"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, etc., having undertaken for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these present solemnly, and mutually, in the presence of God, and of one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the end forlaid, and by virtue hear of to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices from time to time, as shall be thought most convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.

In Witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod the 11 of November, in the year of the reign of our Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fiftyforth, Ano Dom. 1620.

KEY POINTS

• The Protestants declared their purpose for forming the colony was " for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith".
• They formed the first colony in Virginia by compact not by constitution.
• As a politic by compact, they declared that they had the authority" to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts".
• As a politic by compact, they declared that they had the authority to create "constitutions and offices from time to time, as shall be thought most convenient for the general good of the Colony". In other words they declared that the people of the politic do not tranfer to government the authority to expand itself. The authority to create or void governments and new offfices, remains with the people.
• All future government and laws to be formed in the colony of Virginia were to be the result of the autonomus power of the free politic and not the result of the King of England extending his Authority to rule in America.
• The Common Law of England was not adopted by the colony in Virginia. The people were " to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts... from time to time, as shall be thought most convenient for the general good of the Colony"." This right of sovereignty was declared in the declaration clause of their compact.

You may be asking why the Mayflower Compact is so important to American politics 376 years later. The answer is found in the 1775 Declaration made by the Continental Congress just before they wrote the 1776 Declaration declaring their independence. The following is taken from the 1775 Declaration:

"Our forefathers, inhabitants of the island of Great Britain, left their native land, to seek on these shores a residence for civil and religious freedom. At the expense of their blood, at the hazard of their fortunes, without the least charge to the country from which they removed, by unceasing labour, and an unconquerable spirit, they effected settlements in the distant and inhospitable wilds of America, then filled with numerous and warlike nations of barbarians.

Societies or governments,vested with perfect legislatures, were formed under charters from the crown, and an harmonious intercourse was established between the colonies and the kingdom from which they derived their origin. The mutual benefits of this union became in a short time so extraordinary, as to excite astonishment. It is universally confessed, that the amazing increase of the wealth, strength, and navigation of the realm, arose from this source; and the minister, who so wisely and successfully directed the measures of Great Britain in the late war, publicly declared, that these colonies enabled her to triumph over her enemies.



Every "Thanksgiving Day", remember the price that has been paid so you and your family can live in a land that has both civil and religious freedom.