...the Mayflower Compact and what is its significance in American history? More than three centuries ago the Virginia Company of London gave a patent for a settlement to some London merchants headed by Thomas Weston. Over twenty-four families were sent over to America on a small, leaky ship, called The Mayflower. These colonists promised to send lumbers, furs, and fish back to the Weston for seven years. After these seven years, they would own the tract. The leaders of the expedition and half the members were Separatist Puritans that had withdrawn from the Church of England. In November of 1620, this ship landed at Plymouth bay in present-day Massachusetts. They had no legal right to be there, thus the leaders had all the adult males in the group sign a document known as the Mayflower Compact. The Mayflower Compact is what the Pilgrims were gathered around in the painting, Architect of the Capitol, by Allyn Cox (1896-1982). This document constituted them selves as a “civil body politic” or government, thus establishing the Plymouth colony. The artist that painted the Architect of the Capitol wanted to capture the beginnings of America. He added the Indian on the left hand side to remind Americans who was here first and who helped our ancestors. The colors Cox used were very light colors not using any vibrant colors to portray peace and elegance. Cox’s painting is of the beginning of our government and also the beginning of the New World. The Mayflower Compact...
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...John Lothrop Motley once said, “Local self-government… is the life-blood of liberty.” It was a good thing the colonists set up a self-government when they wrote the Mayflower Compact. Their self-government and rule of law served as a model for the other British Colonies. Besides government, the Mayflower Compact also mentioned that the colonists had a huge devotion to God and their king. This influenced today’s society in the fact that many of Americans are Christians and patriots. Therefore, the Mayflower Compact has influenced the British Colonies and America’s perspective on things as well. The Mayflower Compact said that the colonists should unite to make laws for themselves, which set up self-government. Since their king ruled overseas,...
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...The Pilgrims originally planned to sail to Virginia on the Mayflower but ended up in America. On November 1620, when they landed in Massachusetts instead, they realized they were outside the jurisdiction of the Virginia charter. To implant their own form of government and to avoid a possible revolution, the leaders of the group wrote and signed an agreement. This agreement was known as the Mayflower Compact, which remained in effect until 1961. The Mayflower Compact was William Bradford’s first written attempt at self-government in American History. On September 16, 1620 the Mayflower, with 102 passengers known as the Pilgrims, on board sailed from Plymouth, England to Virginia but ended up in America. In order for the Pilgrims to reach their...
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...The two aspects of the Mayflower Compact I chose for the purpose of this essay is first, the idea that individuality was put aside and what was done was done for the “General good of the colony” and second, that the Pilgrims developed the Compact to live according to the “Glory of God.” These two things should have mattered greatly to my ancestor Isaac Allerton, who was the fifth member of Plimouth to sign the Compact. In doing such, he made a pledge not just as a signing male member of the colony but as the future Assistant Governor to serve the needs for the “General good of the colony.” It is my hope that Allerton’s intentions began as pure, with the plan to build up the colony, but I believe greed won out. I struggle the most, not with his money making schemes because I believe it is that outside of the box thinking that caused him to travel on the Mayflower in the first place, but with his set up of competitive trading post areas alongside those of the colony. I don’t...
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...In this context, The Mayflower Compact is to be considered as one of the most important of the founding documents that led to the U.S. Constitution. The document was undoubtedly created with a Christian worldview because it was written by a group of English separatist who want to affirm their religious and civil freedom by establishing the principles of self-government and covenant they learned from their Puritan ideology, founded on the Scriptures. The settlers solemnly agreed to combine into a civil Body Politic, following the example of the church covenant the Pilgrims had made years earlier (McDowell, n. d.). Therefore, The Mayflower Compact and its successive revisions were based upon the idea that the only true law was the law of God as revealed in the Bible, and the Scripture were often quoted as well. These same principles would later become fundamental in the American...
