Majority Rule In Plymouth Bay Colony

The Mayflower Compact is written to“constitute and frame” the government for the Pilgrims, and the Mayflower Compact contains and applies to law, ordinances, and acts that are meant to be followed by each of the Pilgrims living in northern Virginia. This document exemplifies how the first body of government in North America came to be, and the first laws, ordinances, etc. that were instituted, and it represents how the Mayflower Compact was a basis, and an influence on today’s government.

The Mayflower Compact was the first document creating a crude agreement for self-government in America and has been referred to

The most important idea of the Mayflower Compact was the fact that it was the first rules created by the Pilgrims made for the New World. It was signed by 41 colonists on the Mayflower on November 11th, 1620, it was the first written government of what is now the United States. The Mayflower's destination was Virginia, but due to a storm they ended up at Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts. The Pilgrim Leader, William Bradford and other Males among the Mayflower created a compact that bound all signers to accept whatever government was

The Mayflower Compact, being the first governing document in the New World, was based on good intentions. William Bradford justifies the Mayflower Compact for the good of the colony and religion. The Mayflower Compact was wrote to combine the people together in the colony. It was to help the colony religiously advance, and to show honor to the King of England by its togetherness. They Mayflower Compact was created for equality in law and in Government. The Mayflower Compact is exactly like a Declaration of Independence for the Colonists. The Mayflower Compact set the outline for the Government in the Virginia colony. This is an example of indepedence because the colonists were self-governing. The colonists were separated from England.

Plymouth developed a strategic government molded from religion. In November 1620, the Plymouth colony arrived on the Mayflower with both pilgrims and non-pilgrims. This resulted in the Mayflower Compact,”they pledged themselves to unite into a civil body politic or

Because they were outside the jurisdiction of the company and concerned that new Pilgrims among them might cause problems, the leaders signed the Mayflower Compact, an agreement establishing a civil government under the sovereignty of King James I and creating the Plymouth Plantation colony. The structure of their society was based on God (Doc. D), which is the primitive reason why the sailed away from England and broke away from the Anglican Church to live by their own faith. Egalitarian customs were of great significance to New England and they were convinced that being unified would strengthen their faith and set an example for other communities. “We shall be that city upon the hill” (Doc. A).

The Declaration of Independence was the first document to be adopted by the founding fathers in 1776. Its main purpose was to separate from the British Monarchy. The colonists knew this would be a clear step towards a new form of practicing self-government. The form in which the colonist decided to move towards was a Democracy. Which was shown in the U.S Constitution. This meant that everyone would have a part in the new government system unlike the British where one had little to no say. With this declaration, the 13 Colonies became the United States of America.

Each of the colonies founded and established their own government. Virginia set up “the House of Burgess” they first met on July 30, 1619, over ten years since the colonists had settled in Jamestown. The House of Burgess was in charge of all the personal business of Jamestown. The government that was established for Plymouth, Massachusetts is a little different. Their government, “the Mayflower Compact”, was signed by the forty-one men on the ship while sailing over to the New World. The Mayflower Compact is one of the building blocks to the Constitution of the United

The Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact, in Cape Cod, on November 11th,1620. The Mayflower Compact emphasizes the idea of being together as one and evidently, the compact states, “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 of another,” This quote holds importance because it discusses how the Mayflower Compact is mostly an agreement between the Pilgrims and God so they can all learn to be united. This way they could build a relationship with God, by all sharing respect for each other. This later allowed the people to respect each other and abide by the rules of the government. Later, the Compact discussed combining as one union, instead of thinking about the individuals who make up the union, by stating, “Combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts,constitutions.”

So, the idea was simple, the colonies wanted to be their own separate land, not bound to anyone country from the old land. This idea spread for years, taking a look at the Document D is a perfect example of this--Benjamin Franklin's 1754 famous “join or die” woodcut was the perfect embodiment of why the colonies need to join together. The woodcut was originally used to get support for the Britain in the Seven Years War, as some colonies did not want to fight. Later this same symbol became a call for war against the British, this simple woodcut symbolized the idea that without full support from every colony, a revolution for freedom could not be

The Mayflower Compact, written and signed in 1620 by forty-one white men aboard a ship called the Mayflower, provided basic laws for those who first arrived in America. Eventually the thirteen colonies expanded, which brought an economical benefit and expanded trade for Britain. However, in the mid-1700s, Britain pushed the colonists to their limits, imposing them with unfair taxes. As a result, in 1775, colonists revolted in the American Revolution. When the war ended, colonists gained their freedom, from Britain, with the signing of The Treaty of Paris (1783).

Written documents proved to be a major influence on the unification of the American colonies. Beginning as early as 1620, when the Separatist Pilgrims left the jurisdiction of the Church of England and escaped the “Dutchification” of their children in Holland to go to the New World, the establishment of self-government through the Mayflower Compact became present. It was heavily based off of the Magna Carta of 1215 which provided the foundation of the rule of law. Created and signed by the adult males onboard, the document stated that the Pilgrims would “combine [themselves] together into one civil body politic, for [their] better ordering and preservation” (Document 1). It went on to declare that they would abide by the newly formed laws and elect officers. This led to the creation of town meetings, places of direct democracy where men could work together with each other to create laws.

This angered many Americans because they felt that the land was their birthright, but this document was not drawn up to oppress the colonies, but it was made to work out the

The creation the Mayflower compact was a very significant event in the history of the United States because of its example of a the first type of government in North America. The Mayflower Compact was draw up by a group of people known as Pilgrims in 1620. These people, mostly English, were in search of more religious freedom and better lives in the New World. 100 pilgrims began this journey in September of 1620 (History.com staff). Before, landing in New England, the Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact. This legal document created “just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices” (History.com staff). This was the first example of a self-government in the New World. The founding fathers would later use many of the ideas in the Mayflower Compact in other governing documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. Through these examples, it is clear that the Mayflower Compact is significant to American history because it provided many ideas of self government that are still used in our governing documents today.

Now does anyone know the date when the document was adopted. (Wait for responses) That is correct; the document was officially adopted on July 4, 1776. The document was formally entitled, The unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen united States of America , and was primarily written by Thomas Jefferson. If you notice on the placard, the word united in the document does not begin with the capital letter, signifying the fact that the thirteen colonies were independent states rather than one nation. The