Anniversary: The Mayflower Compact

11-12-07 | edcoil

[edcoil]

This weekend marks the anniversary of the Mayflower Compact, drafted and signed on November 11, 1620. It marked the first time in recorded history that a group of people freely of their own volition established a covenant to create a new civil government of their own.

Unfortunately, many Americans have forgotten it was done in the name of Christ, and its words are seldom found in textbooks or public tributes.

The Mayflower Compact says, in part: "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 presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic . . . ."

America's greatness is due to the deep convictions of her founders, including the Pilgrims who landed on her shores for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith. Praise God for the heritage enjoyed by all who love freedom!

[RightWhale]

The Mayflower returned to Channel freight service and then was surplussed and is now a barn.

[Enchante]

"a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia"

They missed Virginia by a few hundred miles but helped to give us the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots!! Who could have imagined in 1620 what would follow from the establishment of that tiny colony at Plymouth???

[wideawake]

It marked the first time in recorded history that a group of people freely of their own volition established a covenant to create a new civil government of their own.

Apparently the author never heard of Switzerland.

[camle]

they stopped because they were running out of beer.

BTW: wasn’t the Mayflower Compact a socialist failure?

[polymuser]

The Pilgrims of the Mayflower — a church relocation program to a new land where they wanted the government to stay out of their religious activities.

[17th Miss Regt]

They missed Virginia by a few hundred miles

They were just north of the edge of Virginia. Virginia was a lot bigger then!

[Broker]

Signed in the cabin of the Mayflower November 11, 1620

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are the 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 presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, 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, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time 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 hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November in the year of the reign of our sovereign Lord, Kings James of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and Scotland the fifty-fourth. Ano Dom. 1620

Signed

[ml/nj]

The Pilgrims of the Mayflower — a church relocation program to a new land where they wanted the government to stay out of their religious activities.

BS. You must have had a recent public school education. The Pilgrims wanted their church to be the government. The Mayflower Compact was specifically drafted to ensure that the few who were not of the same mind would have NO say in their government. It was to be pure majority rule.

ML/NJ

[Moose4]

Never forget, we Virginians beat you guys here by thirteen years. So yes, you were in Virginia at the time. :)

}:-)4

[maine-iac7]

Gov. William Bradford's Journal that he wrote for his family - is yet in print...it tells his eye/personal witness of that hardy little group from their first clandestine meetings at Scooby Manor, Yorkshire, the home of Elder William Brewster - through their arrests, houndings, to their flight to Holland, their 12 years there and the reasons for seeking a place unruled by others - (William Brewster, who had gone off to Oxford College at age 15 and then into the midst of the intrigue at Queen Elizabeth's court and particularly involved in the mess surrounding the beheading of Queen Mary, taught English at the Univ. of Leyden. At the same time, he had an illegal press where he published anti-crown books and pamphlets, one being the infamous "Perth Assembly" that resulted in an order for his head...) their perilous voyage - Brewster had to be smuggled aboard - and the first 2 decades in Plymouth.

This book is now titled: Of Plymouth Plantation and dispels so many myths still taught to school children - the most prevalent being the black and white clothing.

Last year, the History Channel made a film: "Desperate Crossing" = available through Amazon -

http://www.amazon.com/Desperate-Crossing-Untold-Story-Mayflower/dp/B000JU7JE6/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-6429105-9976858?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1194890478&sr=1-1

This is a stand alone adventure film. Even if you cared nothing about it from the Pilgrim standpoint, the film is superbly well done - with English Elizabethan Shakespearean actors and the scenery, costuming totally correct, for the first time - and the photography incredible...if you liked "Master and Commander" - you'll not be disappointed.

A great adventure film for Thanksgiving day...the real story, far more adventurous than what you were taught in school

[Broker]

Signers of the Compact
John Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, Isaac Allerton, Myles Standish, John Alden, Samuel Fuller, Christopher Martin, William Mullins, William White, Richard Warren, John Howland, Stephen Hopkins, Edward Tilley, John Tilley, Francis Cooke, Thomas Rogers, Thomas Tinker, John Rigdale, Edward Fuller, John Turner, Francis Eaton, James Chilton, John Crakston, John Billington, Moses Fletcher, John Goodman, Degory Priest, Thomas Williams, Gilbert Winslow, Edmond Margerson, Peter Brown, Richard Britteridge, George Soule, Richard Clarke, Richard Gardiner, John Allerton, Thomas English, Edward Doty and Edward Leister.

[goodnesswins]

bump for later

[maine-iac7]

"a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia"

They had NO intentions of going to Virginia - where they would be totally under the thumb of James =

They had the Map of New England - the one the (in)famous Capt. John Smith had made - and hired a captain, Christopher Jones, familiar with the area.

John Smith wanted to go with them as a guide but they did not like him - he was known as an unpleasant fellow.

They used the excuse of the dangerous seas off the southern tip of Cape Cod - Tucker's Shoals - as an excuse to scurry back around into the relative safety of Cape Cod Bay - found themselves a place to start a - largely uncontrolled by the crown - community.

Governor Bradford summed it all up thusly and prophetically:

"Thus, out of small beginnings... as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation, let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise" - William Bradford

[the gillman@blacklagoon.com]

The first year was a socialist disaster that nearly killed them off.

The second year was free enterprise and they never went hungry again.

When I was in elementary school the teachers bragged about this.

Now it’s a dirty secret.

[antinomian]

"It marked the first time in recorded history that a group of people freely of their own volition established a covenant to create a new civil government of their own."

But according to Thomas Hobbes we all did this way way back in some mystic woods and this is how we got kings and other forms of sovereigns. Hobbes quack philosophy is the basis of all modern political science.

[too much time]

I am a descendant of a signer (Richard Warren). I read where he is the most common Mayflower ancestor with several “million?” descendants -wikipedia.

[MayflowerMadam]

A good (interesting but a little dry) book on the subject is: “Saints and Strangers” by George f. Willison.

[antinomian]

"This weekend marks the anniversary of the Mayflower Compact, drafted and signed on November 11, 1620."

What is usually not mentioned is the reason they did this. The right to rule in those days was conceived as a form of property right. When the expedition went to Massachusetts instead of Virginia the indentured servants challenged their contracts. The Compact was a legal pretext to extend the expedition organizers jurisdiction to the new landing site.

[LonePalm]

Thank you for the post.

I am descended from signers John Alden, William Mullins, and George Soule.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)