Drafted in 1620, the Mayflower Compact was a legal instrument signed by the male passengers of the English ship Mayflower that bound the Pilgrims together upon their arrival in New England. The Pilgrims were a group of Puritan religious separatists who broke from the Church of England and settled Plymouth Colony in what is now Massachusetts. The compact established that colonists would create and enact laws while remaining loyal to the Crown of England, and live and work together as Christians in a “civil Body Politick.” This document acted as the first framework of self-government within the territory that became the United States.
