This is a great report from The Federalist:
How The Pilgrims Planted The Seeds For America’s Constitutional Rights And Liberties
A bold and innovative project in political self-government and liberty under law began in New England in 1620 and flourished in the years to come.
By Daniel L. Dreisbach
November 25, 2020
The following essay is part of The Federalist’s 1620 Project, a symposium exploring the connections and contributions of the early Pilgrim and Puritan settlers in New England to the uniquely American synthesis of faith, family, freedom, and self-government.
The Pilgrims who came ashore at Plymouth Rock in 1620 were followed by their theological cousins, the Puritans, who established Massachusetts Bay in 1630. They were not the first Europeans, not even the first Englishmen, to settle in North America. Yet they, more than any others, defined an American national identity and laid the foundations for an American political tradition committed to the rule of law and constitutionalism.
The Pilgrims were religious dissenters — theological separatists — who reluctantly concluded that the Protestant Church of England from which they separated themselves was irredeemably corrupt, whereas the Puritans, as their name suggests, held out hope that the church could still be purified. Both were profoundly religious people who had experienced oppression in England at the hands of authorities in church and state, and they crossed the Atlantic Ocean’s treacherous waters to escape religious persecution in the Old World and to seek religious liberty in the New World.
They were on a mission to establish Bible commonwealths grounded on biblical principles and laws as they understood them. These would be political communities devoted to their God and committed to the rule of law. Their bold experiments in self-government produced a constitutional tradition that blended biblical law interpreted through the lens of their Protestant theology, English common law adapted to the needs of their communities, and developing local customs. Key features of that tradition persist to the present day.
The First Foundation of Their Government
The Pilgrims’ condemnation of the established Church of England won them few friends in positions of power and influence in England. English authorities harassed them, fined them, and even threw them in jail. Their religious beliefs counseled that fleeing the persecution was preferable to fighting those who persecuted them. In 1608, members of their religious community went into exile in the Netherlands to escape oppression in their homeland.
After a decade or so in the Netherlands, the Pilgrims began to hear about opportunities in North America. So, a small group decided to leave Europe for America, arriving in New England in 1620.
Before leaving Europe, they made arrangements with the Virginia Company to settle in Virginia, but their tiny ship, the Mayflower, was blown off course by fierce storms crossing the North Atlantic, and they made landfall off Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination.
Their arrival in New England raised the thorny political question of whether they were subject to English authority — specifically, the Virginia Company — as they would have been had they arrived in Virginia as planned. There were mutinous murmurings among the non-Pilgrims aboard ship that their agreement with the Virginia Company was void, and they were at liberty to do as they willed. To erase any doubts about governing authority, the adult men aboard the Mayflower (both Pilgrims and non-Pilgrims) entered into a social contract with each other, with God as their witness, as they prepared to come ashore in New England.
This agreement has come to be known as the Plymouth Combination or, more famously, the Mayflower Compact. It was designed to nurture unity among the settlers and facilitate a future civil government. In the tradition of Old Testament covenants between God and His people, the agreement was made, the Pilgrims believed, “in the presence of God.” Underscoring the document’s sacred character, it began with an invocation: “In the Name of God, Amen.”
Remarkably, at a moment when the Pilgrims could have considered declaring their independence from English authorities, which might have been expected given their unhappy experiences in England, they instead made a covenant — a constitution of sorts — acknowledging their obligations to God, king, and country.
They were not a lawless or anarchic people. On the contrary, their agreement in November 1620 demonstrated a commitment to the rule of law and constitutionalism. William Bradford, one of their leaders, described the Compact in his journal as “the first foundation of their government in this place.”
A constitution is a political community’s expression of its fundamental, authoritative law, setting out the basic principles, substantive components, and procedural rules by which government power may be legitimately exercised. Scholars debate whether the Compact is a fully formed constitution; it is at least a proto-constitution committing its signatories to create a “Civil Body Politick” and to frame, enact, and obey “such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers” deemed necessary for the common good.
The very act and the manner of framing this agreement affirmed government based on the consent of the governed, the most cherished of American political ideals. The Compact, it has been claimed, is the oldest surviving declaration in the modern world asserting a people’s right to self-government.
The making of this Compact was, arguably, the most formative event in the New World in the development of an American constitutional tradition. Although a remarkably brief document, in its simple structure and form is a pattern evident in all subsequent American constitutions, including the national Constitution written in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, which remains “the supreme Law of the Land.”
The Mayflower Compact, Willmoore Kendall and George W. Carey argue in “The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition,” set a template for written constitutions, and the same basic outline would be used by subsequent constitutional framers in North America. It begins with a clear identification of those for whom the document was created: “We whose Names are underwritten.” A similar statement of identity is expressed in the U.S. Constitution in the immortal words: “We the People.”
This is followed by a statement of the purposes for their political society: “for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country.” A corresponding statement of purposes for the national charter of 1787 is found in the noble aspirations of the Preamble:
… in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity …
The framers then entered into a solemn covenant to create a “Civil Body Politick” and the attendant “just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers … thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony.” “We … do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America,” followed by six articles defining the structures, institutions, officers, and processes of the new constitutional regime, is the equivalent declaration in the U.S. Constitution. What’s missing from the Compact, that one might expect in a fully formed constitution, are the specific nuts and bolts of governance — this was left to be worked out in the future.
Then, in identical language — “In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our Names” — both the Mayflower Compact and the U.S. Constitution conclude with the signatures of its framers, indicating their pledge of mutual commitment and obligation to each other and to the common good. Finally, both documents are dated with reference to the birth of Jesus Christ.
Thus, the framers of and signatories to the Mayflower Compact established an outline and form for future American constitutions.
Continued in next post....
