{"id":57923,"date":"2020-04-20T12:22:18","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T16:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=57923"},"modified":"2020-04-20T15:26:39","modified_gmt":"2020-04-20T19:26:39","slug":"what-was-the-mayflower-compact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/what-was-the-mayflower-compact.html","title":{"rendered":"What Was the Mayflower Compact?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although we all can remember some of the American history we were taught in school, including the Pilgrims arriving in America onboard the Mayflower<\/em> in 1620, you may not recall what the Mayflower Compact was.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: \u201cMayflower Compact\u201d by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1899. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The answer \u2013 and its implications \u2013 are quite fascinating.<\/p>\n

The Mayflower Compact was a document signed on 21 November 1620 by adult male passengers of the Mayflower<\/em>. It was signed directly on the English ship before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was the first framework for any sort of government enacted on the territory we now know as the United States of America.<\/p>\n

Setting the Scene: Why Was the Mayflower Compact Needed?<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, what was the purpose of the Mayflower Compact \u2013 what were the reasons why it was necessary in the first place?<\/p>\n

Due to extremely rough weather during the Atlantic crossing, storms and seas pushed the Mayflower<\/em> off course, away from its intended destination at the mouth of the Hudson River and toward Cape Cod, a yet unclaimed region of the new terrain. Passengers were now no longer in the jurisdiction of the land charter that had granted them the right to settle in the new territory, which had been granted in England by the Virginia Company.<\/p>\n

From this jurisdictional issue arose a legally uncertain situation that caused friction between the Pilgrims \u2013 the Puritan Separatists \u2013 and the rest of their fellow travelers. Some of the non-Puritans even threatened to leave the others and settle by themselves. Under the difficult conditions of trying to establish a new colony, this sort of disarray could not be tolerated.<\/p>\n

Who Wrote the Mayflower Compact?<\/strong><\/p>\n

To preserve unity among the quarrelling passengers of the Mayflower<\/em>, Pilgrim leaders like William Bradford drafted the Mayflower Compact to quell the conflict. This 200-word document formed its signers into what is called a body politic. This bound them to abide by the laws and regulations that leaders deemed were good for the overall community.<\/p>\n

Signers of the Mayflower Compact<\/strong><\/p>\n

How many people were on the Mayflower<\/em> and who signed the contract? The Mayflower Compact was signed by almost every adult male passenger on the Mayflower<\/em> \u2013 41 out of 102 total passengers.<\/p>\n

Although the original Mayflower Compact was lost, the earliest known version of this important document still exists. It was printed, along with the names of its signers, in a 1622 book called Mourt\u2019s Relation<\/em> by Edward Winslow and William Bradford, which chronicled the oftentimes harrowing story of Plymouth\u2019s settlement.<\/p>\n

The following are names of the 41 signers of the Mayflower Compact.<\/p>\n

Could one of them be your ancestor?<\/p>\n