USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Mayflower Compact-once called the “Plymouth Combination”-is the first constitution known to have been written in the New World. Drafted aboard the Mayflower before the Pilgrims from Holland and their fellow travelers landed in North America, it was signed on November 11, 1620, by the 41 men on the ship.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Mayflower Compact was a set of rules for self-governance established by the English settlers who traveled to the New World on the Mayflower. When Pilgrims and other settlers set out on the ship for America in 1620, they intended to lay anchor in northern Virginia.

Detailed explanation-3: -“The Mayflower pilgrims were the most extreme kind of reformers. They called themselves Saints, but were also known as Separatists, for their desire to separate themselves completely from the established church.

Detailed explanation-4: -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-5: -Because they chose to remain where they landed in New England, they needed a new permission (called a patent) to settle there. On November 11, 1620, needing to maintain order and establish a civil society while they waited for this new patent, the adult male passengers signed the Mayflower Compact.