What is the Mayflower Compact?

The story begins with Pilgrims and 'Strangers' (merchants, skilled workers, etc.) sailing on the Mayflower for a better life. Granted permission to settle in Virginia, rough seas diverted them, leading them to land in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, far from their intended destination.

Landing in a place without pre-existing laws or an English settlement, the Pilgrims and Strangers needed to create a new set of rules to coexist and survive. This led to the creation of the Mayflower Compact before they left the ship, establishing a new colony named Plymouth.

Despite a harsh first winter that claimed the lives of over half the settlers, the Plymouth Colony became self-sufficient within five years and established successful trade relations with the Wampanoag tribe.

The Mayflower Compact was crucial because it established the first self-governing society in the New World. Although loyal to the English king, they created their own rules and worked for the common good. This document, despite its brevity, remained the law of the Plymouth Colony for 71 years and later inspired the framers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.