Rough seas and storms prevented the Mayflower from reaching its intended destination in the area of the Hudson River, and the ship was steered instead toward Cape Cod. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names; Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord King James, of England, France and Ireland eighteenth and of Scotland fifty-fourth, Anno Domini 1620. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. HistoryofMassachusetts.org.The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. See the fact file below for more information on the Mayflower Compact or alternatively download our comprehensive worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment. Mayflower Compact, document signed on the English ship Mayflower on November 21 [November 11, Old Style], 1620, prior to its landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts. After all, establishing a New World colony would be difficult enough without dissent in the ranks. Within this legally uncertain situation, friction arose between the English Separatists (the Pilgrims) and the rest of the travelers, with some of the latter threatening to leave the group and settle on their own. They elected John Carver governor on November 21, 1620. He’s also sometimes given credit for helping write the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact was a set of rules for self-governance established by the English settlers who traveled to the New World on the Mayflower. Born in England, he migrated with the Separatist congregation to the Netherlands as a teenager. It was written by the male passengers of the Mayflower, consisting of separatist Puritans, adventurers, and tradesmen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the Faith, etc. Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, 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 politic, 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, 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. All of the people who signed the Mayflower Compact were male. In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc. He was an English military officer hired by the Pilgrims to accompany them to the New World to serve as military leader for the colony. Sign Me Up. The Mayflower Compact was signed on November 11, 1620 aboard the ship of the same name: the Mayflower. The Mayflower Compact was needed because the Separatists and Strangers on board the ship couldn’t agree on the rules of settlement. As the original version of the Mayflower Compact was lost, the oldest known source in which the text of the document (provided below) can be found is Mourt’s Relation (1622), an account of Plymouth’s settlement written by Edward Winslow and William Bradford.