SEA HISTORY for kids What was the Mayflower Compact? of England. The Mayflower voyage was paid for by the Virginia Company, a group of merchants and investors that had already founded Jamestown in 1607 and now was looking to start another colony at the mouth of the Hudson River. The North Atlantic is a cold and rough place to sail at this time of year, and after a stormy two-month passage at sea, they sighted the tip of Cape Cod and headed for shore. Their contract, or charter, with the Virginia Company had granted the colonists permission to settle the land at the mouth of the Hudson River, nearly 300 miles from where they ended up. With winter fast approaching and the sailing conditions looking increasingly dangerous, they decided not to go back to sea. Instead, they would settle locally, even though it meant ~........., ....._..._ they would be breaking the terms of their charter. Some of the passengers argued that because they had already broken this contract, they would not have to follow its rules. After much discussion, they came up with a new agreement about how they , . _. . . . .::;.._~~ would govern the new colony, promising to "obey all laws made for the common good of the colony." Aboard the Mayflower, this agreement was written up and signed by 41 of the men. This agreement later became known as the "Mayflower Compact," and it is considered an important step towards a~eiii-;~tlie idea of self-government,
n 6 September 1620, a ship named the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England, bound for North America. Onboard the ship were 102 passengers who were leaving their homeland to establish a colony in the wilderness on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. About half of the passengers were people we refer to as "the Pilgrims," who wanted to build a new community where they could practice their own religion, free from the restrictions of the Church
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the premise on which the United States Constitution is based. The Pilgrims and the other colonists
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Passengers of the Mayflower signing the "Mayflower Compact. "Painting byfeanL.G. Ferris (1863-1930). set out to explore the local area for a suitable spot to build their settlement. They chose a location across Cape Cod Bay and named it Plymouth (or Plimoth), after the port from where they embarked on their journey. The Mayflower anchored in Plymouth Bay for the winter and left to sail back to England in April 1621. Very little is known about the ship itself, even though it is one of the most famous vessels in American history. William Bradford, the governor of the Plymouth Colony, in writing about its history, wrote that a ship "was hired at London, ofburthen about nine scoure." He never recorded the ship's name, but SEAHJSTORY 133, WINTER2010-JJ
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