History 2

Copyright © by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. The Mayflower Compact 1

The Mayflower Compact Puritan Separatists aboard the Mayflower

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OVERVIEW Named for the ship that brought the Pilgrims to New England, the Mayflower Compact was an agreement among the people on board to protect themselves by forming a government under their own laws. Forty-one men signed the compact on November 21, 1620. It became the first plan of self-government ever put in force in the English colonies.

GUIDED READING As you read, consider the following questions: • Why was the agreement created? • Why did the 41 men sign the compact?

n 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 the 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 another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, 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 hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland, the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini, 1620.

Mr. John Carver Mr. Samuel Fuller Peter Brown Mr. William Bradford Mr. Christopher Martin Richard Britteridge Mr. Edward Winslow Mr. William Mullins George Soule Edward Tilly Mr. William Brewster John Tilly Mr. William White Francis Cooke Isaac Allerton Thomas Rogers Myles Standish Mr. Richard Warren Thomas Tinker John Alden John Ridgdale John Turner John Howland Edward Fuller Francis Eaton Mr. Steven Hopkins Richard Clark James Chilton Richard Gardiner John Craxton Digery Priest Mr. John Allerton John Billington Thomas Williams Thomas English Joses Fletcher Gilbert Winslow Edward Doten John Goodman Edmund Margesson Edward Liester

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