what is the mayflower compact

The Mayflower Compact was a document signed by most of the male passengers on the English ship Mayflower on November 21, 1620, prior to its landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts. It was the first framework of government written and enacted in the territory that is now the United States of America. The document was written by the men aboard the Mayflower, consisting of Separatist Puritans, adventurers, and tradesmen. The brief document (about 200 words) bound its signers into a body politic for the purpose of forming a government and pledged them to abide by any laws and regulations that would later be established “for the general good of the colony” . The Mayflower Compact was not a constitution but rather an adaptation of a Puritan church covenant to a civil situation. The original version of the Mayflower Compact was lost, but there are three early copies with slightly different wording. The Mayflower Compact remained in effect until Plymouth Colony became part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.