Most of us were introduced to the Pilgrims and their ship, the Mayflower, as part of a fall remembrance of the “First Thanksgiving,” and that story certainly is inspirational and somewhat true.
The first gathering between the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag people in 1621 was not an event designed to unite the two peoples. Instead, the first day of the three-day harvest gathering began when the Pilgrims fired their guns and cannons to celebrate a successful harvest. The loud noises caused Massasoit and the Wampanoag to fear that an attack was imminent, so the leader gathered 90 of his men and marched toward Plymouth, only to be pleasantly surprised by the foods being prepared for the colony.
Massasoit and his men were invited to stay. Several Wampanoag disappeared for a short time, returning with deer to add to the banquet. No, there was no turkey, mashed potatoes, or pumpkin pie. Diary entries tell us that they ate venison, shellfish, corn porridge and local fowl and fish.
The first religious day of Thanksgiving did not occur until two years, when a difficult summer drought finally eased up after a prayer service. Again, the Pilgrims and their neighbors shared a harvest feast.
But our story of the second step toward self-government began in 1620 with 102 people aboard the Mayflower and an action that would contribute to the evolution of government in the American colonies and, ultimately, these United States.
After more than 65 days on a storm-tossed Atlantic Ocean, the ship’s lookout sighted land on November 9, 1620. Two days later, the ship anchored in a cove. However, the leaders realized that they were not in Northern Virginia but instead had been blown off course and were now much farther north than anticipated.
Their trip had been authorized under a charter granted by the Virginia Company, and the uncertainty of their colony threatened the group. Some of the non-Pilgrim passengers, referred to as the “Strangers,” threatened to break away and act on their own.
To maintain unity and social order, 41 adult male passengers — Pilgrims, tradesmen, and servants — signed a document believed to have been drafted aboard the ship by William Bradford and John Carver. The document created a “civil body politic” that would enact just laws, pledged the loyalty of all to King James I of England, and created a system by which all agreed to work together for the general good of the colony. It was a private contract between the Pilgrims and the tradesmen (“Strangers”), who had been sent by the Virginia Company to provide the necessary skills for the survival and success of the colony.
In simple but profound terms, the Mayflower Compact provided a written promise to form a government of consent with laws that would bind all — Pilgrims and non-Pilgrims — without religious or political discrimination. As was the tradition of that century, women did not sign.
Why is the Mayflower Compact a significant document in our constitutional-based history? It established a radical idea of government by the “consent of the governed” instead of rule by an absolutist monarch — and James I was indeed an absolutist who believed he ruled by divine authority. The document created a system of governance that existed until the colony became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony almost 70 years later.
The ideas of communal consent and a social contract between the governed would inspire the framers of both our Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.
These words in the Mayflower Compact remind us that men (and women) are capable of self-government: “doe by these presents solely and mutualy in ye presence of God, and one of another, couenant, & combine our selvues together into a ciuill body politick … and, by virtue hearof, to enacte, constitute, and frame shuch just & equal lawes, ordiances, Acts, constititions & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & coneunient for ye generall good of ye colonie: umtil which we proise all due submission and obedience.”
While their word usage and spelling are different from our current style, there is no doubt as to their intention. Hundreds of miles from the Jamestown Colony and its House of Burgesses, others were attempting to strike a balance between personal freedom and the “greater good.”
Many among us celebrate an ancestor who signed the Mayflower Compact, creating the second posthole for a future Republic. We should be proud, but we must also never forget that the road ahead would not be easy. The document creating our Republic was almost 200 years in the future, but the path was forming — and our ancestors had caught a glimpse of the promised land.
