Colonists and the Colony

Current articles in this section:

1. The Mayflower Compact

2. The "Pilgrims" as People

3. "Stitches in Time: Sewing in Plymouth Colony"

4. Residents of Plymouth According to the 1627 Division of Cattle

5. Timeline of Plymouth Colony 1620-1692

The Mayflower Compact

On November 11, 1620, before they came ashore on Cape Cod, the Mayflower passengers made an agreement to join together as a “civil body politic.” They also agreed to submit to the government which would be chosen by common consent, and to obey all laws made for the common good of the colony. While the original document no longer exists, the text was included in a book about Plymouth Colony printed in 1622, known as Mourt’s Relation. Governor William Bradford also copied it into is history of Plymouth Colony. The list of 41 signers first appeared in a book by another colonist, Nathaniel Morton, New England’s Memoriall, published in 1669. No one knows if he copied it from the original document or not, but it included the names of all male heads of families, the free single men and three of the male servants.

The agreement (first called the Mayflower Compact in 1793) didn’t get much official attention until after the American Revolution. Politicians struggling to establish the government of the newly-created United States looked to the early Plymouth colonists for precedent. The Loyalists who supported peace with England pointed to their loyalty to King James and the laws of England. Pro-revolutionists saw the document as an example of pure democracy. John Quincy Adams, described the agreement in 1802 as “the only instance in human history of that positive, original social compact,” which many believed to be the only legitimate source for government. Adams’ view won out, and the Mayflower Compact has been viewed since as a cornerstone of American democracy.

Original Text:

"In ye name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc, and Ireland king, defender of the faith, etc.

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 our selves togeather into a civill body politick, for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte lawes, ordinances, acts constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet & convenient for ye generall good of ye Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witnes wherof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd ye 11th. 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."

The text is taken from Gov. Bradford's Of Plimoth Plantation, as the original document no longer exists. Nathaniel Morton, Bradford's nephew and Plymouth Colony's first published historian, gives the following names as signers of the document:

John Carver	Edward Tilly	Digery Priest
William Bradford	John Tilly	Thomas Williams
Edward Winslow	Francis Cooke	Gilbert Winslow
William Brewster	Thomas Rogers	Edmund Margeson
Isaac Allerton	Thomas Tinker	Peter Brown
Miles Standish	John Rigdale	Richard Bitteridge
John Alden	Edward Fuller	George Soule
Samuel Fuller	John Turner	Richard Clark
Christopher Martin	Francis Eaton	William Mullins
James Chilton	John Allerton	William White
John Craxton	Thomas English	Richard Warren
John Billington	Edward Doten	John Howland
Moses Fletcher	Edward Leister	Stephen Hopkins
John Goodman	Richard Gardiner

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