How did the Mayflower Compact emphasize the colonists desire for self-government?

The pilgrims knew that they had landed off course and would not be under the laws of Jamestown. By all of the men aboard the Mayflower signing the Mayflower Compact, they showed that they were willing to create fair rules and follow them, thereby self-governing.





(I don't know what that first answer is about, but the King did not sign the Mayflower Compact.)

How did the Mayflower Compact emphasize the colonists desire for self-government?
The exact words are: " do 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 enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, 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. "


The situation was that they sailed late in the year and also took a long time to get to the New World. The weather encouraged them to make landfall by Cape Cod. However, by landing there, they made their previous agreement with the Company null an void. Also, some of the passengers ( strangers) on the ship had never agreed in the first place and were threatening to do their own thing once they landed. The compact, a very short document, was written in a hurry and signed before they landed. William Bradford, who later became governor of the Plymouth Colony, explained that they felt that a contract freely entered into by all would be stronger than a company contract which might very well be rescinded, because they didn't end up in the right place.


The idea of covenants or compacts was used frequently for religious groups at that time. The Pilgrim elders, because they had already moved a few times had already, made at least three such religious compacts. Therefore, it was probably natural for them to use the same technique for a civil agreement.


I found a website that seems to have a lot of information too.


Hope this gets you started.
Reply:because for the first time in history they got a king to bend to their will, to sign a contract

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