by Whitney Levon

Created on: October 22, 2009   Last Updated: October 27, 2009

The ship known as the Mayflower landed in Provincetown Harbor, now known as Cape Cod, landed in the winter of 1620 with 102 passengers aboard. Landfall came after two long, dangerous months at sea. The settlers landed far off course from their original destination of Virginia, which is the location that England granted a patent to settle. Because they had no "permission" to settle where they did, there was no governing legal document for the settlement. This caused the men to draft what we know today as the Mayflower Compact.

The Mayflower Compact was the contract of government that all of the men aboard the Mayflower signed in order to provide law and order to their new settlement. Although all of the settlers of the Mayflower colony were beholden to the monarchy of England, there had been no precedent set for how to govern a colony in the Americas when no official document had been provided by the monarchy. These settlers recognized this, and wanted to see to it that their settlement would thrive. By ensuring that there was a recognized government structure absent the governing body of England's presence, the Mayflower settlers would create a successful colonial settlement.

The document was originally drafted to make sure that all people aboard the Mayflower would stay within their new settlement. Several people on the ship had discussed leaving the rest of the settlers. This is because the settlement was originally planned for what is now Virginia. When the decision was made to change it to New England, some people were upset. It was important that no one leave the settlement because everyone's hands were needed for labor. If anyone left, surviving on the new land would be more difficult as there would not be enough people to share in the labor of hunting, planting, and building.

The contract did keep all of the pilgrims in the settlement, so in that respect it served its purpose. The first winter in Provincetown Harbor was a very difficult one. The weather was unforgiving, and supplies were desperately lacking. Only 53 of the original settlers survived to see the spring. One might wonder if more people would have survived had they been allowed to travel south to their original destination where the climate was more temperate. In hindsight, staying with the ship at the original landing sight was essentially a death-sentence for over half of the Pilgrims.

All forty one men from the Mayflower did sign the contract on November 11, 1620 while they were aboard the ship. The original copy of the Mayflower Compact has been lost, and it is widely believed that it was destroyed. There was originally no name to the document, and it was never called the Mayflower Compact by the Mayflower settlers. In fact, the name was not given until 1793. The framers of the Constitution, some of whom were direct descendents of the Mayflower pilgrims, have referred to the document as the foundation for our Constitution. In many respects, we have the Pilgrims to thank for the government that we have today.

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