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The Mayflower Compact, Four Centuries On
Just received this note from a well-read and perceptive friend:
Published in General
Don’t want to let the day slip away without noting that today marks the 400th anniversary of the signing of the Mayflower Compact.
Yes, the Virginians got here first, and were allowed to establish a representative assembly 401 years ago. But from the start, the Virginia colony existed under the authority and “laws” of the Virginia Company in London. The Pilgrims, by accident of navigation, landed outside the territorial limits of any existing, active legal or corporate authority. So they simply sat down as a citizenry and, instead of fighting over who should be the boss or bosses, established their own proto-democracy from scratch. And they did this coming from a pre-Enlightenment environment in which the “commons” in the British parliament were just (barely) beginning to assert their own rights and authority, in which concepts such as “equality” and “democracy” were virtually unknown, and in which monarchical and aristocratic rule had been the universal model for centuries. In the context of their times, it was rather remarkable.
So despite all their faults, hats off to the Pilgrim Fathers for planting a seed which has proved remarkably resilient over four centuries….
I am descended from thirteen people on the Mayflower including the famous (Standish, Alden and Mullins) and the infamous (John Billington the Mayflower murderer). Thanks for remembering this anniversary.
”And they did this coming from a pre-Enlightenment environment in which the “commons” in the British parliament were just (barely) beginning to assert their own rights and authority, in which concepts such as “equality” and “democracy” were virtually unknown, and in which monarchical and aristocratic rule had been the universal model for centuries. In the context of their times, it was rather remarkable.”
It could be a possibility that, with a bit of divine grace, these courageous, resolute people created this new identity out of what they didn’t want to continue: that of immobile social and economic castes and a despotic government hostile to religious liberty and associative freedom. Maybe it was the first act of defiance in favor of liberty that – god willing – keeps this a nation bound by a collective yearning for freedom. Remarkable, indeed. Thank you for sharing this!
Peter,
THE TEXT OF THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT:
Regards,
Jim
The picture of how many people died the first winter is overwhelming.
https://store.thehistorylist.com/products/mayflower-passengers-and-those-who-survived-the-first-year-infographic-poster?variant=31338081648705
The sainted Mrs. O’Shea is a direct descendant of Stephen Hopkins.
You cram that many people into a compact and what do you expect? They should have rented the biggest Mayflower SUV they could find…
(I’ll leave myself out.)
And 10 or 12 generations later, apparently nobody saved a nickel to pass down……
Timely and needed reminder Peter. Thanks for sharing.
If I am reading the infographic correctly you had a somewhat better chance of surviving if you were a part of a family and less chance of surviving if you were a man with no family. This would be in keeping with other catastrophes we have record of. Donner party for instance.
I was going to post something on the 11th but then realized that calendars have changed so what they called the 11th was actually the 21st for us.
They wrote the compact in Provincetown harbor. The Cape is sandy and not great for farming so they eventually crossed the bay to Plymouth. Also, the natives in P-town might not have been their type of people . . .
They arranged the colony on the principles they would organize their congregation. There is no overriding hierarchy in Congregationalism and the importance of consent. The Enlightenment was a late bloomer.
Wow! You don’t look that old . . .