The Mayflower Compact: A Young Person’s Perspective- Historical, Present-day Societies, and Personal.
Historical: The signers of the Mayflower Compact had a variety of motivations in the creation of their founding document. The pilgrims that had come seeking a new home in the new world found themselves outside of the jurisdiction of the Virginia charter, and there were mutterings of mutiny among the voyagers. One of the primary motivations in the writing of the compact was to establish the rule of law and to legitimize their colonization of an unclaimed area. Each of the sections of the compact was carefully considered by the writers of the document, as this charter would set the precedent for how the governance of their planned colony would …show more content…
This is apparent both in the form of their repeated appeals to the “grace of God” and to “our dread sovereign Lord, King James” (Mayflower). The reasons for both of these are rather clear. The majority of the people on the Mayflower were religious, with many of the pilgrims seeking a new home in order to practice their own brand of religion, free from the confines of the Church of England. This being the case, it is only natural that their deep respect for God is apparent in their colony’s founding document. The explanation for King James’ inclusion in their document is equally slightly more complicated. The primary reason for his inclusion in the Mayflower Compact is that as the settlers had landed outside of the jurisdiction of the Virginia charter, the legality of their future settlement under English law was dependent on the King of England granting them permission to found a colony at their new destination. Therefore, it makes sense that they wished to honor King James in this document so that he would be more willing to help them in their mission. Also, as this was the first government in the New World to be designed and implemented by the people that would be governed by it. This is not a concept that a monarch that believed in the divine right of kings to hold absolute power would be pleased with. Therefore, the pilgrims may have found it prudent to declare their loyalty to their king in order to ward off any potential accusations of disloyalty or treason. The inclusion of appeals to higher powers within the Mayflower Compact was reflective of both the political and legal climate surrounding the founding of the colony, and of the deeply held beliefs of the pilgrims
Historical: The signers of the Mayflower Compact had a variety of motivations in the creation of their founding document. The pilgrims that had come seeking a new home in the new world found themselves outside of the jurisdiction of the Virginia charter, and there were mutterings of mutiny among the voyagers. One of the primary motivations in the writing of the compact was to establish the rule of law and to legitimize their colonization of an unclaimed area. Each of the sections of the compact was carefully considered by the writers of the document, as this charter would set the precedent for how the governance of their planned colony would …show more content…
This is apparent both in the form of their repeated appeals to the “grace of God” and to “our dread sovereign Lord, King James” (Mayflower). The reasons for both of these are rather clear. The majority of the people on the Mayflower were religious, with many of the pilgrims seeking a new home in order to practice their own brand of religion, free from the confines of the Church of England. This being the case, it is only natural that their deep respect for God is apparent in their colony’s founding document. The explanation for King James’ inclusion in their document is equally slightly more complicated. The primary reason for his inclusion in the Mayflower Compact is that as the settlers had landed outside of the jurisdiction of the Virginia charter, the legality of their future settlement under English law was dependent on the King of England granting them permission to found a colony at their new destination. Therefore, it makes sense that they wished to honor King James in this document so that he would be more willing to help them in their mission. Also, as this was the first government in the New World to be designed and implemented by the people that would be governed by it. This is not a concept that a monarch that believed in the divine right of kings to hold absolute power would be pleased with. Therefore, the pilgrims may have found it prudent to declare their loyalty to their king in order to ward off any potential accusations of disloyalty or treason. The inclusion of appeals to higher powers within the Mayflower Compact was reflective of both the political and legal climate surrounding the founding of the colony, and of the deeply held beliefs of the pilgrims