Mayflower Compact was a written agreement for self-government signed by 41 adult male members of the Plymouth Colony. On Nov. 21 (then Nov. 11), 1620, the ship Mayflower anchored off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Cape Cod was well north of the ship’s intended destination and outside of the authority of the Virginia Company, from which the settlers had obtained their grant. William Bradford, the colony’s second governor, later wrote that the compact was partly inspired by the ”mutinous speeches” of some passengers who claimed “none had the power to command them, the patent they had being for Virginia and not for New England.” The original compact has disappeared. The version below follows the spelling and punctuation in Of Plimoth Plantation, written between 1630 and 1651 by Bradford and published in 1856 as History of Plymouth Plantation.
“In ye name of God Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord King James, by ye grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith, &c. Haveing undertaken, for ye glorie of God, and advancemente of ye Christian faith and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly & mutualy in ye presence of God, and one of another, covenant, & combine ourselves togeather into a Civill body politick; for our better ordering, & preservation & furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hereof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just & equall Lawes, ordinances, Acts, constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient for ye generall good of ye colonie: unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witnes whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd ye -11- of November, in ye year of ye raigne of our soveraigne Lord King James of England, France, & Ireland ye eighteenth, and of Scotland ye fiftie fourth. Ano Dom. 1620.”
