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The Mayflower Compact Your name

PLYMOUTH COLONY | 1620

The story is among the most well known in United States history: in 1620 a ship called the
Mayflower arrived in what is today Massachusetts. Most of the passengers on the ship were
Puritans, later called Pilgrims, a religious group fleeing persecution in Britain. But there were
others in the diverse group on the ship, including adventurers and tradesmen. Order was es-
sential for the settlers’ survival, so 41 men on the Mayflower wrote and signed this agreement
— a sort of social contract or constitution — to follow the rules set by the community and
remain loyal to the British crown. The Mayflower Compact in many ways marks the begin-
ning of constitutional, majority rule which forms the basis of American democracy today.

1 IN 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, &c.

Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the
5 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,
NOTES
and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time
The original document has
10 to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto been lost, so the exact wording
which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. is uncertain. Historic records
differ slightly in wording as
well as capitalization, spelling,
IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of and punctuation. Likewise, the
signers’ names have different
November,1 in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the spellings from source to source.
14 eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620. 1 In 1620, Britain used a
calendar called the Julian
calendar; in 1752 Britain and
1. Mr. John Carver, 15. Edward Tilly, 29. Digery Priest, its colonies adopted the
2. Mr. William Bradford, 16. John Tilly, 30. Thomas Williams, Gregorian calendar, which
is still used today. For dates
3. Mr Edward Winslow, 17. Francis Cooke, 31. Gilbert Winslow, in the 1600s, the calendars
4. Mr. William Brewster. 18. Thomas Rogers, 32. Edmund Margesson, differed by 10 days. This is
an “Old Style” date, meaning
5. Isaac Allerton, 19. Thomas Tinker, 33. Peter Brown, it is according to the Julian
6. Myles Standish, 20. John Ridgdale 34. Richard Britteridge calendar; the “New Style”
date, according to our
7. John Alden, 21. Edward Fuller, 35. George Soule, modern Gregorian calendar,
8. Mr. Samuel Fuller, 22. John Turner, 36. Richard Clark, is 21 November 1620.

9. Mr. Christopher Martin, 23. Francis Eaton, 37. Richard Gardiner, 2 It is not known in what
order the signers’ names
10. Mr. William Mullins, 24. James Chilton, 38. Mr. John Allerton, appeared on the Mayflower
11. Mr. William White, 25. John Craxton, 39. Thomas English, Compact (or if this is even
the complete or correct list,
12. Mr. Richard Warren, 26. John Billington, 40. Edward Doten, though it likely is). These
13. John Howland, 27. Joses Fletcher, 41. Edward Liester.2 numbers, which sometimes
appear in a different order,
14. Mr. Steven Hopkins, 28. John Goodman, were added in a later
printing of the compact, and
they are sometimes used by
Layout, introduction, and notes © 2019 Dustin Tyler Joyce. All rights reserved. | March 2019 | dtjoyce.com
modern genealogists and
Copies of this document may be made only by the original purchaser for use in a classroom or other educational setting.
This copyright notice should appear on all copies made. Source of text: The Avalon Project, Yale Law School, Lillian Goldman Law Library other researchers.