The Mayflower Compact

The journey

• 1620 a group of religious separatists chartered the ship named ”Mayflower”
• 1588 the Mayflower fought against the Spanish Armada (?)
• Pilgrim Fathers :They are a small group of religious separatists who broke with the High Church and they escaped to the Netherlands in 1607/08
• Because of the fact that they were British and couldn’t go back to England they wanted to emigrate to the British colonies
• They made a compact with English traders who chartered two ships for the Pilgrims: The Mayflower and the Speedwell
• August 5th, 1620 : Speedwell and Mayflower sailed to America
• The Speedwell got a leak and so they had to return and reload the provisions from the Speedwell to the Mayflower
• On 16th of September the Mayflower left Plymouth with 102 passengers and a crew which consisted of 34 men and the captain was Christopher Jones
• During this journey the Mayflower had to stand several hard storms
• During a storm a deckbeam broke and they repaired it but they all feared that it would break again
• One passenger and one seaman died but a baby was born and his name was ”Oceanus”
• On November 9th they saw land and on the 11th of November they left the ship
• It began to snow.
• After a little time they found a fresh water streak and land where they could cultivate cereals
• They spent the winter on board of the Mayflower but an illness spread and many people died . Only 53 people , half of the Pilgrim fathers and half of the crew, survived.
• In springtime they built huts and on March 21st they left the Mayflower

MAYFLOWER COMPACT:
->In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereigne Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith, and honour of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northerne parts of Virginia, doe, by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of 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 to enacte, constitute, and frame such just and equall laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and convenient for the generall good of the Colonie unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd the II. of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereigne lord, King James of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fiftie-fourth. Anno. Dom. 1620.


->November 11th, 1620: the pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact. This was the first known basic element of today´s systems
->it was necessary to sign it because some "strangers" were sent personally by the king´ s crown to find out if everything worked correctly
->they didn´t reach their original target , so they had to write out this compact (for both sides)
->it was problematic because the land was useless to plant : Captain Jones decided to check the new land and on his survey he landed at Plymouth
->there was useful land, a stream with clear water and proper surroundings
->December 11th, 1620: the settlers reached Plymouth and the compact was now used as the social basis
->the following winter was very hard, only half of them survived and if they hadn´t met two helpful Indians who gave them useful pieces of advice, they wouldn´t have survived either
->they traded with the Indians and one year later they first celebrated "Thanksgiving" which they knew from the Indians