Mayflower Compact establishes self-government principles

On November 11, 1620, the adult male passengers of the Mayflower signed the Mayflower Compact while the ship lay off Cape Cod. William Bradford, William Brewster, and other Separatist leaders agreed to form a 'civil body politic' because the settlers had landed outside the bounds of the Virginia Company's patent. The Compact committed the signers to make and obey laws for the general good of Plymouth Colony.

The Mayflower Compact answered a practical constitutional problem: without a valid patent for Cape Cod, the Pilgrims needed a recognized source of political authority before they went ashore. By grounding government in mutual covenant rather than in a governor sent from London, the signers blended English legal forms with the congregational habits of the Separatists. The document therefore made consent, oath, and community obligation central to political order in early New England.

The Compact became the founding political act of Plymouth Colony and set the pattern for annual elections under governors such as William Bradford. Later New England colonies and American writers pointed to the Mayflower Compact as an early example of self-government by written agreement.