Mayflower Compact Timeline

(November 11, 1620)

The Mayflower Compact was a historic agreement signed on November 11, 1620, by 41 adult male passengers of the Mayflower before landing at Plymouth Rock. Drafted to establish a temporary civil government and ensure order among the settlers outside the jurisdiction of the Virginia Company, it became the first framework of self-government in what would become the United States. The Compact laid foundational principles for democratic governance and the rule of law in colonial America. More Less

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Surviving Versions

Original document lost; three 17th-century versions survive

1620

The original signed document has been lost, but knowledge of the Compact survives through three versions produced during the 17th century: a printed text in Mourt's Relation (1622), a hand-written version by William Bradford in his journal Of Plimoth Plantation (1646), and a printed text in Nathaniel Morton's New-Englands Memorial (1669).

Image source: Mayflower Compact

Compact printed in Mourt's Relation

1622

One of the three surviving versions of the Mayflower Compact was printed in Mourt's Relation in 1622, providing an early published record of the text just two years after its signing.

Image source: Mourt's Relation

Mourt's Relation text reprinted in Purchas his Pilgrimes

1625

The printed version of the Compact that first appeared in Mourt's Relation was reprinted in Samuel Purchas's Purchas his Pilgrimes in 1625, helping to preserve and disseminate the text of the Compact in England.

Image source: Samuel Purchas

Bradford hand-writes the Compact in Of Plimoth Plantation

1646

William Bradford hand-wrote a version of the Mayflower Compact in his journal Of Plimoth Plantation around 1646, creating one of the most important surviving records of the document's text.

Image source: Of Plymouth Plantation

Compact printed in Morton's New-Englands Memorial

1669

Bradford's nephew Nathaniel Morton printed another version of the Mayflower Compact in New-Englands Memorial in 1669. This publication also supplied the first known list of the 41 male passengers who had signed the document.

Image source: Nathaniel Morton

Signing and Text

Mayflower Compact signed at Cape Cod

Nov 11, 1620

The Mayflower Compact was signed by male passengers of the Mayflower at Cape Cod on November 11, 1620, during the reign of King James of England, France, and Ireland (the eighteenth year of his English reign and fifty-fourth of Scotland). The document established a framework of self-government for the Plymouth Colony.

Signatory Lists

Morton supplies list of 41 signatories

1669

Nathaniel Morton provided the historical record with the names of the 41 male passengers who signed the Mayflower Compact. His list appeared in his 1669 New England's Memorial and became the basis for all later enumerations of the signers.

First edition arranges names on two pages in six short columns

1669

In the original 1669 edition of New England's Memorial, Morton's unnumbered and untitled list of signers was arranged across two successive pages forming six short columns, with three columns per page.

Second and third editions change the order of names

1721

The second (1721) and third (1772) editions of New England's Memorial altered the order of the names from the first edition by combining the first and fourth short columns into one long column, and similarly combining the other column pairs.

Thomas Prince numbers the signer names

1736

In his 1736 work A Chronological History of New-England in the form of Annals, Thomas Prince became the first to number the names of the Compact's signers, doing so according to their original 1669 Morton order.

Fifth and sixth editions restore original name order

1826 - 1855

The fifth (1826) and sixth (1855) editions of New England's Memorial returned the list of signers to its original first-edition order by combining the first and second short columns into the first long column, and likewise for the remaining columns. Across all six editions (1669–1855), the list remained unnumbered and untitled, though its order shifted between editions.

Commemoration

300th anniversary ceremony of the Mayflower landing

Nov 23, 1920

On November 23, 1920, a commemoration ceremony marked the 300th anniversary of the Mayflower landing. Then-Massachusetts governor Calvin Coolidge, who would later become the 30th U.S. president, spoke at the event honoring the legacy of the Pilgrims and the Compact.

Image source: Calvin Coolidge

Key Facts

The Mayflower Compact was signed on November 11, 1620 (Old Style date), aboard the ship Mayflower while anchored in Provincetown Harbor near Cape Cod.
A total of 41 adult male passengers signed the Compact, including notable figures such as John Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, and Myles Standish.
It was created because some passengers intended to settle outside the Virginia Company's jurisdiction, threatening to use their freedom as an excuse for rebellion and disorder.
The Compact established a 'civil body politic' that pledged to enact just and equal laws for the general good of the colony, marking the first written framework of self-government in North America.
Although its practical authority faded within a year as Plymouth Colony developed formal institutions, the Mayflower Compact is widely regarded as a precursor to the U.S. Constitution and a cornerstone of American democratic tradition.

Source

This Mayflower Compact timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

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Mayflower Compact Timeline

Surviving Versions