Mayflower Compact North America [1620]

Mayflower Compact, document signat al vaixell anglès Mayflower el 21 de novembre [11 de novembre, Old Style], 1620, abans del seu desembarcament a Plymouth, Massachusetts. Va ser el primer marc de govern escrit i promulgat al territori que avui és els Estats Units d’Amèrica.

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Els mars i les tempestes rudes van impedir que el Mayflower arribés a la destinació prevista a la zona del riu Hudson i el vaixell va ser dirigit cap al Cap Cod. A causa del canvi de rumb, els passatgers ja no eren de la jurisdicció de la carta concedida a Anglaterra per la Companyia de Virgínia. Dins d’aquesta situació legalment incerta, es va produir una fricció entre els separatistes anglesos (els pelegrins) i la resta de viatgers, amb alguns d’aquests darrers que amenaçaven de deixar el grup i establir-se pel seu compte.

Per calmar el conflicte i preservar la unitat, els líders del Pelegrí (entre ells William Bradford i William Brewster) van redactar el Mayflower Compact abans de sortir a terra. El breu document (aproximadament 200 paraules) va lligar els seus signants a un organisme polític amb l’objectiu de formar govern i es va comprometre a complir les lleis i reglaments que després s’establirien “pel bé general de la colònia”. El compacta va ser signat per gairebé tots els passatgers masculins adults de Mayflower (41 d’un total de 102 passatgers) mentre que el vaixell estava ancorat al port de Provincetown. La seva autoritat es va exercir immediatament quan John Carver, que havia ajudat a organitzar l'expedició, va ser escollit governador de la nova colònia.

The Mayflower Compact was not a constitution but rather an adaptation of a Puritan church covenant to a civil situation. Furthermore, as a provisional instrument adopted solely by the colonists, the document did not solve the matter of their questionable legal rights to the land they settled. (A patent was eventually obtained from the Council for New England in June 1621.) Still, the Mayflower Compact became the foundation of Plymouth’s government and remained in force until the colony was absorbed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691. Although in practice much of the power in Plymouth was guarded by the Pilgrim founders, the compact, with its fundamental principles of self-government and common consent, has been interpreted as an important step in the evolution of democratic government in America.

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.

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.

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. 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.