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Mayflower Compact

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What was the Mayflower Compact and what is its significance in American history?

More than three centuries ago the Virginia Company of London gave a patent for a settlement to some London merchants headed by Thomas Weston. Over twenty-four families were sent over to America on a small, leaky ship, called The Mayflower. These colonists promised to send lumbers, furs, and fish back to the Weston for seven years. After these seven years, they would own the tract. The leaders of the expedition and half the members were Separatist Puritans that had withdrawn from the Church of England. In November of 1620, this ship landed at Plymouth bay in present-day Massachusetts. They had no legal right to be there, thus the leaders had all the adult males in the group sign a document known as the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact is what the Pilgrims were gathered around in the painting, Architect of the Capitol, by Allyn Cox (1896-1982). This document constituted them selves as a “civil body politic” or government, thus establishing the Plymouth colony. The artist that painted the Architect of the Capitol wanted to capture the beginnings of America. He added the Indian on the left hand side to remind Americans who was here first and who helped our ancestors. The colors Cox used were very light colors not using any vibrant colors to portray peace and elegance. Cox’s painting is of the beginning of our government and also the beginning of the New World. The Mayflower Compact is commonly referred to as the beginning of American democracy and one the foundations of the US Constitution. The people of the expedition came together and agreed in a written document, rules that would govern their community as they began their new lives in America. It determined the distribution of authority and governed by fair laws. The Compact showed the equality of

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