Mayflower Treaty
The Mayflower Treaty , English Mayflower Compact , was the first government document of the Plymouth colony . He was of the Pilgrim Fathers (Engl. Pilgrim Fathers ), which on the Mayflower had crossed the Atlantic, designed.
history
In addition to separatist congregationalists, there were also non-members of their group on board the Mayflower , mostly Anglicans , whom the separatists called "strangers". Since a storm had driven the ship north and the settlers' land patent had been issued by the Virginia Company for the Virginia colony , not New England , several of these "strangers" feared they would not be treated fairly in the new colony. Therefore, 41 separatists wrote and signed the Mayflower Treaty on November 21 (November 11 according to the Julian calendar) 1620 in the port of what is now Provincetown on Cape Cod . The contract was based on the contracts that the congregationalists used to form new parishes. It planned to establish a bourgeois government based on a majority model and to proclaim the settlers' loyalty to the king.
Here is the historian Horst Dippel :
“The Puritans who, as so-called Pilgrim Fathers, sailed to America on board the Mayflower and disembarked at Cape Cod in what is now Massachusetts at the end of 1620, have become formative for the American self-image . They were only a minority among the 101 passengers and crew of the Mayflower, but they drafted the 'Mayflower Treaty' of November 11, 1620, which was the earliest document of American self-government and the will to regulate their community with self-given, just and equal laws , went down in American history. "
The settlers who founded the Plymouth Colony were well aware that earlier New World settlements had failed due to a lack of centralized management. The Mayflower Treaty was basically a social contract (but not a contrat social in the sense of Jean-Jacques Rousseau ) in which the settlers agreed that they would adhere to their self-made rules of governance - for the sake of their own survival. In return, the government would draw its power from the consent of those to be ruled, a principle that John Locke took up again a few decades later and that was crucial to the American Declaration of Independence .
Wording of the contract
The unchanged original text from Of Plimoth Plantation by William Bradford (1590–1657), the second governor of Plymouth:
“In y e name of God Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord King James, by y e grace of God, of great Britaine , Franc , & Ireland king, defender of y e faith, & c.
Haveing undertaken, for y e glorie of God, and advancemente of y e christian faith and honor of our king & countrie, a voyage to plant y e first colonie in the Northerne parts of Virginia . Doe by these presents, solemnly & mutualy in y e presence of God, and one of another, covenant, & combine our selves togeather into a Civill body politick; for our better ordering, & preservation & furtherance of y e ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient for y e general good of y e Colonie: unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witnes wherof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cap-Codd y e 11 of November, in y e year of y e raigne of our soveraigne lord king James of England, France, & Ireland y e eighteenth, and of Scotland y e fiftie fourth. To o : Dom. 1620. "
German translation
“In the name of God, amen. We who have put our names below, the loyal subjects of our awesome sovereign ruler, King Jacob , by the grace of God, King of Great Britain , France and Ireland , defenders of the faith, etc.
After the trip to God for the glory and promotion of the Christian faith and the honor of our king and country to found the first colony in the northern regions of Virginia. Through these present, solemnly and reciprocally commit ourselves to God and to each other, and unite us together in a civil society; with the purpose of better organizing, protecting and promoting the aforementioned goals; and may from this to pass, justify and draft such just and equal laws, ordinances, edicts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as it seems most appropriate and most favorable for the common good of the colony: under this we promise to submit ourselves dutifully and obey. As a testimony to this we drew our names below on November 11th in the eighteenth year of our sovereign ruler, King Jacob, over England, France and Ireland, and over Scotland in the fifty-fourth, in Cape Cod. Anno Domini 1620. "
Signatory
The contract was signed by the following 41 all male passengers (these were the heads of the families):
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literature
- EJ Carter: The Mayflower Compact . Heinemann Library, Chicago IL 2004, ISBN 1-4034-0803-3 ( Heinemann know it - Historical documents ).
- Philip Brooks: The Mayflower Compact . Compass Point Books, Minneapolis MI 2005, ISBN 0-7565-0681-6 ( We the people - Compass Point Books ).
Web links
- Background of the Mayflower Treaty , at www.pilgrimhallmuseum.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Allen Weinstein, David Rubel: The Story of America: Freedom and Crisis from Settlement to Superpower. DK Publishing, New York, NY, 2002. ISBN 0-7894-8903-1 , pp. 60-61.
- ↑ Horst Dippel : History of the USA. C. H. Beck
- ↑ Jeremy Waldron, God, Locke, and Equality: Christian Foundations in Locke's Political Thought. Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-521-89057-1 , pp. 120, 136.
- ^ Robert Middlekauff: The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789. Revised and Expanded Edition, Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-19-516247-9 , pp. 671-674.
- ^ William Bradford: Book 2, Anno 1620 . In: Hildebrandt, Ted (Ed.): Bradford's History "Of Plimoth Plantation" (PDF), Wright & Potter, Boston 1898. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Accessed on July 29, 2007).
