The Mayflower Compact was the first government document in the Plymouth colony.
The document was written by the Pilgrim Fathers, the immigrants who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower, seeking freedom of worship. It was signed on November 11, 1620 on the shores of what is now Provincetown, near Cape Cod. When the Mayflower docked in Plymouth, the pilgrims realized they were in a land unknown to the London Company. That's why the Mayflower Compact was written and adopted. Many of the passengers knew that the previous settlements had failed because they had not had a government.
It is considered by some as the foundation of the Constitution of the United States of America.
It literally stated: "In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are 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. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour 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 another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as 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 hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini; 1620".
