Among those who thus departed to a strange land, to dwell among a people with habits and speech foreign to theirs, were about one hundred yeomen and artisans, members of the Independent congregation at Scrooby, a village on the border between Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. Headed by their wise and excellent minister, John Robinson, and the ruling elder of the church, William Brewster, the party first settled at Amsterdam (1608), |The Independents in Holland.| but early the following year moved to Leyden. Here, joined by many other refugees, they lived for ten years, laboring in whatever capacities they could obtain employment.
They lived peacefully enough in Holland, free from religious restraints, but remained Englishmen at heart; they saw with dissatisfaction, as the years went on, that there was no chance for material improvement in Leyden, and that their children were being made foreigners. After long deliberation they resolved to emigrate again, this time to America, far removed from their old persecutors, and there in the wilderness to rear a New England, where they might live under English laws, speak their native tongue, train their children in English thought and habits, establish godly ways, and perchance better their temporal condition. Mingled with these aspirations was a desire to lay "some good foundation, or at least make some way thereunto, for ye propagating & advancing ye gospell of ye kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of ye world; yea, though they should be but even as stepping-stones unto others for ye performing of so great a work."
Emigration to America.
Obtaining a grant of land from the London (South Virginia) Company, and a promise from the king that they should not be disturbed in their proposed colony if they behaved properly, the emigrants sailed from Leyden to Southampton, where they were to take passage for the New World. These Pilgrims, as they styled themselves, were about one hundred in number, and under the excellent guidance of Brewster, Robinson remaining behind with the majority of the congregation, who had decided to await the result of the experiment.
Possessing little beyond their capacity to labor, the Pilgrims had found it necessary to make the best bargain possible with a number of London capitalists for transportation and supplies. A stock partnership was formed, with shares at ten pounds each, each emigrant being deemed equivalent to a certain amount of cash subscription; all over sixteen years of age were counted as equal to one share, and a sliding scale covered the cases of children and those who furnished themselves with supplies. All except those so provided drew necessaries from the common stock. There was to be a community of trade, property, and labor for seven years, at the end of which time the corporation was to disband, and the assets were to be distributed among the shareholders. The entire capital stock at the beginning was seven thousand pounds, from a quarter to a fifth of this being represented by the persons of the emigrants. The London partners sent out several laborers on their account.
The landing.
The voyage of the "Mayflower" is one of the most familiar events in American history. Its companion vessel, the "Speedwell," was obliged to return to England because of an accident, and thus several of the original company remained behind. The adventurers first saw land on the ninth of November; it was the low, sandy spit of Cape Cod. Their purpose had been to settle in the domain of the South Virginia Company, somewhere between the Hudson and the Delaware; but fate happily willed otherwise. The captain, thought to be in the pay of the Dutch, who were trading on the Hudson, professed to be unable to proceed farther southward because of contrary winds. After beating up and down the bay between the cape and the mainland, and exploring the coast here and there, the Pilgrims landed at a spot "fit for situation" (Dec. 22, 1620).
The social compact.
With true English instinct for combination against unruly elements, the Pilgrims had (November 11), while lying off Cape Cod, formed themselves into a body politic under a social compact. This notable document read as follows: "We whose names are under-writen, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by ye grace of God of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith, &c., haveing undertaken, for ye glorie of God and advancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour of our king and countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly and mutualy in ye presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves togeather into a civill body politick, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just and equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete and convenient for ye generall good of ye Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."
The compact was signed by the adult males of the company, forty-one in number, only twelve of whom bore the title of "Master," or "Mr.,"—then of some significance. They elected Deacon John Carver as their first governor, styled the place where they landed Plymouth, and entered upon the serious business of building New England.