(Source: Henry Steele Commager, ed., DOCUMENTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY.)

The Separatists living in Leyden, Holland, de-   
sired for various reasons to transplant their col-  
ony to America. In 1619 they secured from the  
TheVirginia Company a patent for a private plantation. The Pilgrims, reinforced by some seventy persons from London, sailed from Plymouth in September, 1620, and arrived off Cape Cod in November. Some of the London recruits were an "undesirable lot" and, Bradford tells us, boasted that they were not under the jurisdiction of the Virginia Company and "would use their owne libertie". In order to establish some form of government, therefore, the Pilgrim leaders drew up the famous Mayflower Compact. The Compact was not intended as a constitution, but was an extension of the customary church covenant to civil circumstances. Inasmuch as the Plymouth   
settlers were never able to secure a charter, the  
Mayflower compact remained the ony form of  
constitution of the colony.    
                                             
   

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, &c. Having undertaken for the Glory
of God, and Advancement of the Christian
Faith, and the Honour of our King and -
Country, a Voyage to plant the first colony
in the northem Parts of Virginia; Do by
these Presents, solemnly and mutually in the 
Presence of God and one another, covenant      
and combine ourselves together into a civil   
Body Politick, for our better Ordering and   
Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends   
aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof do 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 hereunto   
subscribed our names at Cape Cod the   
eleventh of November, in the Reign of our   
Sovereign Lord King James of England,   
France, and Ireland, the eighteenth and of   
Scotland, the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini,  
1620  

Mr. John Carver  
Mr. William Bradford 
Digery Priest
Mr. Stephen Hopkins