Images  to  go  along  with  Notes:  -­‐William  Bradford:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WilliamBradfordStatue.jpgReferences  for  notes:1.Protestant  Reformation  and  the  rise  of  Puritanism  (1517),  Martin  Luther  began  break  from  Catholic  church;  birth  of  Protestantism    1.  Luther  declared  the  Bible  alone  was  the  source  of  God's  word  2.  Faith  alone  would  determine  salvation;  he  denounced  authority  of  Popea.Puritans  were  Protestants  seeking  to  reform  the  AnglicanChurch  by  removing  its  Catholic  elements  and  excluding  people  who  were  notcommitted.  b.Separatists:  extreme  group  of  Puritans  who  wanted  to  break  from  the  Anglican  Church  altogether–  later  called  Pilgrims.c.First  were  the  Separatists  left  Britain  for  Holland  for  freedom  to  practice  Calvinism.  1.  Later,  became  unhappy  bythe  "Dutchification"  of  their  children.    2.  Sought  opportunity  to  practice  their  religion  as  Englishmen  without  interferenced.Secured  rights  with  Virginia  Company  to  settle  within  its  jurisdiction  in  Virginia              1.  Pilgrims  agreed  to  work  for  7  years  in  return  for  the  support  of  the  joint  stock  company  which  was  comprised  of  non-­‐separatist  investors.  e.Mayflower  landed  off  New  England  coast  with102personsf.Plymouth  Bay  chosen  as  settlement  site            1.  Plymouth  was  outside  jurisdiction  of  Virginia  Company.    Settlers  thus  became  squatters:  no  legal  right  to  land  and  no  recognized  gov’t  (thus,  never  gained  charter  from  the  crown)g.Mayflower  Compact  (an  agreement)            1.  Purpose:  To  legitimize  Pilgrims’  settlement  outside  Virginia  by  creating  a  secular  document  recognizing  James  I  as  their  sovereign  and  creating  a  body  of  all  the  settlers  with  power  to  devise  laws  and  elect  leaders.  2.  Agreement  provided  for  majority  rule  among  settlers(excluding  servants  and  seamen)—became  an  important  seed  of  democracy.                3.  Adult  male  settlers  assembled  to  make  laws  and  conduct  open-­‐discussion  town  meetings. 
The Mayflower Compact Lesson 1 From Unit: Philanthropic Movements in the United States to 1900View Comments 2 Lesson Handouts Academic Standards Philanthropy Framework 6th-8th Grade Subjects: Language Arts, Library / Technology and Social Studies

Key Words/Concepts click to view Overview: The purpose of this lesson is to illustrate how the Pilgrims were influenced in developing a community and American democracy. Using primary source documents, this lesson will take a look at the Mayflower Compact and its origins, and will discuss the story of The Pilgrim’s First Thanksgiving.

Purpose: Duration:One Fifty-Minute Class Period

Objectives: The learner will:

  • use primary source documents to explain how the Mayflower Compact became the first written framework of government established in the United States.

  • define the terms body politic, equal laws, ordinances, covenant and Constitution.

  • describe how the story of the Pilgrims is a story of community and the common good.

Service Experience: Although this lesson contains a service project example, decisions about service plans and implementation should be made by students, as age appropriate.
Learn more about the stages of service-learning. Materials: Handout 1The Mayflower CompactHandout 2Pastor John Robinson’s Farewell Letter to the PilgrimsInstructional Procedure(s): Anticipatory Set:

Ask the learners to think back to the Pilgrims who came to the New World on the Mayflower. Conduct a quick brainstorming session in which the learners list reasons why the Pilgrims are remembered in American history.



  • Read a story of Thanksgiving to the class (see Bibliographical References).

  • Distribute The Mayflower Compact (Attachment One). Explain that because the Mayflower anchored in Plymouth harbor, the patent from the London Company was invalid in New England. As a result the Pilgrims drew up an agreement called the Mayflower Compact, which pledged allegiance to the English king but established a form of government by the will of the majority. Patents were obtained from the Council for New England in 1621 and in 1630, but the Mayflower Compact remained the basis of the colony’s government until union with Massachusetts Bay colony in 1691. Read The Mayflower Compact out loud.

  • Distribute Pastor John Robinson’s Farewell Letter to the Pilgrims (Attachment Two). Divide the learners into four groups. Assign one of the passages to each group to read and have them write what Pastor Robinson was trying to say to the Pilgrims in the passage. When all groups have finished, read each section out loud and let each group explain how Pastor Robinson’s words were used in writing the Compact. Have the learners define covenant, body politic, equal laws, ordinances and Constitution in their own words.

  • Discuss the role of the Native Americans in helping the Pilgrims. Discuss how the Native Americans and Pilgrims worked together for the common good of the community.

  • As a summary of the lesson, ask the learners to write about the following topic in their journals: The story of the Pilgrims is an example of community and the common good.

Assessment: The journal entry and group work may be used as an assessment of learning.