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...The Core Democratic Values "The Core Democratic Values are the fundamental beliefs and constitutional principles of our society, which units all Americans. These values are expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution and other significant documents, speeches, and other writings our nation." The term, by the way comes from a work of Thomas Jefferson. Simply put the Core Democratic Values are ideals that are important to us as Americans. These values bind us together as a nation. Below is a list of the values you will be dealing with most at the K-7 level. Take a look at the Core Democratic Activities I have gathered for you. They will not only help you discover if your students truly understand the concepts but give them practice identifying and internalizing them. I have put together a neat activity that I use whenever I introduce the Core Democratic Values for the first time. Take a look at The Core Democratic Sketchbook Activity and see if it fits your needs. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness Mention the Declaration of Independence to most people and the first thing that usually pops into their minds are these seven words: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. The Declaration tells us that we have these rights and it is the duty of our government to protect those rights. Life A good definition here would be that as Americans we have the right to live without the fear of injury...
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...Section One—short answer The mayflower compact During the sixteenth century, English Calvinists led a Protestant movement called Puritanism in England. Its name was derived from its adherents’ desire to purify the Anglican church of Roman Catholic Practices. English monarchs of the early seventeenth century persecuted the puritans, and so the puritans began to look for a new place to practice their faith. One puritan group, called Separatist, because they thought the Church of England was so incapable of being reformed that they had to abandon it, left England around this time. First they went to the Netherlands, but ultimately decided to start fresh in the new world. In 1620 they set sail, but their ship, the mayflower, went off course and they landed in modern-day Massachusetts. Because winter was approaching, they deiced to settle where they had landed. This settlement was called Plymouth, while on boards...
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...The writings of Columbus, Castillo, and de la Casas represented vastly different points of view of the Spanish conquests of the Americas. In his first letter, Christopher Columbus mostly focused on the political victory of the voyage and arriving in the Indies (p. 32), and the splendor of the landscape including palm trees, mountains, and beautiful birds (p. 33). In the subsequent letter to King Ferdinand of Spain, Columbus seems selfish and one-sided (somewhat understandable considering that he was begging Ferdinand for forgiveness of his crimes (p. 35). Bernal Diaz del Castillo's account, however, was not clouded by much bias or opinions at all. Because Castillo was just a simple foot soldier (Castillo p. 42) and was left to follow the commands of Cortes and his other officers, he wrote more of a journal that described in much detail the arrive and battles in Tenochtitlan (Castillo pp. 44-52). In comparison, Bartolome de las Casas did not stray from showing his personal convictions about the overall Spanish conquest and treatment of the Indians. After becoming a priest, he expressed that he believed those who were executing these atrocities out on the Indians for want of riches and gold were not in keeping with Catholic teachings that many Spaniards claimed to abide by (p. 36). Though vastly different, the viewpoints in these writings work to demonstrate the cases that each man is trying to make for the intended reader. Christopher Columbus shows deep conflict and contradiction...
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...Throughout the history of the United States, the government and constitution have played large roles. The Mayflower Compact and House of Burgesses are the first examples of early forms of government within the United States. Through trial and error, the founding fathers, who wrote the constitution, found a way to have an ideal government. The constitution divides power to govern among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the national government. It also provides for a system of checks and balances to prevent one branch from dominating the other two. Checks and balances function by the constitutional guidelines. The legislative branch has the power to make laws, and in document 1, can impeach the president and any other...
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...The early historical documents of early colonial America were the foundation for many of the basic aspects of our modern government, such as freedom of religion, representative assemblies, and the preservation of freedom. The foundation laid out developed due to distance from Britain and the need for government. This need gave colonists their own feelings of freedom and independence that in turn led to conflicting views when the Royal government became involved. One of the major turning points for the American colonies was the creation of their governing documents. Even though they pledged loyalty to the English king (Document #2), the Mayflower Compact was so influential because it was the first time that non-nobles could come together and...
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...Slide One: During the American Revolutionary war, Joseph Louis Cook was a very high ranking african American officer and Native American Officer, and had a major influence on the war. The questions that will be answered in this presentation are: Why did Louis Cook help America in the American Revolution? What was Louis Cook’s role in the American Revolution? Why did people during Cook’s time honor him? Slide Two: Joseph Louis Cook was born in Saratoga, New York, died in canada, and was buried near buffalo New York. He fought the French and indian war. During the Revolutionary War, he fought several wars in New York, and was stationed at valley forge, which is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Louis Cook settled in New York after the war. Slide Three: Louis Cook was born in 1740. In 1756 he fought in the French and Indian War. In 1775 he started helping in the war. In 1777 he was put in charge of the Indian Rangers, fought in many battles, and was in the Continental Army. After the was ended he settled in New York. In 1814, Louis Cook died. Slide Four: Joseph Louis Cook fought in the French and Indian War alongside the French, against the British colonies. Soon after the French lost, Louis realized that the Americans wanted freedom from the British. He saw this as a chance of revenge against the British for beating the French. Cook decided to go to General George Washington and offered to help in the war. Slide Five: In 1756, Louis first worked as a scout and messenger. However...
