Mayflower Compact

The Mayflower Compact was a foundational governing document for the Plymouth Colony. It was originally titled the Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth. This document established a system of order for a group of people in a new land. It functioned as a social contract. A social contract is an agreement where people consent to follow community rules for survival and order.

By signing it, the settlers committed to a shared way of life. This helped ensure the colony could function despite the challenges of their new environment.

The mechanism of the Compact relied on two different ideas working together. First, it used a majoritarian model. This means the community would make decisions based on the will of the majority. Second, the document included a pledge of loyalty to the King of England. The settlers wanted to maintain their allegiance to the English Crown. This dual approach allowed them to govern themselves locally while remaining part of the larger kingdom.

This balance was necessary to maintain legal and social stability.

The creation of the Compact was driven by a specific crisis during the voyage. The passengers had originally planned to settle in the Colony of Virginia. Their journey was financed by the Company of Merchant Adventurers of London. However, severe storms forced the Mayflower to change its course. The ship eventually anchored in Provincetown Harbor at the northern tip of Cape Cod. Because they were not in their intended territory, some passengers felt they could ignore existing laws. These non-Puritan passengers were often called "Strangers" by the Puritans. They claimed they would use their own liberty because no one had power to command them in this location.

To prevent this loss of order, the Pilgrims decided to establish their own government. They had previously lived in Leiden, which is a city in the Dutch Republic. Historian Nathaniel Philbrick notes that their experience in Leiden was important. In Leiden, a spiritual covenant had marked the start of their congregation. In America, they created a civil covenant to serve as a secular government. This transition from religious to civil agreement helped them organize their new society.

The document was signed aboard the ship in 1620.

While the original document is lost, we have three distinct versions from the 17th century. The first was printed in Mourt's Relation in 1622. This was later reprinted in Purchas his Pilgrimes in 1625. The second version was a handwritten manuscript by William Bradford in his journal, Of Plimoth Plantation, in 1646. The third version was printed by Bradford's nephew, Nathaniel Morton, in New-Englands Memorial in 1669. These versions differ in their spelling, punctuation, and capitalization. However, the two versions involving Bradford are quite similar in their wording.

Bradford's handwritten manuscript is currently kept in a vault at the State Library of Massachusetts.

Identifying the exact signers is a complex task for historians. There were 101 passengers on the Mayflower, but only 41 men signed the Compact. Nathaniel Morton is the only source for the list of these 41 names. Because the original document is gone, we cannot know the exact order in which they signed. Morton's list was unnumbered and the order of names changed in different editions of his book. For example, the 1721 and 1772 editions changed the column arrangement. Later editions in 1826 and 1855 returned to the original 1669 order. Thomas Prince later numbered these names in 1736 based on Morton's work.

The legacy of the Mayflower Compact remains significant in American history. It is viewed as an early example of self-governance and political philosophy. On November 23, 1920, a large ceremony was held to mark the 300th anniversary of the landing. During this event, the governor of Massachusetts, Calvin Coolidge, gave a speech. Coolidge later became the 30th president of the United States. The Compact continues to be studied as a way that people organized themselves to build a new society.