“I shall a little return back and begin with a combination made by them before they came ashore, being the first foundation of their government in this place; occasioned partly by the discontented and mutinous speeches that some of the strangers amongst them had let fall from them in the ship—That when they came ashore they would use their own liberty; for none had power to command them, the patent they had being for Virginia, and not for New England, which belonged to another Government, with which the Virginia Company had nothing to do. And partly that such an act by them done (this their condition considered) might be as firm as any patent, and in some respects more sure.” The Compact “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, etc., having undertaken, for the Glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to 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 hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James of England, France, and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domino. 1620.” Signers of the Compact The earliest known list of the signers of the Compact is that contained in Morton’s “New-Englands Memoriall,” published in 1669. The names follow: John Carver William Bradford Edward Winslow William Brewster Isaac Allerton Myles Standish John Alden John Turner Frances Eaton James Chilton John Crakston Degory Priest Thomas Williams Gilbert Winslow Edmund Margeson Peter Brown Richard Britterige George Soule Edward Tilley John Tilley Francis Cooke Thomas Rogers John Billington Moses Fletcher John Goodman Samuel Fuller Christopher Martin William Mullins William White Richard Warren John Howland Stephen Hopkins Thomas Tinker John Rigdale Edward Fuller Richard Clark Richard Gardiner John Allerton Thomas English Edward Doty Edward Leister [Illustration: Signing the Compact] “After this they chose, or rather confirmed, Mr. John Carver (a man godly and well approved amongst them) their Governor for that year.”