Mayflower Compact

Mayflower Compact

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. 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, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, 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 another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. 

IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620.

Mr. John Carver,

Mr. William Bradford,

Mr Edward Winslow,

Mr. William Brewster.

Isaac Allerton,

Myles Standish,

John Alden,

John Turner,

Francis Eaton,

James Chilton,

John Craxton,

John Billington,

Joses Fletcher,

John Goodman,

Mr. Samuel Fuller,

Mr. Christopher Martin,

Mr. William Mullins,

Mr. William White,

Mr. Richard Warren,

John Howland,

Mr. Steven Hopkins,

Digery Priest,

Thomas Williams,

Gilbert Winslow,

Edmund Margesson,

Peter Brown,

Richard Britteridge

George Soule,

Edward Tilly,

John Tilly, 

Francis Cooke, 

Thomas Rogers, 

Thomas Tinker, 

John Ridgdale 

Edward Fuller, 

Richard Clark, 

Richard Gardiner, 

Mr. John Allerton, 

Thomas English, 

Edward Doten, 

Edward Liester.

On the same day John Carver was confirmed in the office of Governor. He had already been chosen Governor on board the Mayflower, and his confirmation was doubtless a mere form rendered necessary by the adoption of a constitution of government under which his official duties were to be performed. "In the cabin of the Mayflower, then" says Davis, " not only was the foundation stone of republican institutions on this continent laid, but the first New England town-meeting was held and the first elective officers chosen by the will of a majority." On the 27th of February the first recorded meeting on land was held in the common house " for appointing military orders," and Miles Standish was chosen captain.