The Mayflower Compact, 1620

In brief

Signed on November 11, 1620, by the Old Style calendar then used in England, aboard the Mayflower at Cape Cod, by the men of the company, the Pilgrims and others who sailed with them, before they went ashore.

The settlers had sailed to settle in the northern parts of Virginia but landed farther north, outside the territory covered by their patent. Some on board argued that, away from any established authority, they would be free of its rules. The compact answered that concern by binding the signers to one another.

The document is a single long sentence. The signers describe themselves as loyal subjects of King James and say they have undertaken the voyage for the glory of God, the advancement of the Christian faith and the honor of king and country. They then do solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine themselves into a civil body politic, and promise to enact such just and equal laws and offices as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good, to which they promise all due submission and obedience.

The compact was not a constitution in the later sense, and it did not claim independence from the Crown; it was a practical agreement for an emergency. It is nonetheless an early example in English North America of a group forming a government by mutual consent, which is why later generations treated it as a precursor of American constitutional thinking.

Key passages

covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid

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

Why it matters now

The compact joins two ideas that run through the American tradition: that government rests on consent, and that people entering a political community are bound by promises made before God and one another. The text is also a reminder that the settlers saw their civil order and their religious purposes as connected.

The full text

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 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.

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