| The Mayflower Compact was drawn up and signed by the male passengers of the ship, the Mayflower on 11 November 1620 (OS) / 21 November 1620 (NS). The leaders of the group, intending to establish a settlement in the wilderness of the New World, and desiring that such a settlement would maintain a sense of civil government, decided to compose and agree to this compact. |
| Yn ye name of God, Amen.
We whose names are underwritten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by ye grace of God, of great Britaine, france, & Yreland king, defender of ye faith, &t 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 bettor ordering & preservation & furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient for the generall good of ye Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. Yn witness wherof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd ye 11 November in ye year of ye raigne of our soveraign Lord King James of England, france & Yreland eighteenth and of Scotland ye fifth & fourth Ano; dom. 1620. John Carver, John Howland, William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins, Edward Winslow, Edward Tilly, William Brewster, John Tilly, Isaac Auerton, Frances cooke, Miles Standish, Thomas Rogers, John Alden, Thomas Tinker, Samuel Fuller, John Ridgdale, Christopher Martin, Edward Fuller, William Muuins, John Turner, William White, Francis Eaton, Richard Warren, James Chilton |
| From The Mayflower Compact And Its Signers, by George Ernest Bowman, 1920, Page 10, Facsimile of Oldest Known Manuscript Copy Of The Compact |
