The Mayflower Compact Is Signed
The Mayflower Compact was signed aboard the ship on November 11, 1620, in the Julian calendar used by the English passengers.
Published · Updated · 1 min read
The Event
The Mayflower Compact was signed aboard the ship on November 11, 1620, in the Julian calendar used by the English passengers. The equivalent Gregorian date was November 21.
The Wider Story
The agreement established a framework for collective government among the signers before settlement. It did not create universal suffrage or include everyone aboard on equal terms.
Putting the Event in Perspective
The compact's later reputation should be separated from its limited original setting.
Reading the Historical Record
The surrounding land already belonged to Indigenous societies, whose histories do not begin with the passengers' arrival.
About the Historical Recreation
The accompanying visual is an illustrative reconstruction: the interior of a seventeenth-century ship with anonymous adults around an unreadable document. It is not authentic archival footage, an eyewitness record or additional evidence for the event.
Sources
Found an error? Send a correction. Read our editorial standards.