Recreation Of Pilgrim Ready To Voyage On Mayflower—The Mayflower Compact

With Thanksgiving Day almost here, it is time to consider the voyage of the Mayflower and the impact of that voyage on history.

In the picture above, I have sought to recreate what it must have been like for a Puritan ready to board the Mayflower.

Such a person would have packed a bag, put on his Pilgrim hat, left home and headed over to the port for the long voyage ahead.

I feel the picture above shows exactly what that departure must have looked like back in the 17th century.

It is as if you were there.

A book I’ve not yet read but that is on my reading list, is Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower. It was very well-reviewed. The link is to an interview with the author.

When the Pilgrims reached Cape Cod, the Mayflower Compact was signed to provide a framework and guidelines for the task ahead.

At the bottom of this post is the text of the Mayflower Compact.

As is well-known, the arrival of the Mayflower was not good news for the native population.

As well-known as this fact is, it always merits repeating. Where we live today was quite possible land once occupied by someone who did not wish to leave.

As our day-to-day lives go on, it easy to forget the larger context in which we exist.

Here is the link the excellent C-Span broadcasts about Mayflower Compact author William Bradford. If you click the video archives link on the left of the screen, you’ll be able to learn about Mr. Bradford and what it was like to live in Plymouth after the arrival of the Mayflower.

Here is an essay from the Memorial Hall Museum in Deerfield, Massachusetts about relations between Europeans and the native population of New England.

If you know history, you will have a better understanding of who you are and why the world is as it is.

The Mayflower Compact—-

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King,Defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620