【11/21今日美史】《五月花号公约》签署

今

日

美

史

每天一篇“今日美史”，提炼和总结历史在今天发生的重要事件：谁，在哪里，什么时候，做了什么，这件事为什么重要，以及在写关于什么主题的论文的时候可以作为潜在的论据引用。

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11/21

Mayflower Compact Signed

When

Where

Who

What

When: 1620

Where: Onboard the Mayflower, off the coast of Massachusetts

Who：

41 male Pilgrim colonists

What：

The Pilgrims were still using the Julian calendar and so dated their contract November 1, but the Compact was a declaration of the colonists pledging their mutual support to the survival of the new colony they were about to found.

Why

significant

The Compact was considered necessary as the colonists had no formal charter for the area they were about to settle on as they were originally intended to set up near the Jamestown colony in Virginia, but after an arduous journey, that blew them off course, they were faced with the prospect of either settling where they were or returning to England.  The Compact represents one of the earliest examples where colonists banded together of their own accord pledging fealty to each other in recognition of, but not at the direction of, their monarch.

Tags

Pilgrims, Mayflower, Plymouth Bay Colony