How The Pilgrims Planted The Seeds For America’s Constitutional Rights And Liberties
A bold and innovative project in political self-government and liberty under law began in New England in 1620 and flourished in the years to come.
By Daniel L. Dreisbach
November 25, 2020
The following essay is part of The Federalist’s 1620 Project, a symposium exploring the connections and contributions of the early Pilgrim and Puritan settlers in New England to the uniquely American synthesis of faith, family, freedom, and self-government.
The Pilgrims who came ashore at Plymouth Rock in 1620 were followed by their theological cousins, the Puritans, who established Massachusetts Bay in 1630. They were not the first Europeans, not even the first Englishmen, to settle in North America. Yet they, more than any others, defined an American national identity and laid the foundations for an American political tradition committed to the rule of law and constitutionalism.
The Pilgrims were religious dissenters — theological separatists — who reluctantly concluded that the Protestant Church of England from which they separated themselves was irredeemably corrupt, whereas the Puritans, as their name suggests, held out hope that the church could still be purified. Both were profoundly religious people who had experienced oppression in England at the hands of authorities in church and state, and they crossed the Atlantic Ocean’s treacherous waters to escape religious persecution in the Old World and to seek religious liberty in the New World.
They were on a mission to establish Bible commonwealths grounded on biblical principles and laws as they understood them. These would be political communities devoted to their God and committed to the rule of law. Their bold experiments in self-government produced a constitutional tradition that blended biblical law interpreted through the lens of their Protestant theology, English common law adapted to the needs of their communities, and developing local customs. Key features of that tradition persist to the present day.
The First Foundation of Their Government
The Pilgrims’ condemnation of the established Church of England won them few friends in positions of power and influence in England. English authorities harassed them, fined them, and even threw them in jail. Their religious beliefs counseled that fleeing the persecution was preferable to fighting those who persecuted them. In 1608, members of their religious community went into exile in the Netherlands to escape oppression in their homeland.
After a decade or so in the Netherlands, the Pilgrims began to hear about opportunities in North America. So, a small group decided to leave Europe for America, arriving in New England in 1620.
Before leaving Europe, they made arrangements with the Virginia Company to settle in Virginia, but their tiny ship, the Mayflower, was blown off course by fierce storms crossing the North Atlantic, and they made landfall off Cape Cod, far north of their intended destination.
Their arrival in New England raised the thorny political question of whether they were subject to English authority — specifically, the Virginia Company — as they would have been had they arrived in Virginia as planned. There were mutinous murmurings among the non-Pilgrims aboard ship that their agreement with the Virginia Company was void, and they were at liberty to do as they willed. To erase any doubts about governing authority, the adult men aboard the Mayflower (both Pilgrims and non-Pilgrims) entered into a social contract with each other, with God as their witness, as they prepared to come ashore in New England.
This agreement has come to be known as the Plymouth Combination or, more famously, the Mayflower Compact. It was designed to nurture unity among the settlers and facilitate a future civil government. In the tradition of Old Testament covenants between God and His people, the agreement was made, the Pilgrims believed, “in the presence of God.” Underscoring the document’s sacred character, it began with an invocation: “In the Name of God, Amen.”
Remarkably, at a moment when the Pilgrims could have considered declaring their independence from English authorities, which might have been expected given their unhappy experiences in England, they instead made a covenant — a constitution of sorts — acknowledging their obligations to God, king, and country.
They were not a lawless or anarchic people. On the contrary, their agreement in November 1620 demonstrated a commitment to the rule of law and constitutionalism. William Bradford, one of their leaders, described the Compact in his journal as “the first foundation of their government in this place.”
A constitution is a political community’s expression of its fundamental, authoritative law, setting out the basic principles, substantive components, and procedural rules by which government power may be legitimately exercised. Scholars debate whether the Compact is a fully formed constitution; it is at least a proto-constitution committing its signatories to create a “Civil Body Politick” and to frame, enact, and obey “such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers” deemed necessary for the common good.
The very act and the manner of framing this agreement affirmed government based on the consent of the governed, the most cherished of American political ideals. The Compact, it has been claimed, is the oldest surviving declaration in the modern world asserting a people’s right to self-government.
The making of this Compact was, arguably, the most formative event in the New World in the development of an American constitutional tradition. Although a remarkably brief document, in its simple structure and form is a pattern evident in all subsequent American constitutions, including the national Constitution written in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, which remains “the supreme Law of the Land.”
The Mayflower Compact, Willmoore Kendall and George W. Carey argue in “The Basic Symbols of the American Political Tradition,” set a template for written constitutions, and the same basic outline would be used by subsequent constitutional framers in North America. It begins with a clear identification of those for whom the document was created: “We whose Names are underwritten.” A similar statement of identity is expressed in the U.S. Constitution in the immortal words: “We the People.”
This is followed by a statement of the purposes for their political society: “for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country.” A corresponding statement of purposes for the national charter of 1787 is found in the noble aspirations of the Preamble:
… in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity …
The framers then entered into a solemn covenant to create a “Civil Body Politick” and the attendant “just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers … thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony.” “We … do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America,” followed by six articles defining the structures, institutions, officers, and processes of the new constitutional regime, is the equivalent declaration in the U.S. Constitution. What’s missing from the Compact, that one might expect in a fully formed constitution, are the specific nuts and bolts of governance — this was left to be worked out in the future.
Then, in identical language — “In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our Names” — both the Mayflower Compact and the U.S. Constitution conclude with the signatures of its framers, indicating their pledge of mutual commitment and obligation to each other and to the common good. Finally, both documents are dated with reference to the birth of Jesus Christ.
Thus, the framers of and signatories to the Mayflower Compact established an outline and form for future American constitutions.
Continued in next post....
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