USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -It simply bound the signers into a “Civil Body Politic” for the purpose of passing “just and equal Laws . . . for the general good of the Colony.” But those few words expressed the idea of self-government for the first time in the New World.

Detailed explanation-2: -The two main ideas of the Mayflower Compact were majority rule and the concept of the public good. This document spelled out that the colonists would follow the rules prescribed by the majority.

Detailed explanation-3: -At the time of the Mayflower Compact, the phrase “body politic” was routinely used in the law to refer to corporations of all sorts. The category of corporation was both more broadly conceived in the 17th century than the modern word corporation and more transitional.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Mayflower Compact was drafted and signed aboard the Mayflower on November 21, 1620. The “plantation covenant” modeled after a Separatist church covenant, was a document that established a “Civil Body Politic” (a temporary government) until one could be more permanently established (ibid.).