John Carver and the Mayflower Compact
Massachusetts' First Governor and First Legal Document
There were two factions of people aboard the Mayflower. First, there were the Separatists, a strict Christian group fleeing England for religious freedom and the Strangers. The latter group sought to make their fortune in the New World.
The two groups held the other in disdain crossing the Atlantic. There were times when they openly disagreed with one another. Tension between the two groups only added to the frustrations of the difficult voyage.
However, upon gazing across the Atlantic to the wilderness foundation of their new homes, and fresh from experiencing a possible shipwreck, reluctantly, they agreed there must be some binding force to hold them together. Survival chances in the unknown would increase if they became a community, not each man or family independent from the other.
Before anyone could leave the ship, the first legal document of Massachusetts (though not officially Massachusetts at the time), the Mayflower Compact was penned. Except for the crew and those who were sick, all men signed the agreement. Women held no legal standing at the time, and therefore, did not sign. John Carver was elected the first governor of the colony (albeit the first governor of the unofficial state of Massachusetts).
Significance of the Mayflower Compact
This was the first civil document recognized and accepted within the colony. As Massachusetts became recognized as a colony (March 4, 1629), and the location of the Plymouth Colony was within the said bounds of this future state, it logically follows that the Mayflower Compact became the first civil document of recognized and accepted law in the unnoffical state of Massachusetts.
Two factions agreed to the binding power of this document, one faction, severely religious, the other faction, more of a worldly nature. Therefore, it logically follows, that though the first sentences of this document are devoted to a divine power named as God, the underpinnings of separation of church and state are implied, as well as the objective of working together for the common good.
...combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation,... hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony;...
John Carver as Governor
A native of England, born during the mid- 1500's, John Carver was a Separatist. He was voted for First Governor of the fledgling Plymouth Colony. He had already proven during the trans-Atlantic voyage that he would not engage in the mutual contempt the Separatists and the Strangers held for one another.
They...chose Mr. John Carver (...godly and well approved them) their governor...In these hard and difficult beginnings they found some discontents and murmurings arise among some, and mutinous speeches; but they were soon quelled... by the wisdom, patience, and just and equal carriage of things by the governor.
Additionally, he was wealthy, and he had invested a good deal of his own money into the voyage and Plymouth Colony enterprise. He had been a deacon in the Holland church.
Demise of John Carver
Unfortunately, Carver died within six months of office. After complaining of a headache while sowing in the fields, he layed down--and died a few days later. His wife Catherine died several months after her husband's death. William Brewster became the next governor.
Source:
Nathaniel Philbrick, Mayflower,Viking, Penquin Group (USA), Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New Yor, NY, 10014, 2006, pgs. 35-47.
Signing of the Mayflower Compact
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