The Mayflower Compact
was a document written and signed by the Pilgrims as they arrived in the New
World in 1620. The group had originally planned to go to the Hudson River area,
which was part of the Virginia Colony. Bad weather, however, put them farther
north, near the coast of Massachusetts. Since they had did not have permission
to start a colony in Massachusetts, and therefore had no governing laws, the
Pilgrims decided to set up their own society and rules while they waited for
permission from England. The document is named for the Pilgrims’ ship, the
Mayflower.
The original document has been lost. Below is the text as written by
William Bradford, one of the signers, in 1646.
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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
Honour of our King and
Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia,
do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of
another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together in 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 11th 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. Anno Domini 1620.
