The Mayflower Compact
The story of new discoveries
The Beginning
When the Mayflower first began it was expected to be all apart of Virginia with set rules and laws but when an unexpected storm drove the ship off course it changed what they thought would be Virginia and is ended up anchoring in what is now Massachusetts.
Starting on their own
Once the Mayflower realized they were on their own they decided that they could establish their own government and have their own set of laws. At first it was intended to settle near the mouth of the Hudson river but that also changed.
They were based on a Majoritarian model which means the majority were the ones who made the rules; Women and children were not able to vote and they all followed the compacts rules for the sake of staying alive.
The compact was signed on November 11, 1620 by the pilgrims. In 70 years on their own they were able to go from the population of 100 people to 3,000. Striving on their own they succeeded with their own laws and own liberty from people of the age of 0 to 64 on board.
Mr. Edward Winslow
- The thirds signer of the Mayflower compact
George Soule
- The thirty fifth signer of the Mayflower compact
Capt. Myles Standish
- The sixth signer of the Mayflower compact
Three different versions?
There are three different versions of the the compact that was signed by 41 English colonists. Each one was slightly different in detail weather it had extra information or less. The original document was written by William Bradford and was printed by his nephew Nathaniel Marton. The original document was lost but the handwritten script is now kept in a volt at the state library of Massachusetts.
The name of the mayflower was given from major ports city in Devon, England. It was the first governing document of the Plymouth colony that changed all the visions and laws of the modern day Virginia.