School/Home Connection: Cross-Curriculum Extensions: Follow the journey of the Mayflower with an interactive map and ship's log at the Plimouth Plantation home page http://www.plimoth.org/features/mayflower-2/journey/journey.php. Skip the introduction and click on different points on the ship's journey to read details and related information. 

Bibliographical References: Lesson Developed By:

Steve Hicks
Eaton Intermediate School District
Charlotte, MI 48813
Picture

Text of Mayflower Compact:

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are under-written, 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 our selves 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 eleventh of November [New Style, November 21], 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 Dom. 1620.

  John Howland
John Tilly
Thomas Tinker
John Turner
Digery Priest
Edmond Margeson
Richard Clark
Thomas English
John Goodman

William Bradford     
Isaac Allerton
Samuel Fuller
William White
John Billington
Steven Hopkins
Francis Cook
John Rigdale
Francis Eaton
Thomas Williams
Peter Brown
Richard Gardiner
Edward Doten
George Soule

Edward Winslow
Miles Standish
Christopher Martin
James Chilton
Richard Warren
Edward Tilly
Thomas Rogers
Edward Fuller
Moses Fletcher
Gilbert Winslow
Richard Bitteridge
John Allerton
Edward Liester

Mayflower Compact:  Reason for the Mayflower Compact The Pilgrims identified within the Mayflower Compact why they wrote it:  “We covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation.”

 Function of Government The Government will function….  “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.” The Pilgrims were making a social contract, similar to the contract, Covenant they knew God had made with His people.  This was to become a civil body politic which would bring about good order and survival.

Internal Government Self or Internal Government is a foundational concept that was very important to our founding Fathers.  They did not want to recreate the tyranny from Old World Europe. Because our Founding Fathers were highly educated in scripture, they understood the importance of obedience, self-control and moral citizenry. Here are a few quotes from our Founding Fathers that will interest you based on this topic:

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. Governments need to exist only in proportion to man’s willingness to be virtuous. James Madison “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”John Adams “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness – these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens…Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”  George Washington Farewell address 1796

What did Foreigners think about the New American Government? In 1830 Alexis de Tocqueville visited America.  He was amazed by what he witnessed.  In his book:  Democracy In America (volume 1 and volume 2), he noted that : “With us, the government concerns it’s self with every facet of life.  Here, there is or appears to be no government….”   “What strikes every traveler, in this country the most whether he tries to reflect or not, is the spectacle of a society proceeding all alone without guide or support by the single fact of the concourse of individual wills.  It’s useless to torment the spirit seeking for the government. It is nowhere to be perceived.  And the truth is that it does not so to speak, exist.” He came to this conclusion

The greatest care of a good Government should be this:  to habituate the people, little by little, to do without it.
lessons taken from"Mom's Mustard Seeds"
The link above (blue box :Copies & facts about U.S. documents) is a link to ourdocuments.gov which has information about papers from "The Lee resolution" of 1776 to "The Voting rights Act" of 1965.
  American Freedom In order to understand American Freedom in its proper context it is important to understand the events that lead up to the Pilgrims/Puritans leaving England.

This means going back to the time of Martin Luther and understanding life in Europe during the time of the Renaissance.  During this time, it was thought that man was the measure of all things.  Through this, life was hard as all had to work and provide anything required by the King – as the people lived under tyranny.

Martin Luther, however, made a radical step out in faith as he posted his 95 thesis and made  God’s grace widely know to all.  He basically helped replace the belief in humanism into the belief and truth that “Man’s chief purpose is to Glorify God” and to serve Him in all aspects of life and work.

With this, many began to see that they could not serve the King and God.  Truly learning the Biblical Principle and understanding “You shall have no other God” made the Puritans realize they needed a change.  In reading History of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, you will understand how the Pilgrims left England and moved to Holland.  Then, after 12 years, returned to England for supplies and a ship…and again slipped away from the tyranny of the King to settle in America.

The Pilgrims/Puritans arrived in Plymouth in 1620.  Upon their arrival, they wrote the Mayflower Compact.  This was the first written form of Government in the new world.  It shows the importance they placed on the social contract.  They recognized that God had made a covenant with His people, so they saw a need to make a covenant with one another.  This was basically a covenant with one another to be governed.  That is what set American apart from other countries.

Freedom What does it mean to be free?  Does it mean we do what we want when we want?  No, it means to be free from something.  A person may be free from something, but after a while, a person must eventually return to the community.

Liberty What does liberty mean?  Liberty describes the relationship among community members when the boundaries of unalienable rights are protected by individual conscience.  Liberty can not exist without conscience and conscience is refined by religion.

“Our Constitution was only meant for a moral and religious people.” John Adams

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should  labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness – these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens…Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”  George Washington Farewell address:  1796

Liberty is that voluntary self-control – doing what we want when we want – free from outside control, but without taking advantage of another person….  because we are guided by our conscience.