Mayflower+Compact


 * The Mayflower Compact was a document signed by the members aboard the English ship, the "Mayflower", on November 11, 1620. The document reads:**

// “ In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, 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 Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civill body politick, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just and equall laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and convenient for the generall good of the Colonie unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape-Codd the 11. of November, in the year of the raigne of our sovereigne lord, King James, of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fiftie-fourth. Anno Dom. 1620.” //

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 * What is the Mayflower Compact? **

"//The Mayflower Compact is a written agreement composed by a consensus of the new Settlers arriving at New Plymouth in November of 1620. They had traveled across the ocean on the ship Mayflower which was anchored in what is now Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The Mayflower Compact was drawn up with fair and equal laws, for the general good of the settlement and with the will of the majority. The Mayflower’s passengers knew that the New World’s earlier settlers failed due to a lack of government. They hashed out the content and eventually composed the Compact for the sake of their own survival. //" []

The site states that the Mayflower Compact is an agreement made by the new settlers arriving at New Plymouth. It was made with the idea of fair and equal laws for the greater good of the settlers. It is said to be the foundation for today's current democracy, composing "the Compact for the sake of their own survival" (AllAboutHistory), where the govern follow the government, and in return, the government listens to the govern.



** How is this linked to today's Democracy ? **

 The Mayflower Compact wanted to create a small local government knowing the the original settlers fell apart without one. However, they wanted everyone to have equal power to part take in their government, but wanted the choices made in the government to benefit the group of settlers as a whole, and not just one person's needs. It became a framework for the current government, allowing voting by everyone to benefit the population as a whole. The pilgrims on the Mayflower knew that earlier settlers had failed because they lacked government. They knew that in order for them to survive and prosper they would need some type of government so the Mayflower Compact was drawn up. This Compact created a “Civil Body Politic" to enact "just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices.” This compact was the first “written framework of government established in what is now the United States.” The Mayflower Compact the most “important step in the evolution of democratic government in America” because it was the push that people needed to create their own government that did not consist of an overbearing monarchy (Britannica).

__Work Cited: __

// Foner, Eric and Garraty, John. "The Mayflower Compact" Mayflower Compact. History 1991 //
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// "Mayflower Compact - The Common Anchor" Mayflower Compact. AllAboutHistory //
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// "Mayflower Compact" Mayflower Compact. Britannica //
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// "Mayflower Compact : 1620" The Avalon Project. Yale //
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