establish order among the people.
Further, it allows the government to make laws to preserve these purposes,
and declares that its citizens must abide by these laws.
Many people believe the Mayflower Compact had a significant influence on the forming of the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States. The second president of the United States, John Adams, who helped in the forming of these documents, was a descendant of Mayflower passengers John Alden, and William, Alice, and Priscilla Mullins.
The original Mayflower Compact no longer exists, but William Bradford wrote it into his journal, Of Plymouth Plantation, and Nathaniel Morton prints it in New Englands Memorial, which was published in 1660. Morton is the first person to record the names of those who signed the document.
"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 honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern part 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 11 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, Ano Dom. 1620."
John Carver William White
Edward Fuller Gilbert Winslow
William Bradford Richard Warren
John Turner Edmond Margeson
Edward Winslow John Howland
Francis Eaton Peter Brown
William Brewster Stephen Hopkins
James Chilton Richard Britteridge
Isaac Allerton Edward Tilly
John Crackston George Soule
Myles Standish John Tilly
John Billington Richard Gardiner
John Alden Francis Cooke
Moses Fletcher John Allerton
Samuel Fuller Thomas Rogers
John Goodman Thomas English
Christopher Martin Thomas Tinker
Degory Priest Edward Doty
William Mullins John Rigdale
Thomas Williams Edward Leister
SOURCES:
1. Of Plymouth Plantation, by William Bradford, written 1630-1651, first published
in 1856.
2. Mayflower Quarterly, The Historic Significance of the Mayflower Compact,
61:272-275.
3. New Englands Memorial, by Nathaniel Morton, 1660.