Pilgrims Sign Compact: America's First Democracy Born
Forty-one male passengers aboard the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact on November 11, 1620, while anchored in Provincetown Harbor. The document was necessary because the ship had landed far north of its intended destination in Virginia, outside the jurisdiction of their patent from the Virginia Company. Some passengers, the 'Strangers' who were not Separatist Pilgrims, threatened to 'use their own liberty' once ashore. The Compact bound all signers to form a 'civil body politic' and obey laws created for the general good. It was not a constitution but a social contract: the signers agreed to govern themselves rather than be governed by an absent authority. John Alden, at 21 the youngest signer, would outlive all the others. The Compact influenced later colonial charters and is considered a forerunner of the U.S. Constitution.
November 11, 1620
406 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Cape Cod
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Mayflower Compact
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Provincetown Harbor
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Mayflower Compact
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Provincetown Harbor
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Cape Cod
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Plymouth Colony
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United States
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Pearl Harbor
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Hawaii
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Pacific Ocean
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دونالد شتاينر
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Biochemist
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ليان زيمبلر
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