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...The writings of Columbus, Castillo, and de la Casas represented vastly different points of view of the Spanish conquests of the Americas. In his first letter, Christopher Columbus mostly focused on the political victory of the voyage and arriving in the Indies (p. 32), and the splendor of the landscape including palm trees, mountains, and beautiful birds (p. 33). In the subsequent letter to King Ferdinand of Spain, Columbus seems selfish and one-sided (somewhat understandable considering that he was begging Ferdinand for forgiveness of his crimes (p. 35). Bernal Diaz del Castillo's account, however, was not clouded by much bias or opinions at all. Because Castillo was just a simple foot soldier (Castillo p. 42) and was left to follow the commands of Cortes and his other officers, he wrote more of a journal that described in much detail the arrive and battles in Tenochtitlan (Castillo pp. 44-52). In comparison, Bartolome de las Casas did not stray from showing his personal convictions about the overall Spanish conquest and treatment of the Indians. After becoming a priest, he expressed that he believed those who were executing these atrocities out on the Indians for want of riches and gold were not in keeping with Catholic teachings that many Spaniards claimed to abide by (p. 36). Though vastly different, the viewpoints in these writings work to demonstrate the cases that each man is trying to make for the intended reader. Christopher Columbus shows deep conflict and contradiction...
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...Why the Pilgrims were God’s “Chosen People” William Bradford’s story “Of Plymouth Plantation,” talks about when the Pilgrims came to America on the Mayflower, and landed at Camp Cod. Bradford was one of these passengers and took notes and wrote down facts, people till this day can’t believe are true. He talks about struggles the Pilgrims faced and obstacles that they overcame. Through everything, God was showing them, or what they believed to be signs from God, that they were his “chosen people.” “When the faithful were brought low and then rescued from the brink of disaster, they felt utter reliance upon God” (Donegan). God was guiding the pilgrims and giving them hope, that everything will be okay. Nothing could have prepared them for the signs that God was giving them, to prove they were indeed his “chosen people.” Why were the Pilgrims the chosen people? No one knows, they only know the signs that were given by God, to support the fact that they were the “chosen people.” The Pilgrims were known as Separatists. The main reason for them leaving for North America was so they could have freedom of religion. They felt as if they would be able to chose their religion if they were somewhere else. “The separatist or Pilgrims was the more radical sect of Puritans which wanted to set up a new church separate from the Church of England, where they would practice the catholic religion as they thought it should be practiced” (“The Atlantic”). Some of the Pilgrims felt trapped in the...
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...Because of the monarchy that was offered in Great Britain, self-government was originally not a possibility. All of the British were ruled under one man, whoever the current king was at the time. However, when the first American colonists arrived in the new land, they created the Mayflower Compact, a document that recorded the first system of self-government introduced to the settlers. This system allowed normal citizens to rule over one another, which resulted in the power distributed evenly between every person. To illustrate, one sentence from the compact says, “Combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid.” This piece of evidence from the stated deed shows how the immigrants decided that it would be best if they combined themselves together to create a system of governing,...
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...The Mayflower was the vessel that carried the first English Separatists, known today as Pilgrims, to the New World in 1620. When and where the Mayflower was built is unknown, but before it's most famous voyage, it was a common, well armed, English merchant ship that sailed cross-channel between England and France. On September 6, 1620 William Bradford and the pilgrims set sail on the Mayflower to Cape Cod. The first few days of their voyage were blessed with clear weather, but many people were riddled with illness. The first to die was a vulgar young sailor who often cursed at the weary, sick people and talked about how joyous he would be to cast them overboard and steal their possessions. He later died of illness himself and was the first to be thrown off the ship....
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