How did the Mayflower compact help organize the lives of the Pilgrims?

That's difficult to answer because copies of the document included in various reference sources including Wikipedia the document has proven to be a hoax.





No original copies of the Mayflower Compact actually exist and if you were to find one, you would be a multi-millionaire and would have found one of the most important documents in the history of the United States. The "Colony of Virginia" is the most prominent fake, if you see one, don't buy it.





The ones that purport to be copies of the originals are have strong internal evidence that they are fakes made up by the then Governor of Virginia.





The official religion of Virginia as it was in England was Angicanism. At the time the Anglican church was persecuting "Dissenter Churches." The Pilgrims were essentially the Baptists and the Presbyterians and set off for North America to get as far away as from the Virginia as possible. This is how it was guessed that existing "copies" are hoaxes. Almost all documents quote a strong statement that the Governor and the Colony of Virginia are the governing authority of the Pilgrims which due to the animosity between the two groups, is dubious.





It would be highly unlikely that the Pilgrims would wish to join the existing Colony of Virgina. The Pilgrims would be putting themselves under the power of a Governor empowered by the King of England and the Governor would almost have certain put the Pilgrims in prison or placed them in indentured servitutude if they showed up in Virginia and did not convert to the official religion of England, the Church of England or Anglicanism.





The Governor of Virginia wished to enforce Anglicanism as the official religion of the American colonies and he definetly wanted to enforce his authority to govern all English Colonies in the New World as well as enforce laws that persecuted Dissenter churches and being the Governor it was within his power to rewite the Mayflower compact, the document stating how the Pilgrim colonies would be governed, which he did.





But although no copies or copies of copies exist of the original, the Dissenter's Mayflower Compact set out principles that were later placed in the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the United States such has Seperation of Church and State, the writ of Habeus Corpus and the ability to vote, ittself regardless of religion or creed and the right of a colony to govern itslef.





In Britain members of Dissenter churches could be thrown into prison with no trial with no arrest and for no reason as was the case with Dissenter John Bunyan, author or "Pilgrims Progress." The constitutional ability that takes away the State's right to jail anybody without an arrest or without a trial is called a "Writ of Habeus Corpus." In the United States a person couldn't be arrested and held in jail indefinetly because the Governor didn't like Baptists or Presbyterians. The common people for the first time had rights against being imprisoned for no reason.





Dissenters were not allowed to vote in England and the Mayflowyer Compact wished to vote or govern their own colonoy independent of the Governor of Virginia. Thus it is thought that this right of people to govern themselves was written into the Mayflower Compact.





Lastly the Mayflower Compact was thought to include freedom of religion which did not exist in the colony of Virginia nor in England.





Dissenters wished seperation of Church and State because they went through several persecutions in England whereby there property were seized, their businesses were seized, they were subject to special taxations which if they could not pay the law stated that Dissenters were to be placed in Workhouses. Lastly several outspoken Dissenters were hanged for treason. Since the King of England was the head of the Anglican Church, then anyone who spoke out against the Anglican Church was speaking out against the King. Several leaders of Dissenter churches were hanged in England for treason. It is felt by historians that Seperation of Church and State was included in the original document, whereas the Governor of Virginia's "document" states that Anglicanism is the official religion of all British colonies in the New World.





The statement in "existing copies of the Mayflower Compact" that the Pilgrims were looking for the colony of Virginia and missed it due to an error of navigation is almost certainly false. Why would Dissenters want to live in a place where the Governor of Virginia and his army could place them in the same persecution they faced in England?





Furthermore, the location of New England and the distance between it and the Colony of Virgina were well known. France had colonized the St. Lawrence, French, English and Dutch explorers had already mapped the area.





Lastly British fisherman had established seasonal fishing camps to fish in the newly found rich Cod fish banks and Whaling grounds off the coast of New England. Similar operations had already set up by the French in what is now Canada's Maratime Provinces.





The Dissenters picked a place far away enough from the French (they hoped) so the French wouldn't bother them. They would have access to the rich Cod fishing and Whaling hunting grounds that had just been discovered and were far enough from Virginia and it's English Governor and Army so they could have self-government.





Their choice for the placement of their colonies had another advantage. The Dutch Colony in what is now New York was between the Dissenter's Colonies and the King of England's Governor in Virgina. Holland was a strong military and maritime power at the time, Holland was essentially a country where Dissenter religions were welcomed and it was thought that the Governor of Virgina would think twice before marching his army north through a Dutch colony to put destroy the Dissenter settlements.





Anyway all that I told you are only guesses written by later historians. Current copies have been proven to by now scientific methods to be hoaxes first made up by the Governor of Virginia to assert his power. Other copies that are said to reflect the original ones -- the versions that the United States Constistution used -- have proved to be hoaxes as well.





No original copies are known to exist and it is one of the most sought after documents in the world.





So the Writ of Habeus Corpus, the ability to vote regardless of religion, seperation of Church and State and the right of self government are only oral traditions of what was thought to be written in the Compact that were then adopted by the Constitution of the United States.

How did the Mayflower compact help organize the lives of the Pilgrims?
It was a very simple agreement (compact) stating that all signing would agree to work together for the common good of the colony. (Now, if only we could all agree to do this in today's world. In their case,however, it was the weather that did them in w/ about half of the 102 passengers not making it through the first winter.)





See the actual document which is quite short at: http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates...
Reply:In the absence of a formal docrtrine, it gave the pilgirms an organized structure, for behavior and belief.
Reply:It helped they organize their own government which helps define our government today. So basically it helped them live life