The Mayflower 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 England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. 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 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 Politick, 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 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, Mr Edward Winslow, Mr. William Brewster.
Isaac Allerton, Myles Standish, John Alden, John Turner, Francis Eaton,
James Chilton, John Craxton, John Billington, Joses Fletcher, John Goodman,
Mr. Samuel Fuller, Mr. Christopher Martin, Mr. William Mullins, Mr. William White,
Mr. Richard Warren, John Howland, Mr. Steven Hopkins, Digery Priest,
Thomas Williams, Gilbert Winslow, Edmund Margesson, Peter Brown,
Richard Britteridge, George Soule, Edward Tilly, John Tilly, Francis Cooke,
Thomas Rogers, Thomas Tinker, John Ridgdale, Edward Fuller, Richard Clark,
Richard Gardiner, Mr. John Allerton, Thomas English, Edward Doten,
Edward Liester.
Now let's get it right:
The Pilgrims were not Puritans
The `Pilgrims' (our name for them, not theirs) were not Puritans regardless of how many dimwits think they were, author text books with the same disgusting lie, or post articles in print or online repeating the same nonsense.
It's a lie and the Puritans were nothing less than horrid. Defending them or boasting of one's lineage to them is akin to the same as it regards members of Germany's 3rd Reich SS Nazis.
There is no defense for the Puritans.
The Mayflower Separatists neither robbed nor disabused the native Americans (Henceforth here referred to as "Pilgrims" and "Indians" due only to the commonality of the terms as it applies to them.) they encountered and who were kind enough to befriend the small colony. Quite the contrary in fact as the two groups found themselves in a symbiotic relationship in no time at all. The Indians being familiar with local food sources and the Pilgrims access to then modern hunting gear such as early firearms.
A decade after the arrival of the Mayflower Pilgrims the horrid Puritans began arriving setting up their own adjacent Massachusetts Bay Colony (and running roughshod over Plymouth Colony at every opportunity)
It was a scant 7 years before Thomas Hooker led a group to what became Hartford and later Connecticut so as to escape the reach of the dastardly theocracy the Puritans were creating.
From: Pilgrims, Not Puritans
| Arrived 1620 | Arrived 1630 |
| Governors Carver and Bradford | Governor Winthrop |
| Plymouth Colony | Massachusetts Bay Colony |
Friendly with Indians for 40 years | Indian problems from the outset |
| Paid Indians for land | Seized Indian lands |
Communal living first seven years | Individual profit from the outset |
| Democratic, consensus of the governed | Authoritarian |
| Separated from the Church of England | "Purified" the Church from within |
Not a single prosecution of witchcraft | Prosecuted and executed for witchcraft |
| Representation and equal inheritance | Nothing to compare |
| Forerunner of US Constitution & Declaration of Independence | Nothing to compare |
| More tolerant than the Church of England | Intolerant |
