Why Did The Mayflower Compact

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.

Introduction. The new boundaries and opportunities in the seventeenth century grew and challenged an idea of religious liberty. The lifestyle of the first colonists in the New England was heavily influenced by religion and church. Settlers considered that success of social life depends on the obedience to God’s will. The governor John Winthrop maintained and developed this idea. With a help of his Speech to the Massachusetts General Court in 1645, he summed up and explained an important idea of liberty. Winthrop did not only define a blessed way for a better life of the community but also clarified the role of citizens through the analogy of women’s position in the society. His concept of natural and moral liberty turned up to be suitable and clear for the settlers. With a help of well-built speech, Winthrop emphasized and explained correlation among society, authority, and God in the New World.

One of the main reasons to establish the Mayflower Compact was governing laws for and by the people. The Compact created the idea of a social contract . A social contract is authorized to follow the compact's rules and regulations for the sake of order and survival. “Civil Body Politic” purpose was to set equal law for the pilgrims and stranger on the Mayflower ship.

The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the “Saints”, later they were called Pilgrims. They left England trying to run from religious persecution by King James.

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.

In the very beginning of the British colonies’ rise to importance, a defining factor to its eventual freedom is created, influencing the turn towards a written constitution before the idea of the United States even crossed the minds of revolutionaries. The Mayflower Compact, an important legal document written by colonists waiting to touch land in the Americas in 1620, signifies the importance of written laws and

This was created in 1620 before the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth Bay, MA. It said that the 41 males who signed it agreed to accept majority rule and be part of a government with the best interest of all members of the colony. This agreement was the outline for later documents defining government in the

Meaning it pertains to a colony specifically which is expected because at this point in time, colonies were still in their stage of self-protecting. The Mayflower Compact of 1620 was the governing set of laws for Plymouth Colony written by the Separatists/Congregationalists who wanted to separate from the Anglican church in England. The reason for these laws was very simple and straightforward because after “observing some not well affected unity and concord but some appearance of faction” the officials thought it best for all to come together and for a central governing body to be enacted that would maintain order and enact the laws in the name of God as religion at this time played a heavy role in governmental policies to a certain extent (Document 1). This is similar to the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut enacted in 1639. According to their religious beliefs, God required that peace, order, and union be established and maintained which is what they did. The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut states that the “Word of God requires that, to maintain the peace and union of such a people, there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people” (Document 2). Both these approaches share many similarities in the fact that unity was created via a centralized internal government with a single ruling body. In addition, religious beliefs heavily dictated the form of

This compact was written in 1620, when the colonists wanted to be able to freely live from Great Britain. The colonists wanted self-government. They wanted the King to back off, and let them live freely. The Mayflower Compact says, “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,” (The Mayflower Compact 1620). This shows that the colonists wanted the King to let them govern themselves.

The Mayflower Compact caused settlers to further promise to abide by the laws that were created to benefit the people and the general good of the colony. The Mayflower Compact was the written document in which the settlers wrote their own laws and restrictions and chose officials and authority figures. The Mayflower Compact set a precedent for future generations because, even now, Americans abide by the laws that are on a written document, which includes

Although migration to the New World would be more often than not driven simply by a desire for success and a better life, the New England province would be home to refugees of religious persecution and violence in Europe. After the initial settlement of the area by Puritans in the early 1600s, tens of small communities and towns would soon pop up throughout the area, providing well-structured, defined, and relatively stable societies, oftentimes dictated and encoded in legal agreements or documents. One such example would be that of Document D, the Articles of Agreement, highlighting how the Massachusetts colony would be run. Written as a precursor to the voyage itself, the signing of the document by each passenger to the organizations’ rules, regulations, and ideas would help to ensure the relative stability and success of the colony after initial settlement. In addition to creating new, legitimate forms of governments, New England settlers would also be renown for taking care of their citizens, providing measure to ensure equality and opportunity for all such as with the 1676 Wage and Price Regulations in Connecticut, 1676. Enacted to help ensure relative prosperity for each member of the colony, the law would serve to be instrumental at promoting the same Christian values of community, family, and unity that Massachusetts was

In Jamestown, England’s first permanent American colony, the Virginia Company promised the settlers self-government not subject to whims of the ruler, but rather, to fair rules established by the first elected legislature in America. This legislature, which met in the House of Burgress, was loyal to the English monarchy and created a representative assembly, the roots of democracy. Similarly, in the Carolinas, the proprietors promised that laws were to be made by a representative assembly. Thirteen years after Jamestown was established, the Pilgrims drafted the Mayflower Compact, which guaranteed a civil government still loyal to the king.

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.

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.