On this day in 1620, 41 colonists signed the Mayflower Compact off the coast of present-day Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A religiously divided group of Separatist Pilgrims and pro-Church of England colonists, the settlers needed some type of binding governance to survive together in a new land. The Mayflower Compact filled this need, organizing the colonists […]

On this day in 1620, 41 colonists signed the Mayflower Compact off the coast of present-day Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A religiously divided group of Separatist Pilgrims and pro-Church of England colonists, the settlers needed some type of binding governance to survive together in a new land. The Mayflower Compact filled this need, organizing the colonists […]