The Mayflower Compact
The agreement signed on board ship at Cape Cod by the men of the Plymouth company before they landed. They covenant to form a civil body politic and to obey the laws it makes.
The signers describe themselves as loyal subjects of King James who have undertaken a voyage “to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia” for the glory of God, the advancement of the Christian faith and the honour of king and country. They covenant and combine themselves into a civil body politic, and promise submission to the laws and officers it shall appoint. The text is dated at Cape Cod on 11 November 1620.
The original document is not known to survive. The text was printed in London in 1622 in A Relation or Journal of the English Plantation at Plymouth (Mourt’s Relation), and William Bradford copied it into his history, where he explains that it was made because some of the passengers had said that no one would have power to command them once ashore, their patent being for Virginia and not for New England. The name by which it is now known is later than the document. It is cited in the Pilgrims Land at Plymouth.
Cited in
- 1620, firm date