The Mayflower Compact was the first written government charter in the New World, signed by the men aboard the Mayflower in 1620. It was a pledge to govern themselves and obey any laws the colony might enact. The settlers faced threats from “foreigners” who did not want to obey any law. The Compact was also a way to strengthen their commitment to a difficult undertaking. It governed Plymouth Colony until 1691 and is considered a founding document of American liberty. The original document is lost, but the text recorded by William Bradford is accepted as accurate.
The Mayflower Compact is famous as the first written government charter in the New World. It was signed aboard ship at Provincetown Harbor in what became Massachusetts in the United States on November 21, 1620 by the men of the company who sailed on the Mayflower. Just 199 words long, many of which would be considered ceremonial standards, it was essentially a pledge to govern itself and to obey any laws and regulations the colony might enact.
It was not commonplace for colonists of the time to decide to govern themselves, which is essentially what these English colonists did. The accepted practice was for a company chartered by a king, such as the Council for New England, formerly the Plymouth Company, to finance a voyage and establish a colony within the boundaries of the land granted in the royal charter, clearly under the jurisdiction of English law. The Mayflower Compact was the settlers’ practical solution to a very real problem facing them.
When the Mayflower sailed from England in September 1620, the intent was to sail to the mouth of the Hudson River and settle nearby in what was then called Northern Virginia. They sailed for more than two months, encountering inclement weather en route which forced the ship much further north than expected. When they finally reached land, in late November 1620, it was the northern tip of Cape Cod, where Provincetown now stands. Some of the companies on board the vessel, called “foreigners” because they were not associated with the main body of Pilgrims, spoke openly of not having to obey any law or being accountable to anyone, having landed outside the boundaries of Royal Chartered land from King James to the Plymouth Company. The Mayflower Compact was written at least in part in response to those threats and signed by all 41 grown men in the party.
Another credible reason given for the drafting and execution of the Mayflower Compact is the realization by party leaders that they were undertaking a difficult undertaking, which required the full commitment of all members. Having all the men sign a pledge to become one body and to obey any laws they may see fit to enact may well have strengthened their pledge in the face of a great but dangerous undertaking.
As the first written document of government in the New World, the Mayflower Compact received special status as one of the founding documents of American liberty, along with the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, adopted in January 1639 for governing cities along the Connecticut River. It was under the provisions of the Mayflower Compact that Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts governed itself until 1691, when it was annexed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Although the Mayflower Compact itself is lost, the text as recorded and reported by William Bradford, the primary architect of the pact and one of its original signatories, has been accepted as accurate. Neither long nor complete in scope, yet it is distinguished by being a document of self-government, drawn up and executed by those who were to be governed.
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